Christmas & New Year (Dec 21-Jan 22)

[OohErr 231]

Just wondered where we're all at with our Radio 1 listening career and how it started. 

I'm 19 so I've got a while to go until I'm too old, and I've been listening since 2009. Radio 1 was always on in the barber shop I used to go to, and when I got given a radio in my bedroom Radio 1 was the only station I knew that played chart music. The rest is history. I started listening at around the same time they were experimenting with live streams of The Chris Moyles Show so that probably played a part in my transformation to radio nerd. 

Anyone else?

[Darren m 11]

I listened when moyles on in the afternoon and Sara cox on breakfast probs 2000 

[alrite_treacle 3]

I never really listened solidly to Moyles, I remember hearing in the news when he was doing that world record show, and Fearne Cotton agreed to do the livestream in a swimsuit and the Radio 1 website crashed...

 

I first started listening one summer in 2012, when Sara Cox was covering Fearne's show, and gradually listened to the other shows at uni, and got hooked on the podcasts for train journeys home and back! Scott and Greg made me the radio nerd! I feel like I definitely missed on some excellent years of Scott's though! Listened from the Pippa and Travis years of Greg, though!

[marack99 8]

It's been about 4 years exactly since I've been listening to Radio 1. I'm a 19-year old radio nerd from the U.S. and had been flipping through international stations on TuneIn when I first came across Grimmy on breakfast, which I thought was alright at the time but when Scott & Chris ended up covering I realized I was missing something great. I've listened to every Scott Mills Daily since then. I added Greg James' podcast as well and podcasts continue to be my typical method of consuming R1. When I do "tune" in live I've enjoyed Alice Levine, Jordan North, and Annie Mac when they're on. Matt Edmondson is pretty meh to me but I haven't heard him with Mollie to make a judgment there. Likewise, the breakfast show (1:30a-5a) and Clara Amfo (5-8) aren't on at good times to listen over here. I do appreciate Adele Roberts (11p-1:30a) who has provided a soundtrack to many a late-evening homework/study sesh. She's an underrated talent IMO.

I'd probably listen a lot more if SiriusXM put Radio 1 back on over one of the duplicate top-40 stations they have. It would be a unique addition to their lineup.

[Marcus17 5]

I first started listening around the start of 2011. I came across the weekend schedule first actually which at the time consisted of Edith, Vernon/Sara, Huw and Reggie. I loved it, I'm getting nostalgia thinking back to it now. I just got completely obsessed with everything about the station; the jingles, the features, the music etc. I too am 19 and will probably be giving student radio a try when I go back to university in September (been arsing about making my own podcasts for a few years) so think it's time to take my radio geekery to the next level 

[Lee E 54]

17 hours ago, Marcus17 said:

I first started listening around the start of 2011. I came across the weekend schedule first actually which at the time consisted of Edith, Vernon/Sara, Huw and Reggie. I loved it, I'm getting nostalgia thinking back to it now. I just got completely obsessed with everything about the station; the jingles, the features, the music etc. I too am 19 and will probably be giving student radio a try when I go back to university in September (been arsing about making my own podcasts for a few years) so think it's time to take my radio geekery to the next level 

well done on the student radio thing, iv'e just started presenting on a local community station here, but because of my "day" job I cannot commit to a regular show but I can cover other shows and all, it's great fun 

 

I started listening in about 1988 in the days of Mike Read on weekends and Bruno Brooks, used to love Steve Wright and remember the era of Zoe and Kevin on breakfast, and Dave Pearce on a Sunday night 

I only noticed Scott in about 2004 when he started Drivetime, but had life in the way so rarely listened until 2009/2010 when i started hardcore 

 

Something happened recently, i tweeted about my radio debut and Mills liked it 

[Aleks_ 14]

For me it was round 2013-2014. I'm not from the UK and never lived there, but I've loved your culture ever since reading Harry Potter at the age of 10. So I just used to read loads of British authors, watch your telly, then go there on holidays and then I discovered that you have brilliant radio too.

