Radio 1 in 2026 and beyond

[UnofficialStark]

With Melvin making his R2 debut tomorrow, just wondering which current R1 presenters we can see being the next to make the traditional transfer to R2 when the time comes? Obviously Scott’s been the latest and it looked for a while like Adele would be next but she disappeared from broadcasting after she left R1. 
 

I personally think other than Melvin, Matt (either with or without Mollie, both would probably work) and Pete stand out as most likely to do it. Dean also got the tone completely right when he appeared on the Jeremy Vine show quite a while back so maybe he’s a shout but it’s probably too early to tell for him. 

[abertom]

I’m not sure about Greg but possibly Pete Tong eventually. Dean I reckon will go to 5 live or to Ulster 

[Lee E]

On 6/8/2025 at 9:54 PM, abertom said:

I’m not sure about Greg but possibly Pete Tong eventually. Dean I reckon will go to 5 live or to Ulster 

I think Greg will be around for a long time - I reckon the inner geek wants to break Moyles record then go on for ten years and maybe quit in 2028 

[Lee E]

Just now, Lee E said:

I think Greg will be around for a long time - I reckon the inner geek wants to break Moyles record then go on for ten years and maybe quit in 2028 

He'll for sure be there for the next birthday celebration in 2027 to host a special breakfast show 

[Lee E]

Talking on this - I wonder who Scott's main cover will be, we have had OJ Sara and Mark in for him now since he took over? curve "ball" would Zoe become the cover now she's established back on weeeknds? or do you think they are easing Sara back into it ready for a two week holiday in Summer? Sara was the main cover for Evans's tenure and got dropped when Zoe took over for Fearne then Nikki and Gaby they seem to have moved away from this "outsider" coming in to cover and especially now not Gaby or Nikki as they have other gigs 

[abertom]

2 hours ago, Lee E said:

Talking on this - I wonder who Scott's main cover will be, we have had OJ Sara and Mark in for him now since he took over? curve "ball" would Zoe become the cover now she's established back on weeeknds? or do you think they are easing Sara back into it ready for a two week holiday in Summer? Sara was the main cover for Evans's tenure and got dropped when Zoe took over for Fearne then Nikki and Gaby they seem to have moved away from this "outsider" coming in to cover and especially now not Gaby or Nikki as they have other gigs 

Err no I very much doubt Zoe will be covering breakfast anytime soon. Mark, Sara and OJ seem to be enough choices for cover plus any bank holiday one off specials 

[Bluestraw]

4 hours ago, Lee E said:

Talking on this - I wonder who Scott's main cover will be, we have had OJ Sara and Mark in for him now since he took over? curve "ball" would Zoe become the cover now she's established back on weeeknds? or do you think they are easing Sara back into it ready for a two week holiday in Summer? Sara was the main cover for Evans's tenure and got dropped when Zoe took over for Fearne then Nikki and Gaby they seem to have moved away from this "outsider" coming in to cover and especially now not Gaby or Nikki as they have other gigs 

No chance Zoe will cover breakfast. Would be a surprise to see her covering any weekday show tbh.

[Lee E]

On 6/24/2025 at 1:32 AM, Bluestraw said:

No chance Zoe will cover breakfast. Would be a surprise to see her covering any weekday show tbh.

Looking back at this I would say now that Sara is the main cover - I think she has been reestablished as it now 

[NathanS]

23 minutes ago, Lee E said:

Looking back at this I would say now that Sara is the main cover - I think she has been reestablished as it now 

With OJ covering on bank holidays. She is the best person for the job however... they're going to end up with a situation like Scott covering R1 breakfast back in the day, where she spends quite a bit of time off her own slot covering Breakfast, plus her own holiday and other commitments.

She's been filming for something recently which has meant she's been off several days a week since May. She was off last week, on breakfast this week, OJ is on Mon/Tues next week, then She's off the following two weeks.

[NathanS]

Back on topic, I think there's quite a few of the current Radio 1 presenters who would be able to adapt to Radio 2's style in the future. It's more of question of how many of them will actually end up there. With much of R2's line up changed over the past couple of years, it's quite possible we won't see much movement there, and R2 management might even decide to look elsewhere to bring in new presenters in future.

[Lee E]

48 minutes ago, NathanS said:

With OJ covering on bank holidays. She is the best person for the job however... they're going to end up with a situation like Scott covering R1 breakfast back in the day, where she spends quite a bit of time off her own slot covering Breakfast, plus her own holiday and other commitments.

