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BBC News: Presenters, correspondent & rotas

Split from BBC News: Presenters & Rotas (July 2019)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
AN
all new Phil
cityprod posted:
Cusack posted:
cityprod posted:

Where were you in 1993 when BBC Radio 1 dismissed a lot of DJs due to their age? It was just as illegal back then, but nothing ever happened as a result of it.


Did Radio 1 dismiss them for being old or for being out of touch with the audience? I personally think it's the latter.


They weren't out of touch with the audience they had. At the time, they were the most popular UK radio station. You can hardly say they were out of touch with their audience, when they had more listeners than any other station. Matthew Bannister just didn't care for the audience profile, which he felt in his 'infinite wisdom' was too old for a station like Radio 1. So they fired most of the older, popular DJs, keeping those like Nightingale and Peel who Bannister felt had credibility with the "yoof". It was all about age. Age of the audience, age of the DJs, and they felt bringing in younger DJs would bring in a youger audience, and it didn't quite work as well as they hoped,.

Quote:
That's why Chris Moyles disappeared from the Breakfast show while Scott Mills who is the same age as Moyles is still on Radio 1. Mills has adapted his act to stay relevant while Moyles is till doing the same show on Radio X he did nearly 20 years on Radio 1, except it's just not as good.


If it ever was good, to which I would say, no, it was never good. Different, yes, but different isn't necessarily better or worse, but his schtick was never great to begin with

*
DE
deejay
Radio 1 and 2 at the time were both out of touch with their remit audiences. While Radio 1 had some presenters collecting their pensions, Radio 2 had listeners well used to collecting theirs!
JA
Jamesypoo
Had no idea Mary Nightingale worked at Radio 1 - you learn something new every day.
DE
deejay
Sorry. Just come off nights. Must engage brain before posting !!
CI
cityprod
deejay posted:
cityprod posted:
deejay posted:
Age is entirely irrelevant and, if this was a workplace discussion, would be speedily dismissed. It’s illegal to employ, promote or dismiss someone on grounds of their age so I don’t see why it’s up for debate. Describing presenters as forgettable may be your opinion but it is hardly in the spirit of public debate. Many presenters and professionals in this industry do read this forum and that’s worth bearing in mind when such personal opinions are aired.


Where were you in 1993 when BBC Radio 1 dismissed a lot of DJs due to their age? It was just as illegal back then, but nothing ever happened as a result of it.


I was a listener to Radio 1 in 1993 (I was 19 so should have been their core demographic). Many of the new presenters Matthew Bannister brought in didn’t immediately fit and some were a disaster. But he did what he had to do. Radio 1 was desperately out of touch with its remit and many of the presenters that were on the station at the time had been there for decades. They were hugely popular but they were popular with the wrong audience.

There was at the time a lot of criticism of the BBC (much like there has been recently) for being too populist and out of touch and arguably what Matthew Bannister was doing was absolutely the right thing to do. He brought in changes that were massively controversial and unpopular but heralded the modern Radio 1 - and, in my opinion, saved it from being sold off (which was a very real Possibility).


I was 20 at the time, again right in their core demographic, but they didn't have to do anything to Radio 1. And it wasn't the right thing at all, it was self destructive, and honestly, the talk about privatising Radio 1 and 2 at the time, was just that, talk. The Tories at the time couldn't actually do it, without making very significant changes to the BBC as a whole, and it was never going to be agreed. The BBC as a whole is beloved as a national institution, and this change to Radio 1 actually hurt the BBC far more than it helped, and they've never totally recovered from that blow.

The 1993 Radio 1 Revolution was not a success by any meaningful measure, and saying it heralded the modern Radio 1 is saying that they took something beloved and popular and made it awful and unrecognisable. Radio 1 now is a mess, and that mess can be traced all the way back to Matthew Bannister. It was a metropolitan idea of what "yoof" was then, and it still is now, the basic idea of "yoof culture" from the 1990s is still at the heart of Radio 1 and honestly, that idea had died a death before it even came to Radio 1. The old idea of ratings by day, credibility by night is what Radio 1 should be doing, not trying to appeal to a vision of "yoof" that hasn't been relevant ever, and hasn't been around properly since 1992.
AN
all new Phil
cityprod posted:
deejay posted:
cityprod posted:

Where were you in 1993 when BBC Radio 1 dismissed a lot of DJs due to their age? It was just as illegal back then, but nothing ever happened as a result of it.


