It’s even more strange that it’s James as he’s off his show all weekend as well. 

James Cusack in for Jack on the chart tomorrow (29th). Was strangely listed as Jack until recently even though he'd been off all week.

24th September 8pm-11pm: New Music Live from Cardiff

Won't debate Jamie as that's been done to death... Vick is an interesting case as it's not so much 'outside interests' with her but rather other work within the BBC. I'd rather hear Vick on R1 than any of the people who cover for her, but it's hard to imagine her being on Going Home longterm with a baby and with her Countryfile job. I do wonder if her heart really remained in Radio after Jordan jumped ship, not that she gives anything less than her all when she's on air, just a hunch.  Clara has recently opened up about some significant mental health issues towards the end of her time on R1 so not really fair to comment there, and I don't recall Fearne being particularly inconsistent in terms of presence but we do now know about her growing fear of live broadcasting so again if she was off air quite a lot that would explain it. Maya - no doubt the biggest disaster in recent times in terms of a presenter with a permanent slot. Fortunately the word permanent was never applied to Danny Beard (apologies for mentioning that name, for those trying to forget 😂).

Jamie, Vick to an extent and Clara towards the end of her time on Radio 1 I’d say are recent. Further back Maya and Fearne 

Agree 100% with this. I'd much rather hear a good show by someone who does Radio 1 as a 'side hobby' than an average show by a 'proper radio person'. Arguably this is a moot point, as there are very few examples of someone who's not particularly bothered having a main show, and when it happens (dare I mention Maya Jama) then they don't last long. Sorry if I'm wrong here, but my hunch is that the OP is thinking about Jamie here, as I can't think of any other current examples...

I think the only qualification a Radio 1 presenter of any level needs is A: can they do a good show and B: are they able to speak to the target audience in a way it finds compelling.  As a radio person I (as are most of you I assume) am biased towards “proper radio people”, but frankly in the modern media climate you’re going to get less and less of them and more and more young talent with a more diverse portfolio of interests.  It’s no different from when the likes of Chris Evans were on Radio 1 but most famous from television, just different platforms; as long as they aren’t crap it shouldn’t be an issue, and we all can think of examples where there have been some quality issues.  But fundamentally Radio 1’s job isn’t to reward purity it’s to get people that make good content wherever they’re from and what they do; they aren’t going to ban presenters from doing other stuff!