At first I used to listen to Radio 4 because I enjoyed the comedy bits. And it was a nice and simple way of practising my 'non-book' English (I'm not a native speaker). Then one glorious day I've decided to switch to Radio 1. First show that I've tuned in to, was Matt in for Scott. I didn't know what was going on at first but I got hooked on straight away. It was so silly and heartwarming that you couldn't help but love it. Then Scott came back and I just fell in love with him and Chris. I'd also say, that they played slightly better music back then (or maybe that's just sentiment speaking) so it was just perfect. 

I used to listen to almost everyone, being a student I'd had quite a lot of free time back then. Now it's just Scott and Greg, occasionally Breakfast Show and The Early Breakfast Show. I catch up on podcasts too, if I can't listen to Scott or Greg live. 

[vorti 10]

I first tuned in to Radio 1 on the 10th of January 2011. And that's already not true, I found the station the day before, but unfortunately the worst show of its time (and maybe all times) was on, Tom Deacon. I decided not to count this as the first impression and gave it another try next day, and the "official first impression" was some bloke called Greg James, talking about how things at the BBC gets instantly done if you say it's broadcast critical ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x7j3j ) and maybe the first hour or so of Scott's show.

I wasn't really interested in DJs at first but I got hooked by the music. I live in Hungary and at the time I slowly but surely got fed up by FM radio stations. They either only played boring old crappy songs or were a so called "new music station", which meant an endless stream of Rihanna* sometimes interrupted by a David Guetta song or 5 minutes of ads. The best one was MR2 (basically Hungarian National Radio 2, but the name is constantly changing, it's a really long story) with a great selection of both mainstream and alternative music, but presenters were there just to announce the time and introduce songs and they had no personality whatsoever, all shows felt prerecorded even if they weren't, and at night it was just an MP3 player on shuffle. I started to look up theirs songs I liked the most on youtube, and stumbled upon some Live Lounge videos with the BBCR1 logo on them. The rest is history.What I really like in R1 is that most of the DJs has a passion for their job, they're creating their own little world filled with the most entertaining nonsense I've ever heard like hearing GO ON PIGS on top of an overplayed song or even playing nationwide hide-and-seek on air. I couldn't even imagine, but as I got into nighttime radio more and and more, specialists shows turned out to be even better with their own selection of music. But the most important part: I rather listen to the same 5SOS or JucieWorld (or whatever his name is) song the 1000th time than having ads on the station. And don't get me wrong, i know how commercial stations need ads, that's fine. But who the hell told them 5 mins of the loudest and most obnoxious ads after 15 mins of content is fine.

Let's have some random thoughts for each show I discovered before the length of this post gets out of hand. In chronological order:

• Tom Deacon: utter sh*t.
• Greg's afternoon show was the first I was listening regularly. (Get on the beer son! Choooochoooo chifinch!)
• Scott was the close second, and after they swapped timeslots, became and still is my most listened daytime show. The earliest feature I can recall is the Trapped in The Closed series.
• Grimmy at 10PM. The main selling point was the music, but no doubt this was his best. The breakfast show was a huge letdown after this.
• Grimmy and Annie Mac on Sundays: the weekday show, but on steroids. I loved it, I'd love to hear these two together again, and if drivetime handovers is the closest we can get, I take it.
• Zane Lowe: it was scary at first (please don't laugh), but soon I realized he was the god of music radio DJs (yes, i just said that). If he shouted in your face that this or that song is the best and hottest and most amazing song ever, then it freakin' was the MOST AMAZING SONG EVER! Maybe it was. Or maybe next week you heard it again and found it pure rubbish. But he sold it. And for a moment you genuinely believed every new song was the best one ever. The biggest loss of the station so far.
• Kissy Sell Out: I wasn't quite into that "speed garage whatever" he played at first, but damn, I just couldn't stop listening.
• Annie Nightingle: She could almost be my grandma, but I just love how nicely she introduced tracks which tore apart my face. Plays a bit too much urban for my taste (like the whole station) but she's still on and still a regular listen of mine.
• The Matt Edmondson Show (9PM): It's just like Comic Sans, but on the radio. [...] Imagine the best show you've ever heard. Now lower your expectations.
• The longest show ever: The best piece radio entertainment I've ever experienced so far. I used to think Moyles was just another self-obsessed breakfast host, but after hearing this, I didn't care if he was self-obsessed, he totally deserved his position.
• 2012 Specialist takeover week: The best piece music radio I've ever experienced so far. 3,5 hours of Zane for breakfast? Kissy at 7PM? You could imagine how gutted I was when I found out I just missed the 2011 one. And it's been neutered by 2013 and then stopped altogether. What a shame.
• Okay, this post is now officially too long, so I finish it here...

