Now two years in to filling the 10am slot that was home to Ken Bruce for 31 years, Kay’s loud “banter” and inane, excitable observations about everyday life and his weekends playing golf might be relatable and energetic enough to just about keep his programme the most popular in the UK. But for me they are another sign of the decline of Radio 2.
Ken Bruce, Graham Norton, Claudia Winkleman, the late Steve Wright, Craig Charles, Simon Mayo, Vanessa Feltz – all gone, and many taking their fans with them. Replacing them like for like has been impossible, given meagre BBC budgets will not stretch to drawing in the best rising talent. And what appeal would a legacy radio station have anyway, with its generic music and strict, limiting guidelines, when young presenters and comics can earn more money and exposure from social media and brand deals, and grow their fanbases by being “authentic” and “unfiltered” and sharing their real opinions?
Scott Mills hosting his first Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 earlier this year (Photo: BBC/PA Wire)
I imagine the station was bracing itself for worse. Radio listeners are creatures of habit and take a while to accept change, and there was always going to be turbulence after the shake up to Radio 2’s daytime schedule this year, when Scott Mills took over from Zoe Ball on the breakfast show after six years, Trevor Nelson took over Mills’s slot in the afternoon, and DJ Spoony replaced Nelson in the evenings. Mills lost 360,000 listeners after Ball’s departure, which given the big names on competitor stations in that slot and the millions of listeners Ball herself lost after she replaced Chris Evans in 2019, is almost enough to warrant a sigh of relief.
square BBC RADIO 2 Scott Mills is the only replacement for Zoe Ball - and that's a problem for the BBC
Read More
Appealing to the biggest possible demographic is the sole purpose of Radio 2. This isn’t a specialist music station, and it’s not a current affairs one either – it is there to give its listeners company, consistency, intimacy and routine. Its presenters are with us on the most mundane days of our lives and give us structure and familiarity and solace through the messy ones. They’re there as we wake up, drive to work, make dinner, they make us part of a conversation without us having to say a word.
Greg James does this brilliantly on his Radio 1 breakfast show. Rylan Clarke, Liza Tarbuck, Michelle Visage, and Romesh Ranganathan are triumphing on Radio 2 at the weekends, and are worlds away from the increasingly anaesthetising stuff broadcast Monday to Friday. Gambling on more of this is what will give Radio 2 a fighting chance.
Radio 2 has always managed this because of its programmes’ spark, charisma, and trust in the audience’s intelligence. It will not keep its listeners if, in desperation to be all things to all people, it loses its identity and becomes a tribe we no longer belong to.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( If Vernon Kay is Radio 2’s biggest hit we’re in trouble )
Also on site :