Radio 2 in the Park 2024

[R1Fan1]

September marked a big change for radio 1, with numerous new shows launching across the station. 
 

My thoughts on the changes were very mixed. I really like the new drive show, Vick and Jordan are the new big stars of the station and they are definitely future breakfast presenters. Rickie, Melvin and Charlie have been a bit more mixed for me. They seem too muted and constrained by the format of their show, I really want them back on evenings where they can get a bit louder and exciting, where they’re at their best for me. Future Artists at 8pm just doesn’t do anything for me at all, it’s too niche and the majority of the music is indie which gets very boring very quickly. Clara on Future Sounds is fine, she’s picking good music and she’s better there than in daytime. On weekends, I know Dean has been a bit marmite but I’m loving his show, great features and chat, very similar to Jordan. 
 

But what do you think?

[NathanS]

I agree on RMC. Although I get to hear them more now, when I did hear them at night... they were good at that time, with risqué humour, and non playlist picks. They do sound more constrained on daytime..  However, I'm indifferent to what is broadcast in that slot as i only really listen in the background unless I have the radio on through my earphones. Clara did a good job of being a safe pair of hands in the live lounge slot, and I think that segment suited her more than RMC, personally. I don't understand why they moved the time of the live lounge to 11am after all these years.  A move to daytime for them was inevitable though. More cost effective to have a trio on when more people are listening.

Clara was the obvious and best suited replacement for Annie on Future Sounds. She knows what she's talking about, music wise... and like Annie and Zane before her... she's passionate about championing artists. One minor gripe.. I did prefer the previous voiceover and beds... Used to set it apart from other shows on Radio 1. It seems 'Hottest Record' has stretched beyond Future Sounds.. becoming a recognisable R1 brand like the Live Lounge is. The Sunday HR is shoehorned in to the start of the Chart update.. and is usually a commercially/playlist friendly track...

Vick & Jordan are a step up on Grimmy's drivetime show... very strong start. I do personally think Jordan was a strong enough broadcaster to take over drive himself, same goes for Vick. They work together really well, so it was a decent shout putting them together.. It's pretty clear unless they decide to try something different.. that they will be the next breakfast show, whenever that may be... I hope they establish some features but at the same time, keep things fresh. I heard them on breakfast yesterday and it was a bit meh... Although I've been under the weather with a bad cold this week so it could just be my mood.

Dean, I'm listening to now. I don't mind him. He's a decent listen and seems to have fitted in pretty well and suits the time slot. 

Greg James and Scott & Chris continue to prove they're the strongest daytime broadcasters on the station. The latter especially, cracked me up with that 'Just For Me' parody the other day. Granny Tinder is getting a bit tired. A new or returning feature wouldn't go amiss. It's their off the cuff links/chats which I prefer anyway.

 

Has anyone heard any of the Friday early breakfast shows? I'm not usually up at that time to listen live (I've heard a couple live, and listened back to some).

[Bluestraw]

Agree about Vick & Jordan, super-strong and I suspect there's a massive future for them at the station either together or separately. Also am a bit fed up with Granny Tinder, can only assume it 'tests' well among uni students (for example) which is why it's still on. Then again even a poor segment of Scott's show is a decent listen.

I do like RMC but there's something about their morning show that doesn't quite work for me yet... Each link is a bit too scripted / packaged, and I don't yet see them taking advantage of having all 3 of them together. Yes absolutely they're better than 'safe pair of hands Clara' in that slot, but feels like there's a lot more potential there if they were given a bit more free-flowing latitude.

 

[BBCAaron]

14 hours ago, R1Fan1 said:

September marked a big change for radio 1, with numerous new shows launching across the station. 
 

My thoughts on the changes were very mixed. I really like the new drive show, Vick and Jordan are the new big stars of the station and they are definitely future breakfast presenters. Rickie, Melvin and Charlie have been a bit more mixed for me. They seem too muted and constrained by the format of their show, I really want them back on evenings where they can get a bit louder and exciting, where they’re at their best for me. Future Artists at 8pm just doesn’t do anything for me at all, it’s too niche and the majority of the music is indie which gets very boring very quickly. Clara on Future Sounds is fine, she’s picking good music and she’s better there than in daytime. On weekends, I know Dean has been a bit marmite but I’m loving his show, great features and chat, very similar to Jordan. 
 

But what do you think?

