Review of Radio 1's Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw

A couple of times this week, I listened in on Radio 1’s Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio, and I decided to write a review for the show on Tuesday September 25^th 2012.  However, it’s only a partial review because obviously the Brits are six hours ahead of us – the show starts 6:30AM their time and 12:30AM CST – and runs til 10:30AM their time, 4:30AM CST…I’m not THAT dedicated to hear the whole show.  I have other priorities to attend to.  I relatively stayed up until 2:30AM, which is half of the entire show.

The first thing I want to point out that is a guilty pleasure for me (and probably a lot of other people) is: who doesn’t enjoy listening to British people with great radio voices talk?   You have me sold at British – I’m just saying.  The second thing I’d like to point out is the impressiveness of how far technology has progressed.  It still blows my mind that I’m able to listen to this radio show that audiences in England are listening to at the same time.  It gives me a sense of connectivity to the population overseas.

So Nick Grimshaw started this show very recently, Tuesday being his third show of the series, and impressively he was able to snag Emma Watson on the show.   I looked Grimshaw up on Google, and I became unimpressed.  Not that it’s not impressive he had Watson on the show, it’s just he’s been doing host work for awhile and he’s replacing the former host of the show, so essentially the show’s been around and probably has the credibility to have a notorious actress on it.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stick around to hear her segment.

As a host, I think Grimshaw has good radio host nature.  He’s personable and funny.  He relates to his audience by talking about everyday activities, not wanting to wake up early cause everyone can identify with that, without censoring anything – he’s not prim and proper.  Every morning he plays the “Wake Up Song” as a gimmick to “wake up” his listeners.  It’s a comedic gesture and it’s cute.  I also thought it was nice of him to go outside to the girls waiting at the studio and give them tea.  That was sweet (pun intended).

Since this is British radio, I had expected British artists to rule the airwaves, but I was pleasantly surprised.  There are British artists who play on the radio, but they also played music off of America’s Top 40 list.  I like this because coming from someone who doesn’t live in England, I am able to discover new music.  However, personally, I was not too stoked about hearing PSY’s “Gangnam Style.”  That song is just utterly ridiculous and I can’t believe it’s playing over in England.

Another segment on the show is “News Beat,” where Grimshaw’s co-host, Tina, reads off news stories periodically throughout the show.  It keeps audiences informed about current events even though this show is primarily centered around entertainment.  It’s interesting to hear about the different stories but I can picture younger audiences tuning it out and doing other activities until the regular show comes back.

The major news on Tuesday’s show was a big announcement about the world’s current phenomenon, One Direction.  For about an hour, Grimshaw dragged out the anticipation of everyone listening in, including the many girls who gathered outside the studio very early.  I felt so sorry for those girls because they had school that day, 8:00AM to be exact, and he didn’t reveal the news until ten minutes til eight.  I wasn’t there in person waiting for the news and I was already slightly annoyed.

What was the big news you ask?  Well, next weekend each member of One Direction will be co-hosting the radio show all day.  Each member will be aired at certain time slots:

(Keep in mind that these are the British times, so be a big kid and do the math.)

            8AM – 10AM – Liam Payne

            10AM – 12PM – Harry Styles

            12PM – 2PM – Zayn Malik

            2PM – 4PM – Niall Horan

            4PM – 6PM – Louis Tomlinson

In all honesty, I don’t see this as big news, and it was hyped up too much, especially the way Grimshaw handled it.  I hardly listen to the radio in the first place unless I’m cruisin’ in my car, so this doesn’t affect me.  With the way that Grimshaw talked about big news, I was expecting something related to the album or a performance or something.

            The last segment that I listened to was a phone call with Niall Horan of One Direction.  Grimshaw woke him up and chatted with him for a bit.  They talked about what it would be like if Niall had a solo career cause apparently he is the most serious of the One Direction boys.  They kept the chit-chat pretty light and funny and nothing too serious.  

            Overall, it was entertaining.  Again, I don’t listen to many radio shows, but this one managed to keep my attention.  I probably won’t listen to it again unless there’s something absolutely pertinent that I want to hear.  Give it a listen if you can stay awake that late and enjoy some nice music and nice British voices.