[bradcali]

I want to know why Chris didnt mention the audience figures on thursday.Last May you went on and on about it when you did well.You cant just ignore them when t hey go badly.Chris has gone down in my estimation by brushing it under the carpet I must say.

[MK Chris]

They have mentioned it every time in the past that they've gone down too - if it's an expected slump, then it's not news. Shut the * up, basically.

[Aled]

Aled, do you (or any other members of the team) have any significant television work coming your way in the near future? (apart from dave's mastermind appearance)

Chris has got his TV show (as you probably know by now)
Dom has got some more Dragon's Den online coming up
And I've got a series coming up but too early to talk about it.

[Aled]

Aled. I can't remember if I asked this before...but who dictates the Golden Hour song policy? I was wondering if it was management forcing Chris to only play post-1990 songs or something else. I only ask because I think its a shame you dont play older songs in the Golden Hour, just look at the great songs which have come up in the Golden Hour Game on these boards!

Radio 1 is a station that aims at 15 - 30 year olds - but at the same time we don't want to play music that a 30 year old would like that would alienate a 15 year old (because we have a responsibility to broadcast to the 15 year old as much as we do the 30 year old).

What age would you say people are before they register music? Work out then how many years back you can go before they start disconnecting from the feature because we're playing full half hours of music that they would never remember.

If you were to say that age is 8 year's old and we were to play a whole half hour from 1989 that's 20 years ago (about to be 21) which would mean you would have to be 29 to appreciate that music. That's not the music policy of a young people's radio station!

The 9:30 - 10 half hour goes further back because the idea is that there'll always be iconic songs that you'll know of before you're born. One off of those is obviously fine, but not whole half hours.

[Aled]

I want to know why Chris didnt mention the audience figures on thursday.Last May you went on and on about it when you did well.You cant just ignore them when t hey go badly.Chris has gone down in my estimation by brushing it under the carpet I must say.

We've had a history of being honest and open about our figures, obviously when we've gone up (because it's the spirit of the show to be confident) but we've also done it when it's gone down (I've personally gone to at least 3 cities after RAJARS have come out 'looking for listeners' so to suggest we brush them under the carpet is just wrong.

Saying however 'you cant just ignore them when they go badly' is a little naive. Of course we can! Why not? There are many psychological reasons for that kind of thinking which I'll happily go into once we're not doing the breakfast show anymore!

Of course, I hope by now that you've heard our X Factor Peter Dixon parody which talks about our losing the listeners.

[Aled]

They have mentioned it every time in the past that they've gone down too - if it's an expected slump, then it's not news. Shut the * up, basically.

There's going to be a cyclical trend for any breakfast show - in fact any show for that matter. With the most teenagers and younger listening to our show - more than any other radio show in the UK we're going to be affected by their routines. If they have 6 weeks of holidays then a large percentage of them are going to be waking up later. Just look at how much quieter the roads get when schools aren't in. School / work run IS our audience. Radio 1 as a whole does better as there are more young people to listen to output across the day but they'll wake up later so we suffer in the summer even as Radio 1 does better. A fact lost on some of the newspapers who've painted that as a weakness of the show.

Next quarter (avoiding any blips) the trend is that we put part of the loss back on and Radio 1 goes down (because our school run is mostly back yet the kids are not around to listen to Radio 1 in the daytime).

Wogan doesn't suffer as much as we do because he has a much smaller percentage of school kids who make up his figures.

I'm not going to post like this after every RAJAR whether up or down because it's so repetitive. Trends will be there. Don't allow yourselves to be sucked in to cheap newspaper headlines about this. If/when we actually get into trouble. You'll know about it.

[Johnny 1989]

Aled. I can't remember if I asked this before...but who dictates the Golden Hour song policy? I was wondering if it was management forcing Chris to only play post-1990 songs or something else. I only ask because I think its a shame you dont play older songs in the Golden Hour, just look at the great songs which have come up in the Golden Hour Game on these boards!