I was a listener to Radio 1 in 1993 (I was 19 so should have been their core demographic). Many of the new presenters Matthew Bannister brought in didn’t immediately fit and some were a disaster. But he did what he had to do. Radio 1 was desperately out of touch with its remit and many of the presenters that were on the station at the time had been there for decades. They were hugely popular but they were popular with the wrong audience.

There was at the time a lot of criticism of the BBC (much like there has been recently) for being too populist and out of touch and arguably what Matthew Bannister was doing was absolutely the right thing to do. He brought in changes that were massively controversial and unpopular but heralded the modern Radio 1 - and, in my opinion, saved it from being sold off (which was a very real Possibility).


I was 20 at the time, again right in their core demographic, but they didn't have to do anything to Radio 1. And it wasn't the right thing at all, it was self destructive, and honestly, the talk about privatising Radio 1 and 2 at the time, was just that, talk. The Tories at the time couldn't actually do it, without making very significant changes to the BBC as a whole, and it was never going to be agreed. The BBC as a whole is beloved as a national institution, and this change to Radio 1 actually hurt the BBC far more than it helped, and they've never totally recovered from that blow.

The 1993 Radio 1 Revolution was not a success by any meaningful measure, and saying it heralded the modern Radio 1 is saying that they took something beloved and popular and made it awful and unrecognisable. Radio 1 now is a mess, and that mess can be traced all the way back to Matthew Bannister. It was a metropolitan idea of what "yoof" was then, and it still is now, the basic idea of "yoof culture" from the 1990s is still at the heart of Radio 1 and honestly, that idea had died a death before it even came to Radio 1. The old idea of ratings by day, credibility by night is what Radio 1 should be doing, not trying to appeal to a vision of "yoof" that hasn't been relevant ever, and hasn't been around properly since 1992.

Greg James is not even remotely “yoof”.
London Lite, TVMan and bilky asko gave kudos
JO
Jonwo
The documentary Blood on the Carpet gives a fascinating insight into the whole Radio 1 cull
JamesWorldNews and radiolistener gave kudos
RA
radiolistener
Jonwo posted:
The documentary Blood on the Carpet gives a fascinating insight into the whole Radio 1 cull


Yes I saw that again recently.

Very recommended.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
cityprod posted:
Quote:
That's why Chris Moyles disappeared from the Breakfast show while Scott Mills who is the same age as Moyles is still on Radio 1. Mills has adapted his act to stay relevant while Moyles is till doing the same show on Radio X he did nearly 20 years on Radio 1, except it's just not as good.


If it ever was good, to which I would say, no, it was never good. Different, yes, but different isn't necessarily better or worse, but his schtick was never great to begin with


I think you can objectively say that the Radio X show is not as good. It's on a niche station with a comparatively small audience, so can't attract A list guests (even before Coronavirus).

It's also less produced, with fewer features. Some of that is down to budget, but I think a lot of it is a deliberate effort not to do a carbon copy of the old show.
IS
Inspector Sands
Part of that is due to the different presenting dynamic and the fact it has adverts so less time for features. They're also older and talking to their own demographic (although some would say they were at radio 1 too!)

His show is a good listen, it took a while to settle in but developed it's own style different to Radio 1. It sounded odd without the co-presenter role but that's gone now the sitcom zoo format had bedded in.

That said I rarely listen live, the podcast of highlights is a better listen (although far too long, I always have a load to catch up on)
LL
London Lite Founding member
Radio 1 in the early 90s was bad. You had the likes of Bates and Dave Lee Travis who had delivery more suited to the parents of the target audience, while there were some highlights like Mayo on Breakfast, the output was nowhere as good as Capital in London who had tightly targeted the output for R1's demo while R1 would still have the Electric Light Orchestra as a recurrent.
BR
Brekkie
JamesLaverty1925 posted:
the BBC can look to the regions as well for young talent. Elise Chamberlain and Navtej Johal from East Midlands today spring to mind, I'm sure plenty of others from other regions as well could do so.

They can but with presenting talent at least I'm not sure they do.


Emily Maitliss is the obvious transfer from BBC London to the national news scene, though that is now 14 years ago. Roger Johnson fronts things like Politics England and Breakfast on Sunday thanks to the show being based in Salford, but beyond that presenter wise at least it doesn't feel like the BBC tap into the regions, or even BBC London, as much as ITV do - though obviously the BBC have a wider range of services, such as the news channel and radio, to pull in talent from.

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