BBC Radio 1 to resume broadcast schedule after coronavirus changes

BBC Radio 1 will return to a regular broadcast schedule from September 1, after making daytime shows longer to ensure fewer presenters were required in the studio throughout the course of a day during the coronavirus pandemic.

The new schedule will see the breakfast show with Greg James move to a new time slot of 7am-10.30am on Monday-Thursday.

It previously aired from 6.30am to 10am and during the height of the crisis it ran from 7am to 11am.

The BBC announced in March it was changing the Radio 1 schedule to include four longer shows between 4am and 7pm rather than the usual five, meaning a small number of presenters would rotate each week.

In the new schedule, Clara Amfo’s show will move to 10.30am-1pm, followed by Scott Mills from 1pm-3.30pm and Nick Grimshaw from 3.30pm-6pm.

Radio 1’s Future Sounds with Annie Mac will move forward an hour to a new 6pm-8pm slot and the Hottest Record in the World feature will move from 7.30pm to the start of the show at 6pm.

A new show, Radio 1’s Future Artists with Jack Saunders, will air Monday-Wednesday from 10pm-midnight with a focus on supporting music from artists at the beginning of their careers.

Aled Haydn Jones, head of Radio 1, says: “As a station it’s important we evolve along with the changing needs of our young listeners and I’m pleased to be able to introduce some important changes to the schedule with that in mind as we return to an on-air format that our listeners know and love.

“A new time slot for Radio 1 Breakfast means we can bring Greg’s trademark brand of light-hearted entertainment to as many young people as possible, while bringing our evening schedule an hour earlier means we can do even more to support new music and breaking new UK artists.”