BBC radio bosses have announced a huge summer schedule shake up.
The changes will see the Radio 1 Breakfast show hosted by Greg James extended by half an hour until 11am, Monday to Thursday for the summer.
Greg said he was happy to accommodate listeners who will be enjoying a lie-in during the holdays.
He said: “Being on the radio is pretty much my entire personality so why not do an extra half hour a day for all those who can’t be bothered waking up early for the Breakfast Show in the summer holidays.”
Meanwhile, broadtcasting from Cardiff, Sam and Danni will cover Friday Early Breakfast (5am – 7am) from July 5th until January 2025, when new presenters will take over the slot to showcase emerging talent.
Alongside this, they’ll host Weekend Breakfast (Saturdays and Sundays, 7am – 10am).
Industry figures for the last quarter of 2023 made grim reading for BBC top brass.
They reveled commercial stations added one million listeners year-on-year to reach a total of 39.1 million people – as thousands more people tune in to Virgin Radio and Heart FM.
By comparison Radio 1 lost almost two million listeners over the same period, with 31.3 million now tuning in. Amanda Holden and
Jamie Theakston’s breakfast show on Heart also overtook Greg James’ Radio 1 show.
According to audience polls by Rajar, 3.99 million listeners chose Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston over 3.92 million for Greg.
LEAVING/LEFT
Newsnight’s Mark Urban after 35 years on air
Claudia Winkleman quitting BBC Radio 2 after 15 years
Correspondent Robin Brant after two decades
Sports presenter Garry Richardson after 50 years
BBC Radio star Jason Rosam after 16 years on air
Jordan North quitting Radio 1 and moving to Capital
RETURNING/RETURNED
Martine Croxall after launching legal action against the Beeb
Karin Giannone after a horror injury and year off air
Annita McVeigh after losing out on a chief presenter job last year
Geeta Guru-Murthy after also being off air for more than a year
