So, as you'd expect, I was a little disappointed yesterday when Chris announced on the show that he would be leaving the breakfast show in September. No more than a little disappointed though - I know that Chris, Dave, Dom (and hopefully Tina and Aled) will pop up somewhere else that it maybe more suitable than what Ben Cooper wants the Radio 1 breakfast show to be. I'm also only a little disappointed because, it seems, Chris left on his own terms - jumped before he was pushed.
It was later revealed that Nick Grimshaw would be taking over the breakfast show. Fair enough. Maybe a bit of a snub for Greg James but I don't really care.
I've listened to a few of Grimmy's shows before and they're alright. They're probably not for me though. I'll say that for now because I have the decency to hold judgement unlike a few people who have felt the need to throw in their two cents about Mr. Moyles. It seems that it is not possible for people to just say "I'm not a fan" but that people always feel the need to go on an ill-informed, narcissistic rant that shows they don't really listen to the show.
A prime example of this was by someone called Eve Barlow. Who writes a "music blog" (has there anything been anything more able to make you lose all faith in humanity. Surely a music blog should just be "ooh that sounds good" or "hmm no I don't like that so much"). This Eve girl decided that one of her music blogs should focus on radio for some reason. This was an incredibly typical of the rubbish that is written about Moyles all the time. If you want to read the drivel, do it here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/jul/12/chris-moyles-nick-grimshaw
If you've read it then hopefully you'll realise on your own terms that it's fucking silly but if not I will dissect it.
Paragraph 1: She wines on about him yawning. She really overplay this. I think he yawns maybe once on a show. He is on the air at 6.30 every morning. He will be tired. When I listen, I am also tired. I yawn. He yawns. All other listeners will be yawning. I don't want to hear some overly polished fake show. Yes he is relaxed - this is good. I find it very endearing to hear people chat as if they're chatting.
And "loaded, lad culture" why? On what basis? He likes to talk about diet and the gym. He also talks about the family life of Dom and Aled's relationship. This is not laddish.
Paragraph 2: And now we hit the classic ego shtick as she moans about him slamming down the phone on callers. Which, in four years of listening, I think I've heard him do twice and both times when I was begging him to do so because the caller was so awful. Sure he's not this artificially lovely person that Sara Cox makes herself on the radio but what he does is play for laughs.
I can't help but think that this makes him fairly ego free. He isn't making the kind of "please love me" radio that you get from Fearne Cotton but works tirelessly to make his audience laugh. He often jokes that the show is all about him but it isn't any more about him than any other radio how is about it's host. He makes the show about the funniest tool he has to hand. This big ego is mythical.
And a for the lusting after females thing. Well yes, he does do that and it can be a bit cringy but it is what blokes do talk about but do you know what - you're right it'd be better if he didn't but he is just being himself.
Oh and it's not "Jesus of radio". It is "saviour of radio". Minor difference I know but hows little research has gone into this article. And whenever he says this it is so obviously sarcastic. And it is worth noting that it was a play on Howard Stern's "king of all media".
Then she/you (I've changed tenses more than once already) goes on about his discussion of the Gay pride festival last week. It is worth noticing that he is not discussing it with "the camp one" but his producer Aled Hayden Jones who is in a same sex relationship. And never have I seen a conversation so badly represented. Eve says: Moyles goes into Alpha Male bullying mode to ridicule the celebrations, reducing them to a show of "glitter and hot pants"
This really isn't what happened. He was asking, as he has previously, whether it was not wrong for most/ all of the pride parade floats to be overly camp, flamboyant and somewhat feminine when there are many gay men who are not like this. He has had previous discussions where he suggested a float with gay men just drinking beer watching the football because that represents them. I thought this was funny but it certainly not homophobic.
The nearest he has ever come to being homophobic was when, in response to Aled being unkeen to spend any period of the rest of the team socially, he accused Aled of being hetrophobic and asked "what have you got against us breeders?" That is obviously not homophobic and the heavily sarcastic nature proved this.
And then she's back to the yawning. I've already addressed this. He talks like someone talking rather than this weird slick thing. It doesn't mean he thinks he's better than Radio 1. It means he's a bit tired and not hiding it.
Paragraph 3: "a home for bound together enthusiasts". Please don't try to claim that it is a home for enthusiasts of music. Fearne Cotton, Scott Mills, Greg James aren't this any more than Chris and his team are. And if you mean a home for enthusiasts of radio then there isn't one bigger than Chris. Read his biography. he's been doing radio since he was eleven.
And then she mentions that Radio 1 bills himself itself as the home of new music. Well, the fact it fails on that is not Chris's fault. He plays music from the playlist. The same playlist Grimmy will have to pick from. It's a shit playlist but that isn't relevant. For good music see BBC 6music with a less restrictive shitty playlist.Last paragraph: Apparently, the great thing about Grimmy (who remember I'm not going to judge yet) is not his clever radio or in fact anything on-air. The great thing about Grimmy is that he knows the words to songs and sings along to gigs. So fucking what? I don't care what he knows about music. We need someone who can provide us with entertaining features between shitty playlist songs.
The bottom line being I like Chris Moyles, I might like Grimmy. I am not a fan of Fearne Cotton but I do not need to repeat old, tired, inaccurate, narcissistic rant about it. That is all.
I'll miss not waking up to Chris but hopefully he (and his team) will be given a more appropriate platform.
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