Could RMC end up on drivetime?
There are two possibilities to my mind, and one of them ends with Rickie Melvin and Charlie anchoring drivetime.
Rickie Melvin and Charlie are in my view somewhat wasted on their current time slot. This is a personality show with personality presenters (three of them!) And the overwhelming majority of that show is music with very short links doing mainly shout outs, outside the few features or very rare personality links. This is clearly by virtue of the time slot, we saw on evenings longer links with more personality, and we know that the trio are capable of churning out good quality content. The morning slot on radio one has always been disproportionately music heavy compared to the rest of daytime, as far back as I can remember. Its unique characteristic as a slot is that it is both high profile with a potentially massive audience AND music heavy and treated as a jukebox. This is because people listening at this time are on the move and busy and don't wanna be interrupted too much; or so the logic goes.
Putting RMC on this slot made sense for two reasons: it was unclear when another daytime slot would be available (considering Jordan had already been lined up for drivetime), and it gave RMC the higher profile slot I suspect they had wanted since they joined the station - you don't join radio one from a commercial breakfast show to do late nights, as part of the discussions there must have been mention of getting a daytime show. The show is a great listen, they are fine when they are and it's much higher energy than Clara - a very strong midmorning offering, and some enjoyable chaos. It just remains the case that we all know they could do so much more. Putting them on midmornings has proved that they have the mainstream daytime appeal - it doesn't appear that they have been a big listener turn off -and they bedded in nicely to daytimes. In my view there are two possible directions radio one daytimes will headed in the next three or so year, and one involves RMC being promoted.
Greg James has done the breakfast show for four years now, and we know when he decides to call it a day Vick and Jordan will almost certainly move up to the main gig. This would leave a vacancy on the second most crucial slot: drive time is nowhere near as critical to a station's overall performance and reputation as breakfast, but it is both a key daypart AND a great training ground for your next big star. In the event that in the next couple years Vick and Jordan do get bumped up to Breakfast, I suspect we will see a new duo created, with some of the strong performers from across the schedule promoted - maybe Dean and Katie? Maybe even Arielle being paired up? Duos seem to be in vogue at the moment, and I see no one capable of doing radio one drive on their own right now. A curveball choice would be pairing Jack Saunders and Arielle.
But there is another scenario, where for whatever reason new talent isn't ready to take over drive time just yet. Maybe Katie is poached for breakfast with Jordan, in that case I think Vick solo would suit midmornings better than drive, so if you didn't want another co-host I think you would consider the possibility of a straight swap with Ricky Melvin and Charlie. A couple of years on drive would probably be much more than they ever thought they'd get to do on radio one - and while they'll never be breakfasts DJs on Radio 1 by virtue of the fact they came to the station later in their radio careers comparative to others, I think they'd be able to produce an engaging entertaining and near the edge show at drive time. Right now drive time has the same problem that breakfast hand during the Grimmy era: you don't have fresh talent ready to take up the slot when the incumbents make a move.
The solution reached for breakfast was to put the predictable safe pair of hands on the show for a few years; it worked very well, and Greg sounds terrific in the mornings, and now of course you have a fresh new breakfast show waiting in the wings when required. I think the equivalent move of putting Ricky Melvin and Charlie on drive time as a safe pair of hands until someone like Jack Saunders or Katie Thistleton, or even Dean or James Cusack were ready to take over and be the next big fresh talent. I think it's pretty unlikely, but don't discount our current midmorning trio ending up on radio one drive in the next couple of years.
As for Vick and Jordan on the road in Newcastle - it sounded great! I thought it was a really engaging listen, they talked about the local area a lot, and they seemed to be broadcasting from the uni campus: very on brand and great PR for Radio 1. Can't wait to find out which show goes on the road next and where they go! They kept mentioning that they wanted to get out of London; I have a feeling they were told to keep emphasizing the "out of London" line, essentially the selling point of going around the country as is detailed in the BBC Annual Plan document. So keep your eyes peeled for more of this!
Tomorrow: Arielle steps in on drive next week and big weekend news on Monday.
