RADIO 1 NEW LINE-UP
Radio 1’s new line – up, announced yesterday, includes a weekend slot for Danny Baker, poached from sister station Radio 5. Announcing the changes the station’s new controller, Matthew Banister, emphasised Radio 1’s commitment to live music, journalism and comedy.
Three of the stations’ older DJs have announced their departure in recent weeks; Dave Lee Travis, Alan Freeman and Simon Bates, amid speculation that they jumped before they were pushed. Simon Mayo is to replace Simon Bates in the mid-morning slot. He moves from the breakfast show,which will now be hosted by Mark Goodier. Jakki Brambles retains her lunch time slot and Steve Wright will continue to present his afternoon show. Veteran John Peel is moving to a daytime slot for the first time in 20 years, he will host a Saturday afternoon show as well as retaining his late night show on Fridays.
Newcomer Danny Baker will host the Saturday and Sunday morning slots previously filled by DLT. Mark Kermode, another Radio 5 DJ, is also moving to Radio 1, fuelling speculation that Radio 5 may be replaced with the BBC’s planned 24-hour rolling news and sports station. The changes are seen as an attempt to fend off the privatisation threat and attract a younger audience. Bannister yesterday denied that considerations of age had affected the new line-up, stating that; “Radio 1 for the future will not be targeted by age or income. It will offer a diverse range of music and entertainment to anyone who chooses to listen.”
Radio 1 no longer holds the monopoly as a national pop station with competition from both Atlantic 252 and Virgin. David Atkey operations director of Atlantic, who moved from Radio 1 six years ago,commented; “The changes are not so dramatic as I expected. The younger profile and move towards more meaningful speech will serve the requirements laid down by John Birt and new controller Matthew Bannister. It is a move away from being “commercial” and towards a wider public service station which will serve a broad spectrum of people. It is important that Radio 1 continues to introduce new artists – which is something that commercial stations would rather not get involved in – we all need Radio 1 to remain non-commercial.”
David Beadle, media controller at the Media Factor, which handles Radio 1, commented; “While IR is expanding, both with the number of licences and types of music, people often forget that Radio 1 has been and remains the biggest station in the country and is able to maintain this brand leadership through its ability to meet the needs of new listeners despite wider choice.”
John Pearson, Virgin’s sales director, told MediaTel that for a station whose annual budget is £37m he feels the new line-up is “stunningly unoriginal” (Virgin’s annual budget is £12m). He feels they have ousted their A-Team and brought in the B-Team with 1 big name; Danny Baker. Pearson likened Radio 1’s new evening line-up to that of a TV station, with different programming each night. He feels this inconsistency will encourage people to tune in and out of different stations in the same way that TV viewers do.
Virgin does not view Radio 1’s new line-up as a threat. Pearson goes as far as to say that Danny Baker and his new weekend slot may be too “elitist and up-market” for Radio 1 listeners. He admitted that there are likely to be rumours about the ex-Radio 1 DJs joining Virgin but insisted that his station currently has a full compliment of DJs.