No Rock And Roll Fun

D PEARCE DISAPPEARS: So, that new Radio One schedule in full, then. Dave Pearce is kicked off daytime, with his empire now consisting of just the Sunday night Dance Anthems slot; an extra hour is stuck on the end of Sara Cox's show (currently being kept running by Scott Mills), and now Zane Lowe will be kicking off at 7.00 "to act as a bridge to the rest of the schedule". We're not quite sure how that's going to work, as he's now going to be followed by specialist stuff - how exactly does Zane's nosiy indie fest form a bridge between Sara Cox and Bobby Friction & Nihal's Asian beats show? Anyway, the 9 pm slot will be Lamacq Live on Mondays (surviving for now), The Lock Up on Tuesdays, Bobby Friction Wednesdays, Annie Mac with a new show on Thursdays ("Annie is a brand new DJ coming straight from The Zane Lowe show. She is going to present a snapshot of everything that is new and exciting in the dance world"). Peel gets his worst slot ever, between 11 and 1, Tuesdays to Thursdays. And we remember how happy he was when he was moved from 10 to 8 about ten years ago, confiding he got knackered by the end of the evening shows. From a listener point of view, though, it's not as bad as it could be - after all, there's the same amount of show, and most people use listen again for the Peel show these days, don't they?

It's a pity that Parfitt didn't have the courage to carry his plan through to the logical conclusion - if Zane is meant to bring audiences through from daytime to night-time, what's the point in him starting after everyone from daytime has switched off and gone to watch The Simpsons? He needs to be on at Six. Then, bring Peel back to 8 o'clock, and put the specialist strand at ten - it's a great move to put these into a more mainstream time slot, but we're not convinced they're the right ones.

Annie Nightingale is given a much better slot - Radio One's other great survivor swaps the four am on Sunday, desperately-trying-to-pretend-that-after-clubbers-are-tuning in, for 1 in the morning on Fridays. Mary Anne Hobbs Breezeblock shuffles to the same time on Tuesday morning (why do Radio One seem to under-rate her programme so much?).

The interesting thing is 3 am, Monday to Thursday, which is set aside for an hour of "experimental" with a vague promise to be "dedicated to showcasing the new and unusual from the worlds of music, comedy and art." It would be being overkind to suggest that it's a curate's egg of a schedule, but it's not quite the stinker it could have been.