This week marks the third week of new breakfast DJ Nick Grimshaw’s takeover of the prime time show, formerly helmed by Chris Moyles. There are plenty of opportunities at this point to review how well Grimmy is doing: is his show funny? Does he, too, favour more jingles than it is possible to stomach at that time in the morning? And the favourite question: is he managing to attract those transient ‘youthful’ listeners that everyone seems to want so much? Unfortunately, as I’m not an avid Radio One listener, I don’t feel in a position to answer any of these questions. Instead I felt drawn to an analysis of how a culture of exclusivity and a trend of elite ‘in-jokes’ and ‘in-crowds’, in some ways embodied by Moyles and his team, is becoming typical of Radio One in general, and has been highlighted in the pervasive and incessant promotion of Grimshaw’s new show.
First of all there is the man himself. I do not wish to review him personally; from the little I’ve seen he seems nice enough – cheerful with a sharp sense of humour. The papers have been quick to notice his bevy of famous friends, notably, Daisy Lowe, Agyness Deyn , Peaches and Pixie Geldof, Jaime Winstone… the list goes on. He has been described by one broadsheet as “central” to the new, select group of the London party scene. The ‘it-crowd’, if you like. As Grimmy becomes almost a celebrity in his own right, he brings this sense of elite coolness to Radio One. It may arguably attract listeners to a show run by a man who has first-hand friendships with many of the celebs we follow in the tabloids. But personally I find it a strange paradox that Radio One, which goes to such length to generate a feeling of inclusivity among listeners through request shows, a huge twitter presence, jingles and jocular informality, should back the most recent symbol of a culture of elite celebrity.
As mentioned previously, I am not what you might call a regular listener of the station. But in no way have I missed the #teamgrimmy phenomenon. Every single time you switched on radio one over the past six or so weeks, there has been a DJ promoting #teamgrimmy here and #teamgrimmy there, with celebrities, listeners and twitter all joining the trend. Congratulations for the marketing – you really can’t fault it. However, as an initial by-product of such intensive advertising and not an exactly relevant one at that, I find myself imagining exactly what kind of team this was. It starts to form images in the mind of one bizarrely large and diverse ‘team’ setting, perhaps a vast rounders match with Grimmy up to bat first. Less digressively, I wondered whether by creating the team concept, Radio One have not only created an in-group, but an out-group. Those who, (just imagine!), have a life outside sitting on twitter or backing an already successful Radio One DJ. For those poor souls, the teamgrimmy mantra may have begun to sound more like a school experience, when not being picked for the cool-kids sports team leaves you with feelings of indignation, irritation and a couldn’t-care-less face.
Obviously this has all died down now. All that remains is a breakfast show, which by all accounts is doing fairly well. But the memory remains of when Radio One tried to make radio more accessible, but ended up giving the opposite impression. Perhaps in future they should focus more on the music, and on regaining the reputation of a station that once attracted listeners for the talent of the artists it played.