I think it’s wrong to class New Artists as too niche in a world of Spotify and Apple Music it’s important that in more mainstream slots are able to cut from more of generic musics to more experimental and emerging talent Indie Show sounds excellent on Thursday with return of few favourite features from its dawn. I think it’s a thing that with Kiss, Capital etc all youth stations still playing poppy music in post peak times and think sometimes with Future Sounds that there are moments to go exploring beyond mainstream. Think for me I love stuff like what Jack Saunders does and liked that new music stuff more easier to sort as that has consistently Belen my favourite bit of listening to Radio 1 and why sometimes dip into 6 Music’s New Music Fix but possibly they need to re address some of the 01:00-05:00 stuff.

[BBCAaron]

4 hours ago, Bluestraw said:

Agree about Vick & Jordan, super-strong and I suspect there's a massive future for them at the station either together or separately. Also am a bit fed up with Granny Tinder, can only assume it 'tests' well among uni students (for example) which is why it's still on. Then again even a poor segment of Scott's show is a decent listen.

I do like RMC but there's something about their morning show that doesn't quite work for me yet... Each link is a bit too scripted / packaged, and I don't yet see them taking advantage of having all 3 of them together. Yes absolutely they're better than 'safe pair of hands Clara' in that slot, but feels like there's a lot more potential there if they were given a bit more free-flowing latitude.

 

Agree with Granny Tinder and even brother or lover. Find sometimes with them doing live lounges and interviews and links in that time does seem over crowded. Jordan & Vick star selection I assume will be tougher presenting for few year together atleast think depends where things go and how iconic their pairing is. I feel both will be at 1 for many years to come and likely end up doing different bits and bobs across the bbc some sounds or other tv bits and bobs

[BBCAaron]

15 hours ago, R1Fan1 said:

September marked a big change for radio 1, with numerous new shows launching across the station. 
 

My thoughts on the changes were very mixed. I really like the new drive show, Vick and Jordan are the new big stars of the station and they are definitely future breakfast presenters. Rickie, Melvin and Charlie have been a bit more mixed for me. They seem too muted and constrained by the format of their show, I really want them back on evenings where they can get a bit louder and exciting, where they’re at their best for me. Future Artists at 8pm just doesn’t do anything for me at all, it’s too niche and the majority of the music is indie which gets very boring very quickly. Clara on Future Sounds is fine, she’s picking good music and she’s better there than in daytime. On weekends, I know Dean has been a bit marmite but I’m loving his show, great features and chat, very similar to Jordan. 
 

But what do you think?

I find the mid morning slot for music stations (excluding Ken Bruce) tend to be made for more passive listening and lesser feature segments than at other peak time daytime shows. Tends to be music heavy and small links. Think with Clara she makes for good televison and radio presenter but do find the evening staple new mainstream music flagship show for the station. Clara is more of a curator and interviewer who fits more of a formatted brief of having something lacking as much improvision. 

[BBCAaron]

Will say regarding the new schedule Future Dance with Sarah Storey works good to have an allotted and fitting feel for new emerging dance music accompanied with extended BBC Introducing Dance. Future Soul reflects taste and sounds in music right now and loving that as firm favourite of a listen on a Monday morning. I’d personally like to see the more generic anthems shows that air over night like Rap, Festival, Chillout, Indie, Ibiza all the different ones that air over night to be scrapped for more new and emerging and specialist sounds.

I think that working for a packed selection of fire and specialist music programming should replace the focus of mainstream pop mood mixes for me on BBC Sounds that said feel with Jeremiah Asiamah, Sian Eleri, Victoria Jane, Jamz Supernova providing some food content and music presenting in new time slots and feel with the new Friday 19:00-21:00 slot on 6 Music seems that there are bits more focused on different sounds.

Though think it would be good to see Radio 2 in some of the overnight evening slots get some sort of new in adult contemporary pop shows and kind of doing some of the classics and mainstream new so stations like Radio 1 & 6 Musix can dominate such music presence 

[Ash101]

I think overall these changes are fantastic & the station is sounding the best it has ever in my years of listening. I'm struggling to pick when to 'not listen' during the day & want to catchup with as much as possible when i'm out/working with headphones on.

As has been said above, Greg James and Scott & Chris are absolutely top of their game. They are the 2 shows I enjoy the most on the station. Greg's breakfast show is perfect for the time of day & even time of life when everything is a bit uncertain because of the last 18 months. Scott & Chris continue to be consistently good, RE Granny Tinder, I haven't heard it since the show went back to 1pm - so has it been rested for now?