She's been filming for something recently which has meant she's been off several days a week since May. She was off last week, on breakfast this week, OJ is on Mon/Tues next week, then She's off the following two weeks.

I worked out once Scott spent 3 months of a year off his own slot in the Moyles days and more like 4 in Grimmys days, six weeks of his own holiday and projects, six covering Grimmy plus some ad hoc days 

[wbroom12]

Mollie and Katie will end up at Heart. Rickie and Melvin will end up on the R2 extension. Charlie on capital Dance. I can't see any presenters heading to r2 anytime soon. Greg I think will take a break from radio completely after his stint on breakfast and then maybe take over as R1 controller after Matt who replaces Aled. Sian Eleri I can see as a weekend R2 host

 

[Radio_12]

I really can’t see Greg or Matt as a Radio 1 Controller, it’s usually a producer who goes to the controller roles, having a presenter would be weird. Also Greg is really passionate and clearly loves being on the radio so taking a break wouldn’t be expected. Rickie and Melvin wouldn’t really work on a Radio 2 extension (if that actually happens) in my opinion since it’ll be based around older music like 50s/60s/70s so it would be someone like Gary Davies, Tony Blackburn or they’re get a commercial presenter to come back to host. Sian Eleri would probably go to Radio 2 at some point, maybe taking over Radio 2 Unwinds on a Sunday?
 

With Dermot doing an Alternative Sounds of the 00s show it would be interesting to see when a Sounds of the 00s show will appear on Radio 2, and maybe we’ll see someone from Radio 1 move across to host that. Sounds of the 80’s started in 2013 and Sounds of the 90’s in 2020 so around 2027 would be the time to start a 00s based show on Radio 2, especially with Radio 1 20’s being launched this year. Sara Cox moved across from Radio 1 and hosted SOT80s and Fearne was only at Radio 1 a few years prior to SOT90s launch.

 

[UnofficialStark]

15 hours ago, Radio_12 said:

I really can’t see Greg or Matt as a Radio 1 Controller, it’s usually a producer who goes to the controller roles, having a presenter would be weird. Also Greg is really passionate and clearly loves being on the radio so taking a break wouldn’t be expected. Rickie and Melvin wouldn’t really work on a Radio 2 extension (if that actually happens) in my opinion since it’ll be based around older music like 50s/60s/70s so it would be someone like Gary Davies, Tony Blackburn or they’re get a commercial presenter to come back to host. Sian Eleri would probably go to Radio 2 at some point, maybe taking over Radio 2 Unwinds on a Sunday?
 

With Dermot doing an Alternative Sounds of the 00s show it would be interesting to see when a Sounds of the 00s show will appear on Radio 2, and maybe we’ll see someone from Radio 1 move across to host that. Sounds of the 80’s started in 2013 and Sounds of the 90’s in 2020 so around 2027 would be the time to start a 00s based show on Radio 2, especially with Radio 1 20’s being launched this year. Sara Cox moved across from Radio 1 and hosted SOT80s and Fearne was only at Radio 1 a few years prior to SOT90s launch.

 

Aled Haydn Jones was a presenter before he was controller, he did The Surgery and Chris Moyles Breakfast Show. I could see Matt going into Controller because he’s already in managerial roles with his games and puzzles company and he does some tv producing like that Make Me A Prime Minister show. I agree about Greg he’d rather be on air. 

[Radio_12]

43 minutes ago, UnofficialStark said:

Aled Haydn Jones was a presenter before he was controller, he did The Surgery and Chris Moyles Breakfast Show. I could see Matt going into Controller because he’s already in managerial roles with his games and puzzles company and he does some tv producing like that Make Me A Prime Minister show. I agree about Greg he’d rather be on air. 

Aled was more of a producer than presenter, he did do the Surgery but was a producer on The Chris Moyles Show and contributed as a presenter like how producer Tom or Amy contribute on Greg’s show. Since Matt’s main role is a presenter I think it would be unlikely for him to become Radio 1 Controller since his main focus at Radio 1 isn’t production like Aled’s was.

[Alexastop]

Matt's production company has done a few TV shows I think - I can completely see him moving behind the scenes more generally (maybe not as controller!) when presenting work dries up, he's a smart guy.

I can't see many of the current presenters at R2 for an age. Melvin, Mollie and Katie are most likely and they're just as likely to go into/back into commercial for a while as they're fairly mainstream and universally liked.