One Love

"... BBC radio, and particularly Radio 1, draws most of the fire. Those intent on seeing the glass as half-empty find plenty of fuel for their anger in the behaviour of the station, which they accuse of being so concerned with ratings and, latterly, the BBC’s negotiations for the renewal of its charter in 2006 that it has all but abandoned the cause of new music in Britain. If you were to take the station’s weekly playlist as your sole exhibit, it would be quick work to find Radio 1 guilty. But if you were to look at the role played by its specialist shows in finding new talent and then feeding it into the daytime mainstream, then the station seems almost ground-breaking."

I'm pleased to see someone recognise this at last. I'm a big fan of Radio 1 these days. In my teens, the daytime output was an awful mixture of shite, ranging from the cosiness of Dave Lee Travis to the highly irritating Everett-lite "humour" of Steve Wright. The station's only redeeming features were its early-evening programmes (Kid Jensen, Janice Long, Steve Lamacq, etc.) and particularly the eclectic John Peel show.

Maybe one man's meat is another man's poison, but I quite like some of the daytime stuff these days. Following the blessed departure of the ego-tastic Chris Evans from the breakfast slot, I've enjoyed Zoe Ball's easy, conversational style and especially Sara Cox's quick wit and sharp humour. Jo Whiley and Nemone are listenable, even though they don't really hold my attention. Mark & Lard's surreal perspective on life is a tonic each time I get the rare opportunity to hear their afternoon programme. At the opposite end of the scale, Scott Mills irritated me at first until I tuned into his deadpan, acidic brand of humour.

Then there are the specialist shows mentioned above. It strikes me as odd that the very people who believe that the station should become less mainstream and more specialised are also those who constantly bring up the subject of its declining audience figures. It seems obvious to me that the latter is directly related to the former, because by definition a specialist station isn't going to appeal to as many people as one that programmes its output to the lowest common denominator. As the specialist shows become more dominant, the casual listener turns over to Radio 2 because that's where they get to hear all of their ten-year-old favourites.

If you like a broad range of modern music and you think you don't like Radio 1, I recommend a reappraisal, because to me it's a national treasure. Start here. I've subconsciously written this post for UK readers, but of course via the wonder of streaming media the station can be heard worldwide.

Posted by Hg on Tuesday 24 June 2003 at 06:34.
Received 5 comments so far.

Radio 2!

*cough*

My weekends wouldn't be complete without it.

Comment by Vaughan on Tuesday 24 June 2003 at 09:19.

I've listened to Radio 1 for about 30 something years now and it has varied in quality enormously. Broadly I'd go along with your assessment, except Sara Cox annoys the hell out of me - too much horsiness, too much Bolton, too much Eminem. Mark & Lard are still the only people pronouncing his name correctly too.

It's a shame that M & L aren't on in the graveyard slot any more - they were funny, irreverent and played some great music.

Nemone is quite cool, but I really LOL with the Dreem Teem (or however you say it). Sunday mornings, very funny.

Because of all the Eminem recently (it drives me mad) I've been tuning to Radio 4 - the best pictures of any radio station. But I'll probably tune back after a few weeks. I need my music.

Comment by Larry Lurex on Tuesday 24 June 2003 at 11:11.

Likewise, I can't stand Sara Cox. Zoe Ball was tolerable, but seemed to be a female version of Chris Evans. I notice how you haven't mentioned the "Saviour of Radio 1", Chris "Mark Lamaar hates me" Moyes. :)

Of course, Mark and Lard are the real Kings of Daytime. I've followed them for years. I was born in the same village as Frank Sidebottom, btw.

I regularly listen on the internet to Mark and Lard and, on occasion, catch some of the evening stuff. I think the BBC do a resonable job of balancing crap/ratings with quality/no ratings and seemed to get pilloried from both sides.

Comment by Paul on Tuesday 24 June 2003 at 16:34.

Mark and Lard in the graveyard slot - those were the last 'great days' (sniff sigh) of Radio 1 as far as I'm concerned. Poetry! Literature! Even theatre . . . and, of course, terrific music and sessions. In fact, Radio 4 aside, their late-night show was the last regular radio programme I used to make an 'appointment to listen to'. Since then - ugh.

Comment by Vaughan on Tuesday 24 June 2003 at 23:15.

Well, having been at Radio for Work Experience in the past, just after they got rid of Simon Mayo, a really irritating guy in our group kept asking EVERYONE (Head of Music, Head of Programming, The guy by the water cooler etc etc) if they felt they'd lost a sense of history with saying goodbye to 'The Golden Hour' or whatever it was called - the two half hours of retrospective stuff you had to guess the year.

They ALL replied 'no, we're a new music station'. Now it seems that every show has a 1 or 2 song equivalent, with the Su Pollard-esque Sara Cox playing Tiffany's 'I think we're alone now' to death, through to 'Back of the Stack' and a load of other retrospective titles cropping up everywhere.

R1 is always changing, and some things work, some don't.
The new era of Colin-and-Edith seems to be a bit more of an MTV-ish 'yoof' culture move, and I'm waiting to see how that pans out!

(Incidentally for all those who don't like Sara Cox, a friend of mine (accidentally) opened a soundproofed door into her face when we were wandering around lost)

Comment by Stuart on Monday 30 June 2003 at 13:54.

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