[Aled]

Hi Aled,

Just a follow on from the ideas meeting, without going into details on anything, are any of the ideas mentioned being progressed? It was a brilliant experience just seeing the studios and meeting the team but hopefully you'll have some good news for us!

We've made a start on them. When we met we already had in place our plans until our Summer holiday so really the ideas will feed into our Autumn / Winter / Spring features. Freya, Matt and I have taken them to other producers around Radio 1 and use them to spark off any other ideas which we'll flesh out.

I'll highlight any ideas when they make it on air

[Aled]

ALED! (In the style of Chris)

What's going on with Tina's Summer of Sport?

Did playing Tennis with Greg Rusedski happen? or were the team all busy?

And also the Terms and Conditions on the website say about a competition which was meant to happen today "Hang out with the Moyles Team at the Cricket"? has this been dropped or something.

Would be great if you could let us know.

We didn't go for the tennis with Greg in the end because things got so busy that we all decided out of all the stuff that was happening on the show we'd let that go (better to be in that position rather than not enough stuff) - this was leading up to and over the Face Your Fears week.

We are supposed to be running a cricket competition this week on the show, we've put everything in place for it, but at the moment someone at Lords has made it very difficult. We're trying to resolve but this looks unlikely to happen unfortunately.

[Aled]

Hello Aled,

Why if the surgery is aimed at Teens and Young adults is the "Sex Night" over 18 only? I understand that some content will be blunt or whatever you want to call it but surely your moving away from the demographic area.

I'll be honest. That bit has frustrated me - but this is an outcome of a compromise. The stuff we gain from doing the 3 hour show from a bar in Soho and using people that we don't need to get parental consent to use (don't forget, to talk about sex!) far outweighs the cons that we won't hear younger voices in the crowd.

We'll get their voices on air through phone calls and texts.

[Aled]

Aled what are your thoughts on Radio 1Xtra as it is currently? At it's inception 9 years ago RnB and Hip Hop wasn't an overly popular genre but in the year 2011 it is a big genre and it gets a massive look in at the Radio 1 playlist. Surely this undermines the point of having a sister station that is meant to be different to the main station?

Have you listened to it? It's not Radio 1's playlist I can assure you.

Just under half of the records on the 1Xtra playlist (20/43 for those keeping count) are from artists that have had a good amount of exposure on Radio 1. How is that different? 19 of the artists on the Radio 1 playlist are also on the 1xtra playlist. I fail to see this massive difference that you do.

I think where we're going wrong is that I'm looking at the 24/7 output of 1Xtra whereas you're JUST looking at the daytime playlist.

[Aled]

Tbh, not that I care about this but I though Radio One was targeted at 14 - 19 year olds and just at the top of this page Aled himself said,

Oh no! Don't say that. I don't want it to feel 'adult' now. We're aiming at young teens!!

so surely that is contradictory. But, as I said I don't really care either way on the matter

Radio 1 is officially aimed at a 15 - 30 age group.

Sunday nights has always been a younger 'zone'. That doesn't mean anyone over this age can't or shouldn't listen it just means we ensure our show is accessible to a young teen audience

[bmstinton93]

On a different unrelated note how have you managed to wait this long to watch the last Harry Potter? The wait would have killed me. I booked my ticket for the midnight launch a month early. Its brilliant though you'll enjoy it. You should go and watch in 3d though

[dreamer1978]

Aled,

In respect to the show this morning. You as in the team were talking about the schools closing for the summer specifically in England in Wales. Currently as of writing this post the Scottish schools have been on summer holidays going into their 4th week. Do you see the drop off of numbers at the end of June due to the schools in Scotland being finished before the English/Wales? Do the numbers pick back up in middle of August when the Scottish schools return?

Is it possible at the end of June next year you could remember the Scottish school kids finishing earlier than the English/Welsh schools. My cousins son loves the show, when we were talking about the show he said that it would be cool for the show to mention the Scottish school kids finishing up. Or say Hi to all the Scottish kids who are back at school when you return from your holidays in August.

[Wykey]

Given the listenership will now be considerably older than usual, as you indicated this morning, does it mean you'll be playing proper music during the show, and maybe even opening up the golden hour to allow music released prior to 2006 to be played?

[Wykey]

Could you please have a moratorium on the use of the word random?

Broadly speaking, humans are incapable of random acts, random thoughts or random conversations. They ALWAYS come from a spark of an idea, or from a conscious decision. So to dismiss chat as being random is to deny that you as a team have great skill for, and a superb eye for creativity, flamboyance, quick thinking and in some cases the absurd.

Thank you kindly.

[itbe_Tyler]

Hello Aled,

Why if the surgery is aimed at Teens and Young adults is the "Sex Night" over 18 only? I understand that some content will be blunt or whatever you want to call it but surely your moving away from the demographic area.

I'll be honest. That bit has frustrated me - but this is an outcome of a compromise. The stuff we gain from doing the 3 hour show from a bar in Soho and using people that we don't need to get parental consent to use (don't forget, to talk about sex!) far outweighs the cons that we won't hear younger voices in the crowd.

We'll get their voices on air through phone calls and texts.

Fair enough I guess, I still think it's a shame though as I can't imagine getting permission from parents to go to something educational as it will be that much of a challenge, the challenge being able to verify they had permission. On another note; where do you see the surgery heading? I think it still has life left in it but might need a few changes in the coming years to keep it fresh. Maybe do a question time stile move around for six weeks say.

[richbrown]

Will we ever see (hear) the return of the 1tros?

[jamiec21]

Wow. When did this page become 'Aled you're responsible for BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra so answer us now'!? All got a little heavy hasn't it?

