Why isn’t the Live Lounge live anymore?
It’s unclear why this change is still in place.
The best thing about radio one's live lounge was always the live aspect - practically no where else would you be able to hear a completely live performance from a massive artist on lunchtime radio. Anything could happen, the interview was done live, and that was a buzz about the radio station as a result of the artist coming in. Since the pandemic, of course this rightfully changed as a result of the radio station not being able to have guests in the building; and even back in September, it made sense that it was being recorded in a different location, hence not live, but as the station still wasn't having guests in. But now, it has stopped making sense. The first major change was the move from midday to 11am; this made sense in terms of audience, 11am is higher profile, with more of the breakfast time audience clinging on, however it does damage the brand of the live lounge being a thing that happens at lunchtime.
The thing that doesn't make sense, is the fact that now despite the guest being in the studio, the live lounge is very blatantly pre-recorded, only one of RMC get to interview them, and it's unclear if it's even done in the radio one building or somewhere else - the soul of the live lounge is gone, and the whole thing is very commercial radio and pre-packaged and predictable. This won't matter to everyone, but I actually do think it is taking a bit of the magic of the feature away, and contributing to everything becoming a little too predictable. The chaos of big events being done live where things could go wrong is one of the best things about the station; too much caution is most definitely a vice, and radio one would do well to remember that. Maybe RMC and their prior experience on commercial radio has led them to be more cautious and less spontaneous in how they execute the longstanding feature.
In other news, if you have a look at Vick or Jordan's Instagram, you get a glimpse of the vehicle radio one is using this year to travel the country; the branding is very snazzy, the new logo is there and the colour scheme it is in tune with the new photos for the shows on BBC sounds. It appears to be a studio, with microphones and screens inside an on the road vehicle, with a QR outside to hear radio one, and total portability; not to mention listening to the radio yesterday, the microphone quality was almost up there with the normal studios, and it didn't decrease the quality in the way an OB has on radio one in the past; they’ve clearly got all the kit they need. It was a fun show yesterday, and I suspect we will see much more over the next couple of days of drive time being live on the road from Newcastle - it appears that wherever they are parked passers by are walking past; but they haven't said exactly where they are, so they clearly aren't seeking a crowd of people to turn up, unless that changes today or tomorrow. Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for which show is on the road next and to where; and whether they will wait for another half term period, maybe in May. Should be interesting.
Finally I want to talk to you about next week's schedules, everything will be a little weird. Vick will be riding solo for a full week on drive time, she of course did this before when Jordan got covid over Christmas, but it is a little odd that whenever Vick is off Jordan is paired with Katie (which works very well) but Jordan is off next week, and Vick does solo; this is because Katie is busy on weekends and covering for Scott that week, but I actually think a pairing of Vick and Katie on drive time for a week would be great (Plus gives Katie more exposure on a peak time slot); Jordan is as capable of doing a solo show, so you would hope were Katie not busy she would have paired up with Vick.
Scott is also off next week, and we once again have the pairing of Dean and Katie - they make a nice bubbly listen, and sounded pretty comfortable last time, so good luck to them. Whether the pairing becomes permanent in future remains to be seen, but they are both properties to watch in future and will make a perfectly adequate listen while Scott and Chris aren't there. And more daytime exposure for Katie can only be a good thing, in her new capacity as supply teacher.
Finally, on the Friday Matt and Mollie make their return with a one day only addition of radio one breakfast, returning it to their normal slot the following day. It's been a while since we last heard them, so good to have them in on Friday morning's Breakfast. James Cusack will be covering for them on the Friday, with Katie doing the official chart - basically doing everything Scott does in a week.
Tomorrow I will be writing about who exactly is next in line for a weekday daytime slot first.
