BBC Radio 1

-[ What is Radio 1? ]-
Radio 1 is a radio channel run by our fine BBC and plays music. Many people have criticised it because it's pop pap, but it seems to be getting better. There seem to be less N'Sync and Britney 'songs' being released, so Radio 1 is improving.

-[ The DJs ]-
Many of the DJ's seem to be too self-interested, and spend more time chatting than playing music. And most of them know next to nothing about music of any kind.

So whos on then?

SARA COX. God, is this woman annoying! She has such an annoying voice and personality, and seems to be frequently outsmarted by a blank CD.

NEMONE. Quite a good DJ, and seems to know lots about music. She doesn't play a lot of 'pop', so can't be *TOO* bad, although she has her anthems which she seems to play every 10 minutes (like OPM's Heaven is a Halfpipe, which is good song, but why the repetition?)

JO WHILEY. Now, she knows some things about music. Not only is she one of Radio 1's oldest DJ's, she has also presented shows on late night Channel 4 about music. Can't say I have listened to much of her shows.

MARK 'n' LARD. Two cheeky chappies who do comedy interviews and play some quite good records. Can be a bit bizarre, but quite funny at some times.

CHRIS MOYLES. The self-proclaimed 'saviour of afternoon radio' is quite amusing at times, although the music he plays is too much pop pap.

DAVE PEARCE. Dance guru that plays 'On Demand' slots at around 6pm on most evenings. The music he plays is bland, uninspired house, and will make even someone like me (a massive d'n'b fan -like Size etc.) bored out of their band...

STEVE LAMACQ. The best show around. A good mix of progrock, normal rock, and indie. Breaks many new artists. Think Muse, Placebo, I Monster, etc.

TIM WESTWOOD. The rap man. He blasts off with the latest underground rap, and hiphop. Good for a laugh when knacked, braindead or drunk. Listen out for his dumb 'blasting off' sounds. Sometimes has good freestyles and funny stuff. Usually better to laugh AT than WITH.

DANCE. Most of these Dance DJ's are absolutely awful. Pu-lease, most of it is repetive crap anyway.

SUNDAY SURGERY. Think pop music crossed with 'magaziney' sort of content. Ring in if you have genital warts, or your girlfriend dumped you. You get the general idea.

JOHN PEEL. One of the only people to survive the 'death of the dinosaurs' that happened a few years ago.

-[ MUSIC? ]-
The main playlist seems to be 'pop, pop, pop, pop and once in a while dance'. Although, evening times, it's ROCK time! Radio 1's selection of dance music is extremely limited, as the most interesting in 'dance' is things like Bukem, Roni Size, Massive Attack and most of the d'n'b and trip hoppers, not the 'house' rubbish they play. The pop they play is just awful, although there seems to be less of that by the day. Hooray!

Steve Lamacq's show absolutely kicks ass, and is a great way to discover cool new music, and John Peel plays lots of alternative music. He's great because he's not afraid. He's not afraid, for example, to play something that you might categorise as jazz, or blues. He might play some rock song, and then trace band members histories through different songs etc. He also doesn't rabbit on, he will just say the song, artist, album and label and let the music do the talking.

-[ RECCOMENDED LISTENING TIME ]-
Evenings: 19:00 - 0:00. You get Steve Lamacq, and John Peel. Great stuff...

-[ FINAL VERDICT ]-
Too many 'internal adverts', and too many annoying DJ's (just think, if you own a television, your helping to pay the salary for Sara Cox...). Once you dig out the good stuff from the rubbish, you'll find Radio 1 in the Evenings quite a good time to discover new acts. I'd never have bought the Muse album without the help of Radio 1.

And, me... buying CD's? Never...