Radio 1 is a station that aims at 15 - 30 year olds - but at the same time we don't want to play music that a 30 year old would like that would alienate a 15 year old (because we have a responsibility to broadcast to the 15 year old as much as we do the 30 year old).

What age would you say people are before they register music? Work out then how many years back you can go before they start disconnecting from the feature because we're playing full half hours of music that they would never remember.

If you were to say that age is 8 year's old and we were to play a whole half hour from 1989 that's 20 years ago (about to be 21) which would mean you would have to be 29 to appreciate that music. That's not the music policy of a young people's radio station!

The 9:30 - 10 half hour goes further back because the idea is that there'll always be iconic songs that you'll know of before you're born. One off of those is obviously fine, but not whole half hours.

Aled, thanks for answering this question, the only thing is wouldn't it be good to educate the kids of the music from the 1980's at least? I know several people between the ages of 21-25 who are big fans of 80's music and I'm sure there's quite a few of the youngsters out there that know a lot of 80's music.

Certainly if there are fair percentage of listeners who are 14/15, their parents are mostly in their late 30's / early 40's, so would probably have some knowledge of 80's music.

Couldn't you ladies & gents on the show at least try out one year & see how well that works at least?

Also I take it those clips were of no use to you in the end Oh well here's hoping the show' still going for a few mor eyears yet, 2009 has been a excellent year for the show

[MK Chris]

Aled. I can't remember if I asked this before...but who dictates the Golden Hour song policy? I was wondering if it was management forcing Chris to only play post-1990 songs or something else. I only ask because I think its a shame you dont play older songs in the Golden Hour, just look at the great songs which have come up in the Golden Hour Game on these boards!

Radio 1 is a station that aims at 15 - 30 year olds - but at the same time we don't want to play music that a 30 year old would like that would alienate a 15 year old (because we have a responsibility to broadcast to the 15 year old as much as we do the 30 year old).

What age would you say people are before they register music? Work out then how many years back you can go before they start disconnecting from the feature because we're playing full half hours of music that they would never remember.

If you were to say that age is 8 year's old and we were to play a whole half hour from 1989 that's 20 years ago (about to be 21) which would mean you would have to be 29 to appreciate that music. That's not the music policy of a young people's radio station!

The 9:30 - 10 half hour goes further back because the idea is that there'll always be iconic songs that you'll know of before you're born. One off of those is obviously fine, but not whole half hours.

I take your point, but personally I think kids are generally more knowledgable about music before their time than you're giving them credit for. Parents introduce their kids to the music of their childhood and I think they tend to have a real appreciation for it. When you're talking about one half hour in a whole week of three and a half hour shows, I wouldn't say it'd be too much to go back to the eighties or even seventies and sixties every now and again.

[Yudster]

I think its a mistake to underestimate how much children absorb from the musical tastes of their parents. And grandparents come to that.

[Aled]

We broadcast TO them. We're not going to broadcast "you probably know this from your parents or your grandparents" (heaven forbid!).

This is a non starter. Sorry.

[Yudster]

Oh I agree, I was just saying. You have to have a framework on which to make decisions, I can see that. And I'm not going to carp on about half an hour a week.....well not much anyway.

[chrysostom]

Dear Aled,

Any special plans for the show for christmas in the works?

[bwfcol]

Aled, have you and Rachel swapped roles on a permanent basis?

I like both of you, I just wondered that's all!

I've really liked the shows recently, the Carr/Walliams pop-in was very funny (although maybe stressful for you!). Looking forward to Kimberly on Monday as I'm sure you are! Can you reveal any other upcoming guests?

Finally, Dave Grohl was ace, both the interview and the song, more guests like him would do nicely!

[chrysostom]

And I've got a series coming up but too early to talk about it.

OH. no it's not. blab away

[Aled]

Oh I agree, I was just saying. You have to have a framework on which to make decisions, I can see that. And I'm not going to carp on about half an hour a week.....well not much anyway.

[Aled]

Dear Aled,

Any special plans for the show for christmas in the works?