RMC: I loved the evening show, having never really listened to them that much on Kiss Breakfast. It felt the right amount of naughty and had some great games (RIP Night Night Nonsense). It does feel like they're not quite doing 'enough' to warrant the 3 presenters on for 2 hours and 15 minutes, in my opinion. They really could do with mixing the features up - I was never a fan of 'Random' when it appeared on NNN, so hate that it's now a weekly feature. Charlie's Drive Thru is probably the best one of the week. Melvin's Guess the LL is a pretty non event and the Skive Lounge has its moments. Personally, I'd have these 'weekly' features alongside a Night Night Nonsense style game from each of them - it just really helped with the variety & when you have 3 presenters it totally works have 1 hosting a game amongst the other 2.

Vick & Jordan: They're strong. Both great presenters separately and both deserving of a better slot on Radio 1. However I am still slightly struggling with the pairing - but maybe this is because I love Jordan's humour and it seems to be a stifled by Vick trying to one up him or not make it funny (for example, when she basically eye rolls whenever he does the "have I mentioned I'm northern?" jokes). The features are great though, 'something songs' just works as a great music feature & has thrown up some brilliant choices over the last 5 weeks. 'I have a problem' and 'Judge Jordan' are great too (although JJ suffers from the above Jordan vs Vick issue). I think it was mentioned somewhere here that Matt & Mollie's old producer has moved over to Vick & Jordan and this shows from the segmented feature based show.

It's a shame both M&M and V&J shows aren't released as daily or weekly podcasts as there are so many great features there.

[BBCAaron]

8 hours ago, Ash101 said:

I think overall these changes are fantastic & the station is sounding the best it has ever in my years of listening. I'm struggling to pick when to 'not listen' during the day & want to catchup with as much as possible when i'm out/working with headphones on.

As has been said above, Greg James and Scott & Chris are absolutely top of their game. They are the 2 shows I enjoy the most on the station. Greg's breakfast show is perfect for the time of day & even time of life when everything is a bit uncertain because of the last 18 months. Scott & Chris continue to be consistently good, RE Granny Tinder, I haven't heard it since the show went back to 1pm - so has it been rested for now?

RMC: I loved the evening show, having never really listened to them that much on Kiss Breakfast. It felt the right amount of naughty and had some great games (RIP Night Night Nonsense). It does feel like they're not quite doing 'enough' to warrant the 3 presenters on for 2 hours and 15 minutes, in my opinion. They really could do with mixing the features up - I was never a fan of 'Random' when it appeared on NNN, so hate that it's now a weekly feature. Charlie's Drive Thru is probably the best one of the week. Melvin's Guess the LL is a pretty non event and the Skive Lounge has its moments. Personally, I'd have these 'weekly' features alongside a Night Night Nonsense style game from each of them - it just really helped with the variety & when you have 3 presenters it totally works have 1 hosting a game amongst the other 2.

Vick & Jordan: They're strong. Both great presenters separately and both deserving of a better slot on Radio 1. However I am still slightly struggling with the pairing - but maybe this is because I love Jordan's humour and it seems to be a stifled by Vick trying to one up him or not make it funny (for example, when she basically eye rolls whenever he does the "have I mentioned I'm northern?" jokes). The features are great though, 'something songs' just works as a great music feature & has thrown up some brilliant choices over the last 5 weeks. 'I have a problem' and 'Judge Jordan' are great too (although JJ suffers from the above Jordan vs Vick issue). I think it was mentioned somewhere here that Matt & Mollie's old producer has moved over to Vick & Jordan and this shows from the segmented feature based show.

It's a shame both M&M and V&J shows aren't released as daily or weekly podcasts as there are so many great features there.

The random feature seems bit of a miss and kind of does feel over staffed in its position in the schedule when they did KISS would’ve been listening to Nick or Greg. Feel that some bits of Scott’s show may need switch of feature as feel brother or lover is just ok but as always chatting about relevant stuff keeping it entertaining. Agree with that there should be some form of podcasts for `Vick & Jordan’ and ‘Matt & Mollie allows to build on content and get greater reach. Think that still new as a pairing so working out so me stuff on air in-terms of chemistry will be interesting to see where the current programming feels in a year time. They are both from the north find Jordan funny ‘have i mentioned I’m northern’ I think Vick could be more mindful how presenting styles will be received and the same gags could run thin.

Think i think they are at least trying to get the best out of each other think that there will be challenges as to find the strike of balance of equals not to try to make him unfulnny but to ensure that one part of the pairing doesn’t over dominate could be a concern.