BBC Radio 2 - Interesting! [Article]

Lenny Lovett

From The Guardian:

The Radio 2 messageboard is all abuzz on the subject of a daytime schedule brimful of holiday cover. With reference to Zoë Ball sitting in for Ken Bruce, Chris Tarrant in for Steve Wright and Liza Tarbuck for Simon Mayo, a lively debate has emerged about what constitutes a "real DJ".It's the ongoing resistance, really, to entertainers and television stars arriving en masse at the station. Instead, many listeners want people with radio pedigree – though Tarrant clearly has this, and Ball isn't exactly new to the medium – and there is talk of real DJs being able to drive the desk, or having their roots in the days of pirate radio and the birth of Radio 1. The emphasis here is clearly on the discs the jockey plays, and that remains the core quality of Radio 2's evening and weekend schedules.
Daytime, though, and things are tilted towards entertainment. Tarrant can do this effortlessly, and he sounds much more at home in this afternoon slot than he ever did during his year-long stint at Smooth. He's pretty duff at interviews, though: his chat with Neil Hannon was eye-wateringly awkward. "Weird is the word," he told the singer, grappling for a word to describe him and his music. There was a horrid pause. "I like weird!" Tarrant cried, convincing nobody.
But he is far better with listeners, teasing them with a demeanour that is somewhere between grumpy old man and impish schoolboy. He lampoons their musical taste in the "battle of the oldies" feature. "Good grief!" he shrieked after a Sparks track. "It's like jury service, though – they can't ask me to play it again." One listener texted in, saying that everyone was "mad" in her office. "Whenever people say that," Tarrant suggested, "you think: bet you're not." The show is full of his peculiar observations on life, and it has an inclusive, restless energy about it which, while not reeking musical credibility, still feels very real.