UK DJs Are Audience Magnets

Michael Hedges February 3, 2005

DJs, show hosts and presenters draw the praise when audience surveys show more listeners tuning in. And they are roundly flogged when those numbers are down. In the UK, voices on the radio are more and more tied to a stations’ success.

UK media critics, estimated by radio programmers at between one-half to three-quarters of the population, regularly sound off with every DJ schedule change, hiring or dismissal. The UK talent pool, influenced considerably by the BBC, includes more television personalities as programmers reach for audience drawing power.

Capital 95.8 FMs Chris Tarrant bid farewell in April 2004 to 17 years hosting the stations morning show, looking to leverage his renown to a television career. The new morning show host, selected after months of speculation, was to be TV personality Johnny Vaughn.

In January BBC Radio 1 flipped morning and afternoon show hosts, Sara Cox and Chris Moyles. A model and TV personality, Cox took over the Radio 1 morning show from Zoe Ball in 2000 and the audience tide rose in her first year and a quarter. Then it fell. By August 2002 fewer than 7 million tuned in each morning. After another 400,000 listeners fled, Cox was shown the door, first to the afternoon slot then off Radio 1 entirely for maternity leave.

Though BBC Radio 1 is a national channel targeting 15 to 24 year olds and Capital 95.8 FM is a London station targeting a slightly older segment, both show hosts compete for the very important morning radio audience. It’s a tight race, which also notably includes Radio 2 morning host Terry Wogan reaching more than 7 and a half million listeners each week.

“Breakfast is still far and away the most important time of the day, “ says Capital Radio Managing Director Keith Pringle. “At this time people generally want a show that wakes them up, puts them in a good mood and helps them start their day with fun, local information and up beat music.”

Johnny Vaughn
Capital FM Breakfast Show Host

Chris Tarrants’ final audience share lept to 10%, the highest of any commercial station, but Vaughn’s first report-card three months later posted a dip. Pringle is 100% behind his new radio star.

“Johnny is a perfect example of a great morning host - he's naturally funny and spontaneous. He has a great sense of what's important to people today and he never runs out of steam.”

Presenters, as they are called in the UK, switch easily between the BBC and commercial channels. Classic FM, the “popular” classical music national commercial channel, employs Simon Bates and Mark Goodier, both veterans of BBC Radio 1. Pringle is cautious about the UK talent pool for radio:

“The talent pool could always be warmer but I'm encouraged with the number of people that still have a strong desire to work on radio.  I'd like to hear more people being themselves rather than trying to sound like someone they're not.  I know it's absolutely basic, but there still aren't many people with the skill to really communicate one to one on the radio.”

Fourteen hosts in 37 years have presented morning shows on BBC Radio 1. The average tenure is but two years and only four lasted more than five years. Since 1993 the average stay on the Radio 1 morning show is 15 months. Sara Cox stayed three years and nine months.  Simon Mayo introduced a “Breakfast Zoo” show in 1988 and was the last host to stay more than five years.

Controller Andy Parfitt has been at the helm of Radio 1 for six years, outlasting most of the staff, and presiding over the April/May overhaul that shuffled the entire schedule. His predecessor, Matthew Bannister, began the evolution of Radio 1 into a more targeted and youthful channel in 1993. According to the most recent RAJAR survey, Radio 1 exceeds 50% of all 15 to 24 years old listeners. 

In October John Peel, one of Britain’s best known radio personalities, died while on holiday at age 65. Peel joined Radio 1 in 1967 and continued hosting night-time programs on Radio 1 and a Radio 4 program until his death. The BBC reported over 30,000 messages sent within hours to the news website to commemorate Peel’s contribution to radio and music.

High profile personalities advance a station’s marketing, adding the essential human face to the branding.  Capital FMs Pringle describes the station as “a radio brand that is equally about entertainment as it is about the music we play. Of course, our personalities play a very important role in delivering Capital's overall sound.”

BBC Radio’s surge to nearly 55% of all UK listening in the third quarter RAJAR audience survey brought, again, complaints from commercial broadcasters over television cross-promotion.

“They don’t have to pay for promotion and they’re answerable to nobody, “complains Chrysalis commercial director Dan Thompson.

Commercial radio operators are hopeful that the BBC Charter Review due to be concluded in 2006 will change the landscape to their advantage, turning the BBC away from mainstream programming, television cross-promotion and high priced talent.

Previously published in Radio World International, January 2005, in a slightly different form.