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I know he did,it wasn't great either from what I remember, but he's definitely grown as a radio presenter since then. Radio 1 are one of a few stations that can be praised with giving chances for younger presenters from a radio background with the Christmas takeover/Friday early breakfast, the recent weekend afternoon rotation etc. Sam & Danni are the most recent success story. Came through the Christmas presenters slot a few years ago, to getting the weekend breakfast show after lots of cover slots.   

Rylan covered for Matt on radio 1

Mollie King and Maya Jama I simply connect with Radio 1 and nothing else. I know of nothing they did beforehand frankly. Maybe it's because I don't follow what they may have been involved in beforehand. Or a generational thing. It's a small career risk if your already a celeb doing a radio 1 show, if it doesn't work out it's all forgotten in month nowdays. Hence why the likes of Kelly Osbourne couldn't of cared less if she turned up or not in the late 00s. You end up back on TV or something. Your not going to end up on hospital radio (nothing wrong there btw), if it doesn't work. The thing is where does this all leave the next generation of wannabe Radio 1 DJ's who don't have that TV platform, or even social media platform? That avenue is an overcrowded house anyway. Maybe, like Steve Wright was, they aren't into being on camera but come alive behind a radio mic. In 1997 an overweight 20 something year old bloke made his way to early breakfast on radio 1, and got promoted from within. Seems like now the likes of him, and even a raw circa 2007/8 Greg James would have a harder time to get to the top. You could even put Annie Mac into that convo. She was a producer in 2001/2, that ended up taking over from Zane Lowe a decade on when he left. Without going on, let me ask you this simply. If a circa 1998 Scott Mills went for a job at Radio 1, today. As good as he was even then. Do you think he would even get a look in?  

I know some will disagree but Rylan is another example. He only covered Zoe Ball's Saturday show once, then got the show full time. I think he's turned out to be a great presenter who works well bouncing off his on air team (Sally, Lottie). The show is pitched perfectly for a Saturday afternoon. He's knowledgeable on a lot of the music he plays as well. I do agree that there are probably some very talented presenters who have lost out thanks to the big groups buying up loads of local stations, then scaling back local shows to the bare minimum required (which as of now they're no longer required to do), but sadly it's nothing new. There's hardly any 'local stations' to work your way up from nowadays.   

True, I do agree with a lot of that. One example though... I don't think Mollie King had much if any broadcasting experience when she joined. They had that period where they paired up Matt Edmondson with some celebrities (I'm assuming for the very reason of having a 'celeb' co presenter). Scarlett Moffatt and Example were also paired with him but they gave Mollie the gig permanently. It definitely paid off as she is arguably one of the best presenters on Radio 1 now. She very much has took it seriously and it's very much her full time career now.

I think celeb do carry a slightly higher degree of risk and if a celeb isn't willing to put in the time, effort and learn the ropes they will get found out. Mollie King and Maya Jama are perfect comparisons Mollie joined and it's clear she very much treated the radio role as a full-time career and put the time in to learn and improve - it's mentioned she shadowed the likes of Greg, Scott and Annie Mac among others and learnt how to drive the desk etc. And now she's as strong a DJ as anybody on Radio 1. Whereas Maya was paired with Scott on Fridays to begin (so given almost the perfect opportunity to develop) but was quickly found out.  You rarely heard her outside her own slot and her show was pretty thin gruel which was highlighted even more so by Jordan doing the same slot on Sunday 100x better.

Thing is with TV presenters they have already halfway worked their way there in a very similar industry. I mean times where celebs are just bought in because of their name and it's a kick in the balls to very good presenters already out there. Some examples do deserve a chance, Jarvis Cocker with 6 Music for example. But picking the ones who just sit there and giggle at stupid jokes with no proper content, I've found there's been way too much of over the past 2 decades or so.