No, I don't think so. Worth reiterating that the common listener like us doesn't get much opportunity to discuss things with Radio 1 staff and because you seem happy to answer anything within reason, non-Moyles show questions are bound to crop up from time to time as a lot of us have an interest with Radio 1 as a whole. I think people here are knowledgeable enough to understand if you can't discuss more station-wide policy matters.

Thanks for all your answers, by the way. Always appreciated.

[Wykey]

Will we ever see (hear) the return of the 1tros?

They were very very good, weren't they.

[jamiec21]

Aled, are you planning to have Noel Gallagher in to promote his new single/album? Surely one of the most popular Moyles guests over the years, and I see his new single is already being considered for playlist.

EDIT: Ah, just saw the new playlist on the website. Nowhere to be seen. Not a huge shock, I must admit - how many 44 year old solo artists get on Radio 1?

[Sir]

Aled, is Andy Parfitt going to be on the show for his final day?

[Aled]

On a different unrelated note how have you managed to wait this long to watch the last Harry Potter? The wait would have killed me. I booked my ticket for the midnight launch a month early. Its brilliant though you'll enjoy it. You should go and watch in 3d though

We wanted a particular cinema at a particular time so we waited for the initial weekend rush to pass

[Aled]

Aled,

In respect to the show this morning. You as in the team were talking about the schools closing for the summer specifically in England in Wales. Currently as of writing this post the Scottish schools have been on summer holidays going into their 4th week. Do you see the drop off of numbers at the end of June due to the schools in Scotland being finished before the English/Wales? Do the numbers pick back up in middle of August when the Scottish schools return?

Is it possible at the end of June next year you could remember the Scottish school kids finishing earlier than the English/Welsh schools. My cousins son loves the show, when we were talking about the show he said that it would be cool for the show to mention the Scottish school kids finishing up. Or say Hi to all the Scottish kids who are back at school when you return from your holidays in August.

All we can do is reflect what's on the text. If people text in to say they're back at school we can read them out - I'll definitely keep an eye out for them though.

We don't have those kind of detailed numbers - we see a set of numbers every 3 months so that will cover a lot of summer turmoil over the three months.

[Aled]

Given the listenership will now be considerably older than usual, as you indicated this morning, does it mean you'll be playing proper music during the show, and maybe even opening up the golden hour to allow music released prior to 2006 to be played?

lol, although I see where you're going with this, it's actually the opposite. Our peak young listener time is 7:45 - 8:15. In the Summer that peak is more gradual towards the end of the show as they wake up later. That means the end of the show including the Golden Hour is more important that ever to be young

Did you really not enjoy the Golden Hour last Friday? I LOVED it. 2004.

[Aled]

On another note; where do you see the surgery heading? I think it still has life left in it but might need a few changes in the coming years to keep it fresh. Maybe do a question time stile move around for six weeks say.

I'm a fan of change but let's not have change for the sake of change and try and reinvent the wheel.

For me, I think the more The Surgery can get out and be audience facing the better. Apart from that, it does what it does really well so I wouldn't want to change it too much.

[Aled]

Will we ever see (hear) the return of the 1tros?

It depends on whether the head of Station Sound wants them. At the moment, no, but you notice in radio that things are very cyclical.

[Aled]

Aled, are you planning to have Noel Gallagher in to promote his new single/album? Surely one of the most popular Moyles guests over the years, and I see his new single is already being considered for playlist.

EDIT: Ah, just saw the new playlist on the website. Nowhere to be seen. Not a huge shock, I must admit - how many 44 year old solo artists get on Radio 1?

We would LOVE to have Noel on the show. He's currently away, but if he wants to come on the show he's more than welcome to.

[olybeast]

Aled, would you..... em..... would you.... like... my phone number?

[bmstinton93]

If your female then I'll have it...

[G-Sizzle]

Aled, you're obviously a very smart man. You've got a great job and wouldn't have done so well for yourself if you were genuinely thick. So why do you play do dumb on the show?
Maybe I'm wrong and you've just been lucky, but i don't think that's the case. When you talk about something you're passionate about you come across really well, then you play the thicko and it makes me cringe.

This isn't meant as a dig by the way, just an observation.

[Aled]

Aled, you're obviously a very smart man. You've got a great job and wouldn't have done so well for yourself if you were genuinely thick. So why do you play do dumb on the show?
Maybe I'm wrong and you've just been lucky, but i don't think that's the case. When you talk about something you're passionate about you come across really well, then you play the thicko and it makes me cringe.

This isn't meant as a dig by the way, just an observation.

Haha, suggesting I 'play dumb' isn't an observation. Saying I come across as thick is.

For right or wrong I have never lied on air - 100% honest. I'm all about people standing up and being honest if you don't know something (or in my case don't get something) I should say. I do this because 1) I'm the host of The Surgery so I like the idea that people can feel comfortable calling me on a Sunday with stupid questions because if you don't know something it's not stupid - you just don't know it yet. 2) I work with Chris who will sniff out if I'm pretending to know something and I'll look even more stupid when he highlights that.

Why do I come across so badly? Chris is very good at running with situations and me presenting him with that honesty is a gift for him which benefits the show, and also Chris, Dom and Dave are very similar in their likes and dislikes and I think if I don't know something that they do (or visa versa) I can sound like an outsider very easily. But I try and remember that there will be plenty of people out there who also won't know what I don't know - as our 'I'm Not Stupid But...' feature proves.

I know I'm not thick, in my areas I know I'm good at what I do - I wouldn't be Chris' producer on Radio 1's Breakfast Show if I wasn't, so I'm quite comfortable with people making assumptions about my intelligence.