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Is Radio 1 falling apart?
iain_stevenson1
Posts: 1,349 Forum Member
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radio 1 have lost 3 of their top DJs in the past few weeks ,(Jameela Zane and Fearne) and are losing listeners. Also there is speculation that Scott Mills could be going as well. The average age of many of the top shows listeners is still not low enough. .Is the station in crisis or is this just a short term problem? Can't see Annie or Clara being able to maintain Zane or Fearnes audience so things are bound to get even worse. It's starting to feel like 1993 all over again to me.
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They've made it clear you're not welcome at Radio 1 if you're over 30. Which is ironic given some of their biggest DJs are over 30.
I prefer 1xtra in spite of the fact that it is more limited in genres. Heart & radio 2?? I'm
Not ready to be pensioned off yet thanks? I'd like an Absolute type station that didn't rely on old hits like it does at present.
Radio 6 is OK too- although it has a pretentious vibe at times.
It's certainly not a crisis; just a typical period of transition that you expect to happen every four or five years at Radio 1. I was sceptical about Simon Mayo, Steve Lamacq, Dave Pearce and Mark and Lard moving on, but it was all fine. I was sceptical about Colin Murray going, but it was all fine. Greg James and Fearne filled in admirably when Jo and Edith stepped aside. True, there have been a few odd choices over the years (Hi this is Wes, Kelly Osborne on The Surgery, Spoony) and a few missed opportunities (Jk and Joel, Jen Long, even Nemone and Emma B I never thought got the recognition they deserved) but ultimately it's generally worked out ok.
I think I'm more concerned about a post Scott Mills era. He's still at the top of his game, and I would personally give the show to Alice Levine now that she hasn't got Fearne's show, and use Matt and Dev for cover. This has obviously all saved a huge amount of money for Ben Cooper, but who comes in next is the interesting thing, and who will need to leave to make way for them. I'm a bit underwhelmed by the constant promotion from 1Xtra, I think they need to be a little more imaginative than that. Bring back the Friday morning newbies slot to trial new talent.
With Clara on mornings, I'd give the chart to Scott full time, either on his Friday show or on Sundays, or indeed both. When he does step aside he could continue on this for a few years before making the well needed transition to Radio 2.
No crisis, just awkward transition and cost cutting. It's the lack of features and effort into shows that annoys me, only Scott, Greg and Matt do proper gimmicky features for people who love radio , and that's a shame and an oversight.
Dev could move to weekend afternoons between 13.00 - 16.00.
Alice Levine could move to weekday afternoons between 13.00 - 16.00
This is what is called the Tony Blackburn exit plan. Tony used to host weekday afternoon show in the late 1970's and was moved to the weekends hosting the Weekend Breakfast Show and UK Top 40 on Sundays before leaving the network in 1984. But hopefully if Scott moves to weekend Breakfast he will not have to play children's records as part of Junior Choice as part of the first couple of years on the show like Tony.
Whilst on the weekends on BBC Radio 1 Scott Mills could be used as daytime cover on BBC Radio 2 covering for Ken Bruce and Steve Wright.
I'm glad Simon Bates announced his resignation in the press before they fired him (he could see the damage happening to Radio One coming in a mile off), and I'am glad Steve Wright gave Trevor and Matthew a bollocking before he resigned (if somebody ordered me around and told me what I could and couldn't play I would do the same thing), and Adrian Juste did the right thing to swear at Matthew and tell him to *&^% off on a Friday night producing and editing the show thru a programme assistant before he did his last show that saturday and went.
Those two brutes who took over at Radio One stood on and trod on the presenters and staff like dirt on your shoe and treated the presenters like oily rags;there's NO need for that whatsoever. They just viewed people as though they were NOTHING. All the good things thrown to the wayside in a rapid nasty minded hardfaced cull.:(
PS I felt sorry for Johnny Beerling resigning because he is what BBC Radio 1 truly great up to the mass scale destruction of his well oiled and well maintained baby in 1993, but things were becoming untenable under the BBC regime coming in.
I think that's highly unlikely, don't you???
