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Virgin signs more people
After all this time on the air, and Virgin Radio is still behaving like it isn't quite sure what it is. Having seemed to be rolling inexorably down the direction suggested by Tony Hadley presenting old songs, the station has now picked up JK and Joel - adding to the signing of Iain Lee last week.
Programme director David Lloyd tried to explain how they'll fit at the station:
"I have long been an admirer of these two guys - they are natural communicators and really radio people," said Lloyd.
"I think commercial radio can do a lot better at weekends. So much of the time it seems to be an area that we don't spend too much time worrying about, but we want to put the energy back in weekends in a number of ways.
"Iain Lee was the first salvo fired, and JK and Joel are the second. When you are up against Jonathan Ross you need to do something more, and we are putting significant investment into weekends."
"I think commercial radio can do a lot better at weekends. So much of the time it seems to be an area that we don't spend too much time worrying about, but we want to put the energy back in weekends in a number of ways.
"Iain Lee was the first salvo fired, and JK and Joel are the second. When you are up against Jonathan Ross you need to do something more, and we are putting significant investment into weekends."
Since JK and Joel managed the task of taking the chart show and making it into something unloved, and because this is reminiscent of the enthusiasm Radio One showed when they started there - indeed, they were the new Ant and Dec.
The pair themselves say the sorts of things that DJs say when they join new stations:
"No longer are we hauling our arses out of bed at 3am looking like crap, instead we are really looking forward to doing weekends.
"It'll be great to go up against our old mate Vernon at 10a. That's if he can be bothered to turn up - his random game show schedule is demanding don't you know!"
"It'll be great to go up against our old mate Vernon at 10a. That's if he can be bothered to turn up - his random game show schedule is demanding don't you know!"
Which would be amusing, if it wasn't tinged with bitterness - the couple, of course, have flirted with the idea of being on the television themselves, only TV doesn't seem that interested.
3 comments:
Arf! Indeed, I've scoured the ITV Winter schedule and it seems not to include a new series of 'Sing it Back', JK and Joel's first prime-time attempt. I suppose it was never going to go too well when they were being touted as the new Ant and Dec, when in reality they were the spare Sam and Mark.
I'm not sure why Virgin have hired them. Mind you, I wasn't sure why Radio 1 hired them either. They seemed to get all the right radio awards and praise from top people, but always came across as little more than two awful wacky morning guys from the local GCap station. (Actually, just fastening the radio anorak a little tighter for a sec, it's interesting to see that, just recently, Radio 1's signings from commercial stations have failed - Remember Wes Butters? Their newer presenters have come from other places - Greg James from Student Radio, Annie Mac and Mike Davies from BBC production positions, Daniel P Carter from the band A - I wonder if this is a result of the way commercial stations enforce their strict format rules on presenters these days? Whatever you think of Moyles and Mills, they sound way different from JK and Joel, but also came from commercial stations, only ten years earlier) (*unfastens*)
Still, I'm glad Iain Lee's been hired. I never liked him on TV but gave his LBC show a try, and he's aces. The Shindiggery podcast's good fun too (http://iainlee.libsyn.com).
I am not Iain Lee.
If JK and Joel present a radio show and no-one tunes in to hear it, does it make a sound?
Only the Cue to Call, followed by hysterical screaming on Lucky Line 9.
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