''Radio 1 Breakfast'', also known as ''The Radio 1 Breakfast Show'', is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. It is hosted by

Greg James Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English broadcaster and author. He has been a presenter on BBC Radio 1 since 2007, hosting shows including his old drive-time show and the station's flagship breakfast show. Since 201 ...

since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (se
BBC Genome Project
, then five days a week until June 2018, when the Friday show was dropped and incorporated into the station's weekend schedule, hosted by former ''

Weekend Breakfast ''News Breakfast'' is an Australian news breakfast television program. It is broadcast on ABC TV and ABC News channel from 6:00 am to 9:00 am AEST or AEDT on weekdays and is hosted by James Glenday and Bridget Brennan. The program is also ...

'' hosts

Matt Edmondson Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2. Edmondson currently presents the weekday afternoon show on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesd ...

Mollie King Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, songwriter, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of The Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit ...

. In January 2021, the show returned to broadcasting five days per week.

History

The first breakfast show presenter was

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...

, who spoke the first words on Radio 1 and remained in the slot for nearly six years. Other DJs who have hosted the breakfast show for more than five years are current host

and former hosts

Nick Grimshaw Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), nicknamed "Grimmy", is an English broadcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a television presenter for his Channel 4 rol ...

Mike Read Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for mus ...

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

, and

Chris Moyles Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X. Previously he presented '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2012 ...

. Moyles was the longest-serving Radio 1 breakfast show presenter, having hosted Radio 1's ''

The Chris Moyles Show ''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012, before transferring three years later ...

'' for eight years from 2004 to 2012. *Data supplied by th
BBC Genome Project

Nick Grimshaw (2012–2018)

replaced Moyles as host of the breakfast show on 24 September 2012. Features included ''Call or Delete'', a game carried on from his previous show on Radio 1, where celebrity guests chose to either prank call a contact on their phone or delete their number altogether. Other segments included ''The Nixtape'', which saw Grimshaw select 30 minutes of party-oriented music before a DJ came in to mix listener requests to close the week on Friday mornings, ''Happy Monday'', a half-hour of uplifting songs on Monday mornings, ''Showquizness'', an irreverent daily quiz based around pop culture, ''Happy Hardcore FM'', which saw listeners phone into the show to scream over happy hardcore beats, and the daily ''Waking Up Song'', which featured celebrities encouraging listeners to get out of bed to the sound of

Pharoahe Monch Troy Donald Jamerson (born October 31, 1972), better known by his stage name Pharoahe Monch, is an American rapper known for his complex lyrics, intricate delivery, and internal and multisyllabic rhyme schemes.Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''How to Rap: ...

. Grimshaw's incarnation of the breakfast show received strong critical reviews, but polarised public opinion, which was reflected in the show's often fluctuating listening figures – in February 2015, the show had 5.9 million listeners, with a small increase in listenership of 100,000. On 26 October 2017, it was reported that the show recorded 4.93 million weekly listeners between July and September – down from 5.5 million last quarter, a record low. The ''

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for young people.

'' news and sport bulletins were presented by

Tina Daheley Tina Daheley (born ) is an English journalist, newsreader and presenter who works for the BBC, both on television and radio. She currently reads the news on ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' with Scott Mills, often contributing to discussions durin ...

at 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30 and 9:30; there was also entertainment news from Sinead Garven at approximately 7:45 each morning.

Greg James (2018–present)

replaced Grimshaw as host of the breakfast show on 20 August 2018. Roisin Hastie read the bulletins for

every half-hour except at 09:00 until her departure from the show in 2022 for maternity leave, when she was replaced by Calum Leslie. Features include Yesterday's Quiz and the Ten Minute Takeover, alongside Is It Just Us and Unpopular Opinions. In March 2020, at the start of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' was moved to 7am until 11am. Adele Roberts' Early Breakfast Show was extended by thirty minutes until 7am.

Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2, where he has be ...

Chris Stark Christopher Francis Stark (born 12 March 1987) is a British media personality who is co-host of Capital Breakfast alongside Jordan North and Sian Welby. He is one of the hosts of the award winning That Peter Crouch Podcast. He was also co-host ...

and

Clara Amfo Clara Amfo is a British radio broadcaster, television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1. Early life and education Born to Ghanaian parents. She has five siblings. Her father, w ...

rotated their shows every week between 11am and 3pm and Nick Grimshaw started his show at the earlier time of 3pm. The measures took place in order to help BBC Radio 1 promote

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

and to limit the number of staff allowed in the studio. The show was then reduced to 3 hours (i.e. 7am until 10am) since 29 June 2020, in which 10am until 11am was allocated for Radio 1 Anthems, also with

. The changes took place until 31 August 2020. Starting 1 September 2020, the schedule reverted to its 3 hours 30 minutes length, but running from 7am until 10:30am, instead of 6:30am until 10am as previously. In November 2020, Radio 1 announced that James's Breakfast show be broadcast five days a week from the start of January 2021. Starting July 2023 the show aired between 7:30-11:00 except for Friday when it was 7:00-10:30. This returned to 7:00-10:30 Monday-Friday in September 2023. Starting 1st July 2024, the breakfast show returned to the 7:00-11:00 time for the summer except on Fridays when it remains at 7:00-10:30.