It would have been great if the BBC had appointed Johnny Beerling as controller of BBC Radio 2 the likes of Gary Davies, Bruno Brookes , Simon Bates and Dave Lee Travis could have moved with him. If Johnny moved to BBC Radio 2 then the aged 35 - 50 audience and popular presenters would have not drifted to commercial radio like Virgin 1215. Johnny asked the BBC whether he could move to BBC Radio 2 to modernise the network and they refused. When Matthew Bannister joined as controller of BBC Radio 1 he suggested to Bob Harris that he tried for BBC Radio 2. Bob went to see Frances Line controller of BBC Radio 2 and she said that the music he played was too rocky for the network.
What Johnny Beerling wanted to do was done by Jim Moir when he became controller BBC Radio 2 previously working as Head of Entertainment at the BBC. Jim appointed ex BBC Radio 1 presenters like Steve Wright, Johnnie Walker, Bob Harris and Alan Freeman. But because of the damage done by the BBC in 1993 some popular household names like Simon Bates, Gary Davies and Bruno Brookes were lost from the national BBC airwaves.
Danny Baker who took over DLT's slot was an absolute nightmare;he talked blind about allsorts of cr@p-who the hell wants to hear about PG Wodehouse and how baby's rattles got stuck to listeners heads?!?! This turned listeners away immediately and you think that was OK to downtread the station to a brand new low from a loud mouth cockney who loves to hear the sound of his own voice and annoy listeners in the way that he did?
Adrian Juste had a bloody good show of comedy and music that would liven up any saturday afternoon no end-it least you got a laugh, it cheered many up and some good sounds thrown into the mix;only politically correct types and dogooders would say it was a disgrace to radio.
I'd rather cut my privates off and nail em to the wall than listen to Danny Baker and Adrian Juste's equally dire replacement. >:(
You're at a funny age- where you don't know what to do.
Too old for radio one, too young for radio two!
It's been a problem for years- two stations simply isn't enough to cover all tastes from 13 year olds to 93 year olds, There are bound to be some gaps.
Have you tried XFM?- sounds perfect for you.
I agree BBC Radio 1 had some good output and was the Nation's Favourite but it was losing its way as a youth station and needed to be refocused but the BBC should have refocused BBC Radio 2 at the same time. Some output like Alan Freeman's Pick of the Pops and Simon Bates' Golden Hour did not belong on BBC Radio 1 in the early 90's it belonged on BBC Radio 2.
I share many of your sentiments. R1 was great in the early 90's but blimey all this stuff happened 22 years ago! If you went 22 years back from 1993, you'd get to 1971! I dont think my teenage kids would appreciate listening to DLT, Johnnie Walker, Bob Harris et al - even if I would ;-)
Not just those in their 30s. Some of us in our 50s are also left roaming the dial.
Radio One has had many great presenters since then-Zane Lowe, Chris Moyles, Chris Evans, Scott Mills, Kevin Greening and others but I don't want to get stuck in yesterday. My main concern is that the station's next generation of presenters do not seem to have the same energy and creativity. Radio One needs a new generation of presenters who will be just as memorable.
Even in 1993 the Radio1 schedule was years and years past it's sell by date. The lineup of DJs at the time belonged in the 'Happy' 1988 era. In fact, I think the problem was, that they had left it too late by 93, the dinosaurs should have been eased out over several years starting in the late 80s. I think thats why listeners left so quickly, it was too much too soon.
That said, I was 16 when DLT resigned and used to enjoy his pub quiz stuff at the weekends, I remember being pretty gutted when it ended. But in the same era I'd listen to Tong on Friday nights, Gary Davies in the weekend mornings Fluff Freeman on Sundays and Steve Edwards Soul Show on Wednesday nights. It was a very mixed up time for R1 but I used to enjoy them all, and I was in the demographic at the time.
Bannister did push the station forward, and looking back he made the right decisions (most of the time!) bringing in Lamacq, Wiley, Radcliffe, Rampling, Westwood, Nelson etc. I think at the time, once these had been introduced I wouldn't have gone back to DLT etc. I guess it's like driving your first car - you don't realise how bad it was until you've driven more modern cars, and then looking back, it's pretty obvious.
