Simon Garfield
The Nation's FavouriteThe Nation's Favourite is a collection of eyewitness accounts of Radio 1’s transition from the Smashy & Nicey days of old (well, 1992) to the right-on bastion of cool it had become by the end of the decade. Almost all the text consists of quotes from leading names connected with the station, ranging from the then-BBC controller John Birt through a host of producers, staff and DJs to various tabloid journalists and even the odd celebrity, such as Harry Enfield and, er, Francis Rossi of the popular beat combo Status Quo, while Garfield confines himself to a few self-penned link passages for the sake of context and continuity.
The book begins by outlining the station’s early years and painting a picture of how Old Radio 1 used to be. This section provides some fine quotes – 'Most of the DJs detested each other. Bates hated Wright because Wright was a threat. Wright hated Bates because Bates was a threat. They both hated DLT' – and some wonderful anecdotes, particularly from John Peel; 'Kid Jensen, Paul Burnett and myself went down and waited in the underground car park at the BBC for the opportunity to beat up Simon Bates.' But despite the apparent ill-feeling between DJs, the overall impression of the first twenty-five years of Radio 1’s life is one of a strange kind of innocence: a dusty old station run by fusty old BBC men and inhabited by cuddly, faintly ridiculous presenters, a bygone world of Our Tune and radio snooker. When Matthew Bannister took over as controller in 1993, the point at which the real meat of the book begins, he launched an attempt to remould the station with a more professional, up-to-date approach and, crucially, a new identity. It is New Radio 1's subsequent struggle to define and establish this identity (and regain some of its listeners in the process) which emerges as the dominant theme of The Nation’s Favourite.
Along the way, the innocence of old is steadily lost, to be replaced with a more efficient machine. From 1993 onwards, all that seems to have mattered at Radio 1 was listening figures, public relations and celebrities (reflecting the priorities of the wider media in this period). Concentrating almost exclusively on the five or so prime daytime shows, particularly the flagship breakfast show, each and every episode in the 1993-98 period is related in great detail – the crash in listening figures that followed Bannisters’ changes, the hiring and firing of Chris Evans and Danny Baker, various stabs at the breakfast show by Evans, Mark & Lard (bizarrely, it was Princess Diana’s death which put the final nail in their particular coffin), Kevin Greening and Zoe Ball, the recruitment of ‘saviour’ Chris Moyles, the constant battles with the press and so on. As the story unwinds, it becomes centred around fewer and fewer individuals and in the end, it becomes all too clear that, as far as its management are concerned, Radio 1’s identity is based on a small handful of celebrity presenters, with music policy trailing some distance behind.
Although therefore possibly depressing for music fans, The Nation’s Favourite is at the same time a compelling read for anyone with even the vaguest interest in the subject, owing much to the fact that the story is told as it happened by those who were there, in their own words. This adds a dimension which a more conventional approach might have lacked. Beyond the detail of the story itself, it is the clash of personalities and egos which makes The Nation’s Favourite so richly entertaining from start to finish.
The book begins by outlining the station’s early years and painting a picture of how Old Radio 1 used to be. This section provides some fine quotes – 'Most of the DJs detested each other. Bates hated Wright because Wright was a threat. Wright hated Bates because Bates was a threat. They both hated DLT' – and some wonderful anecdotes, particularly from John Peel; 'Kid Jensen, Paul Burnett and myself went down and waited in the underground car park at the BBC for the opportunity to beat up Simon Bates.' But despite the apparent ill-feeling between DJs, the overall impression of the first twenty-five years of Radio 1’s life is one of a strange kind of innocence: a dusty old station run by fusty old BBC men and inhabited by cuddly, faintly ridiculous presenters, a bygone world of Our Tune and radio snooker. When Matthew Bannister took over as controller in 1993, the point at which the real meat of the book begins, he launched an attempt to remould the station with a more professional, up-to-date approach and, crucially, a new identity. It is New Radio 1's subsequent struggle to define and establish this identity (and regain some of its listeners in the process) which emerges as the dominant theme of The Nation’s Favourite.
Along the way, the innocence of old is steadily lost, to be replaced with a more efficient machine. From 1993 onwards, all that seems to have mattered at Radio 1 was listening figures, public relations and celebrities (reflecting the priorities of the wider media in this period). Concentrating almost exclusively on the five or so prime daytime shows, particularly the flagship breakfast show, each and every episode in the 1993-98 period is related in great detail – the crash in listening figures that followed Bannisters’ changes, the hiring and firing of Chris Evans and Danny Baker, various stabs at the breakfast show by Evans, Mark & Lard (bizarrely, it was Princess Diana’s death which put the final nail in their particular coffin), Kevin Greening and Zoe Ball, the recruitment of ‘saviour’ Chris Moyles, the constant battles with the press and so on. As the story unwinds, it becomes centred around fewer and fewer individuals and in the end, it becomes all too clear that, as far as its management are concerned, Radio 1’s identity is based on a small handful of celebrity presenters, with music policy trailing some distance behind.
Although therefore possibly depressing for music fans, The Nation’s Favourite is at the same time a compelling read for anyone with even the vaguest interest in the subject, owing much to the fact that the story is told as it happened by those who were there, in their own words. This adds a dimension which a more conventional approach might have lacked. Beyond the detail of the story itself, it is the clash of personalities and egos which makes The Nation’s Favourite so richly entertaining from start to finish.
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