Oh, and if wasn't for the ability to listen back any show in full whenever you like (the 7 days limit was okay, but changing it to 30 days was just godsent), I've never been able to hear half of these.

*Scott did a great impression or this type of commercial radio once, it's still one of my all time favourite Mills moments.

[rickbutterfield 3]

Been trying to figure this out for a while now so would appreciate some help on it... 

I remember hearing Moyles for a long time as my dad was a big fan (I loved Carpark Catchphrase). My earliest recollections of listening to Scott are around the time Flirt Divert finished and when he used to do phone-5s (press the number 5 on the keypad to callers). Any idea roughly when those were?

[josie88 15]

22 hours ago, rickbutterfield said:

Been trying to figure this out for a while now so would appreciate some help on it... 

I remember hearing Moyles for a long time as my dad was a big fan (I loved Carpark Catchphrase). My earliest recollections of listening to Scott are around the time Flirt Divert finished and when he used to do phone-5s (press the number 5 on the keypad to callers). Any idea roughly when those were?

Literally just listened to the podcast where they started doing the high fives. It was the 29th of June, 2010

[Ryan Pannell 23]

I started listening sometime from Monday 18th July 2011. Amy Winehouse died on Saturday 23rd and when this news broke I had only been listening a few days.

The way I switched was random - I was listening to Magic 105.4 for months and one evening whilst driving home I got bored and hit a random preset on the radio which happened to be R1. I thought “let’s listen to R1 for a few days” and soon realised I had been missing out on great chart music, new music and fantastic club anthems. Intending to change to another random station soon, I realised I couldn’t because I was hooked. And since then my radio has stayed tuned to R1.

I can even remember a song I was listening to within an hour of changing - Barbara Streisand by Duck Sauce. 

[anothernerd 22]

I was flipping through stations and I came across Radio 1 

I remember Scott’s show being about nearly done and then Greg came on...I was so hooked on his and Scott’s Show 

I didn’t like Grimmy on breakfast I just didn’t find him  funny 

To be honest it was about 12 monthes ago 

I heard Dev once on a Saturday when Julia hardy came on to talk about gaming  

I really liked Dev solo 

 

[DC 84]

Probably around 1998 for me. We used to go to North Wales a lot during the summer in the late 90's with my parents as a kid. Radio coverage out there 20 years ago wasn't exactly the best so you relied on the nationals as you could get them more or less everywhere.

 

Mark & Lard became a staple listen for me when I could tune in. They are still the best daytime Radio 1 DJ's who ever was for me. I usually followed on to Chris Moyles when he was on air after them at 4pm (later 3pm in 2001).

 

When Mark & Lard went in 2004 I went off Radio 1 for a good year. Aside from specialists like Judge Jules, Dave Pearce... Then I started to listen again at the start of 2005 and found Scott Mills on drive (Sara Cox had been moved off). Along with Chappers and Laura that was a staple listen. I sort of stopped listening to R1 about 2010 as I felt I was getting too old for it really. But I still listen in from time to time nowdays.

[Jono 58]

I became a regular listener in 2004 - but had been listening a few years on and off before that. Mostly to Chris Moyles. My listening of Radio 1 really shaped the years that followed, for instance, listening on the day of the 7/7 bombings when Vernon Kay stayed off and Scott did both breakfast and drive, and Newsbeat breaking the news Jacko had died.