I 'left' Radio1 around 2008 (at 32 years old), occasionally I'll listen to Tong on Friday nights, daytime is completely out of bounds for me now and I think that it shows how right they have got it.
I'm 38 now, and if it still appealed to me on a regular basis, then I think they are doing something wrong, personally.
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I'm older than you and listen to the station regularly. I want to stay in touch with new music of both the chart and alternative variety and refuse to stop listening because of my age.
The station presently sounds old and dry which is curious given its reformatting towards a younger demographic.
There've been far too many haphazard changes within the last year or two and the station has lost its identity.
Friday nights sound like a bloated wedding party now after cutting the 11pm-1am slot and extending Annie Mac and Pete Tong each by an hour. Both shows now sound flaccid with no sense of pace. An astounding feat on the part of the controllers to make the best new dance music sound flat.
The 10pm-12am new music slot previously held by Grimmy/Taggart/Levine has vanished.
Fearne's departure will be felt very sorely - she bridged the gap between knowledge of the "old" Radio 1, TOTP era, the late 80s/90s and the current music scene.
They need to do a full reschedule asap with the current presenters they have. IMHO
6.30am - 10am Greg James
10-1pm Alice Levine
1pm-4pm Scott Mills
4pm-7pm Grimmy
7pm-9pm Annie Mac
10pm-12am Phil Taggart
I suspect that the secret deal is for Greg to get breakfast in 2 to 3 years time when grimmy inevitably moves on.Usually breakfast DJs don't do more than about 5 years.Moyles was the exception because his massive ego wouldn't let him give it up and his bosses were to scared to fire him.. By that time Scott will have moved on as well. Pencil in a massive reshuffle for around September 2017
With Fearne and Zane going they need to do a full purge/reshuffle now. If Greg is ultimately getting breakfast that needs to happen now not in two years time. Keep the prime chart material and presenters during the day segueing into Grimshaw in drivetime with better music and guests handing over to Annie's new music show. Greg in breakfast in two years time will be interest to nobody and Grimmy will have nothing of substance to move on to if he stays a lengthy period in the current slot.
Please, please tell me you're not serious? Juste was an aged, hackneyed old thing - never more than a very, very poor man's Everett. His best ever performance was on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWbZTOhoMZw&list=PLaj2gNUUZbfrIOfnAaNbz3FoigMhuR1NF
...which I assume everyone's seen. He reminds me of Mrs Overall being written out of Acorn Antiques. "That show was MY LIFE!" Bannister and Dann were my heroes of the time.
I'm 54, so certainly if I listened much to R1 then they have definitely got it wrong. I do, however, listen sometimes as I don't want to become completely detached from chart type music. I can still tolerate it for a while, in a way I can't Capital (but then I've never ever been able to stand Capital at any time of my life).
Does R1 persist in playing a wider range of music than it's commercial rivals, or dumb down to their level? Get rid of chat and go the speedlink route? I'd say not. It's still public service broadcasting, and it should remain distinct.
Zane is a big loss, and I don't really know where he'll end up. Far too "DeeeJay" for 6M, and XFM is too small and constricting. I also see nobody with the personality to step into Fearne's shoes, and R1 needs big personalities. I do like Taggart a lot - easy style that suits a wider audience than just "the kids" (and an accent I could listen to forever!) but I guess that's not what's required.
I would be sad to see R1 diminish further, despite being 3 x too old for it.
What on earth is controversial-or, as the article puts it, 'idiot and creepy'-about that comment? People get pregnant as a result of having sex. No surprise there. Besides which Fearne Cotton has been far from reticent about talking about sex herself in the past.
It seems to be an odd hallmark of our society that on the one hand it is obsessed with sex but on the other hand it regards any reference to a specific person as actually having had sex as being somehow distasteful and suspect.
Don't let age define what you should or should not like. After all, why should age have anything to do with enjoying new music or energetic, creative presenters?