Stand-ins

Holiday cover is usually provided by another prominent member of the Radio 1 presenting team – the job rarely goes to an outsider or to a former presenter, although in 1985,

Noel Edmonds Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English businessman, and former television presenter, radio DJ, writer and producer. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK, pres ...

covered the programme for two weeks when

was on holiday. Additionally, transitions between regular hosts have often been bridged by stand-ins. These have been: *Adrian John covered the period between

's departure and Mike Smith's arrival in April 1986. *

Mark Goodier Mark Goodier (born 9 June 1961) is a Zimbabwean-born British radio disc jockey and broadcaster best known for his time on BBC Radio 1 between 1987 and 2002. He had two spells presenting the station's Top 40 singles chart, from September 1990 ...

covered the period between Mike Smith's departure and

's arrival in May 1988. * Bruno Brookes covered the period between

's departure and Steve Wright's arrival in December 1993. *

covered the period between Chris Evans's departure and the arrival of Mark Radcliffe and

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of The Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Tape, and also w ...

in February 1997. *

covered the period between

Zoe Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British broadcaster and presenter. She was the first female host of the Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows for the BBC, and in 2024 was confirmed as the second-highest paid BBC presenter after G ...

's departure and

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer ( born 13 December 1974), better known as Sara Cox, is an English broadcaster and author. A presenter on BBC Radio 2, she has been hosting the station's drivetime show since January 2019. She previously presented BBC Radio 1's ...

's arrival in March 2000, again in December 2003 (sharing with

Emma B Emma Louise Boughton (born 27 November 1970), better known as Emma B, is a radio presenter in the UK. Early career Boughton's childhood was spent in Canada before she moved to Birmingham, England as a teenager. She graduated from the Univer ...

) preceding

's departure and

' arrival, and again in September 2012 after

's departure and before

's arrival. He most recently covered in August 2018 in the transition period between the tenures of

's departure and

's arrival.

Current cover presenters

(co-hosts with Edmondson)

Occasional cover presenters

Arielle Free Arielle Free-Pritchard (Arielle Free) (born 29 March 1988) is a Scottish DJ and broadcaster. She is known for presenting on BBC Radio 1. Free also hosts the official podcast '' Love Island: The Morning After''. Early life Free was born in Pais ...

* Dean McCullough *

Vick Hope Victoria Nwayawu Nwosu-Hope (born 25 September 1989) is a British television and radio presenter, journalist and published author. Hope hosts the BBC Radio 1 drivetime show ''Going Home with Vick, Katie and Jamie'' with Katie Thistleton and ...

Katie Thistleton Katie Lorna Thistleton is an English television and radio presenter, journalist and author, best known for her work across BBC Radio 1 and previously CBBC. She currently co-hosts Radio 1's Going Home with Vick, Katie and Jamie, having previously ...

* Sam MacGregor * Danni Diston *

Jamie Laing James Laing (Help:IPA/English, /ˈleɪŋ/ ; born 3 November 1988) is an English presenter, television personality and investor. He is the founder of the confectionery company Candy Kittens and is best known for appearing on the reality televisi ...

(co-hosts with Edmondson)

Previous cover presenters

Vernon Kay Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English broadcaster and former model. He presented Channel 4's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including '' All Star Family Fortunes'' (2006–2015), ''Ju ...

* Dev *

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

Kevin Greening Kevin Greening (30 December 1962 – 29 December 2007) was a British radio presenter, who co-hosted '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 with Zoe Ball from 13 October 1997 to 25 September 1998. Early career Kevin Greening grew up in Bristol ...

and

* Adele Roberts *

Jordan North Jordan Levi North (born 14 February 1990) is a British radio DJ and television presenter from York, England. Since April 2024, he has been the host of ''Capital Breakfast'', and formerly hosted lunchtime and drivetime shows on BBC Radio 1. In ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radio 1 Breakfast Show, The Radio 1 Breakfast Show Presenters BBC Radio 1 programmes British radio breakfast shows British music radio programmes 1960s British radio programmes 1970s British radio programmes 1980s British radio programmes 1990s British radio programmes 2000s British radio programmes 2010s British radio programmes 2020s British radio programmes

History

Nick Grimshaw (2012–2018)

Greg James (2018–present)

Stand-ins

Current cover presenters

Occasional cover presenters

Previous cover presenters

See also

References

External links