We're going to go quiet over Christmas (as usual). There'll be the Best of show on Jan the 1st then we're working on a really really cool month of shows when we come back in Jan. With all new imaging and jingles - we've been working on them for a while.

We're ending on a triple high in Dec. One thing is being announced on Monday. The other is a muscial event (ala Take That) the following week, then the final week we're ending on a Christmas Karaoke Party somewhere in the UK.

[Aled]

Aled, have you and Rachel swapped roles on a permanent basis?

I like both of you, I just wondered that's all!

I've really liked the shows recently, the Carr/Walliams pop-in was very funny (although maybe stressful for you!). Looking forward to Kimberly on Monday as I'm sure you are! Can you reveal any other upcoming guests?

Finally, Dave Grohl was ace, both the interview and the song, more guests like him would do nicely!

Rach and I have swapped for a while. No big deal and nothing major it's just we both do the same job so we'll flip every now and then depending on what fits our skills best. Rach is working on a few big projects that you'll hear about soon.

[Johnny 1989]

Aled, have you and Rachel swapped roles on a permanent basis?

I like both of you, I just wondered that's all!

I've really liked the shows recently, the Carr/Walliams pop-in was very funny (although maybe stressful for you!). Looking forward to Kimberly on Monday as I'm sure you are! Can you reveal any other upcoming guests?

Finally, Dave Grohl was ace, both the interview and the song, more guests like him would do nicely!

Rach and I have swapped for a while. No big deal and nothing major it's just we both do the same job so we'll flip every now and then depending on what fits our skills best. Rach is working on a few big projects that you'll hear about soon.

Ah interesting, I'll keep an ear out for that then

[bwfcol]

Thanks for answering the question Aled, appreciate it

I wonder if the place is Belfast after the show couldn't go there in Sept?

[Wykey]

Finally, Dave Grohl was ace, both the interview and the song, more guests like him would do nicely!

He is absolutely what I'd hope I was like if I was a rockstar. A rockstar who's still your mate from the pub.

Or at least he comes across that way.

And he can hold a tune or two as well. My favourite show since the last time he was on I think.



Talking of rockstars - Aled, Noel Gallagher's mate - the biggest ticket tout in Britain...

Is he called Spike?

[dimtimjim]

So, come on then Aled, what happened to Debora from this mornings interview?! We we're told she arrived, then she wasn't mentioned again, wassup?

[Quincy]

hi aled,

i have recently started listening to the show everyday again on the way to work now i have to get the train. its the first time ive listened regularly since probably 2003 afternoon shows.

firstly i would like to say that most people on the 07.40 from portsmouth to southampton central must think im a total nutter who sits and laughs to himself for 45 minutes every morning. i dont mind as i am basically a massive idiot anyway, however wednesday morning was extremely embarrassing as there was an uber hot female sat opposite and i was laughing like some demented pillock on drugs. i would have liked to have had a chat to her but i was to busy crying with laughter. but not to worry im sure i will see her again. (and she will avoid me like chris avoids a treadmill) anyway i was just wondering how many texts (roughly) the show gets in the time its on air?? when i used to listen the main interactivity with the audience was people ringing into the show or email. now a text is mentioned almost every other sentence. i think this is good btw and does add to the show. sorry that is a really boring question and i apolagise for wasting 30 seconds of your life.

also i cant really work it out but are you the producer now?? what does that rachel woman do? you have came a long way from BB Aled (i do miss dave pearce though)

but anyway i do love the show at the moment and dom is ruddy bloody funny so is dave. chris is also mildly amusing. not sure about the women but their good targets.

thats all really thanks to you and the team for keeping me entertained in the morning! bye!

[jocky85]

I too suffered this embarrassment on the train when the team were messing with the internal phone system.

Im actually disappointed if I meet my work colleague on the train in the morning cause I have to stop listening!

[Quincy]

haha "calling fergus dudley"

[foot-loose]

also i cant really work it out but are you the producer now?? what does that rachel woman do?

She's the day producer for the moment! Do you not listen to the show?