BBC Radio 1 announces major schedule changes

Scott Mills and Maya Jama
Image caption Scott Mills and Maya Jama will host shows on Fridays as part of the new weekend schedule

BBC Radio 1 has announced a major overhaul of its line-up, with the weekend schedule now starting on Fridays.

Nick Grimshaw, Clara Amfo and Greg James will go down to hosting four shows a week as a result.

New Friday shows have been announced for Maya Jama and The Saturdays' Mollie King as part of the changes, and Scott Mills will now host the chart show.

Dev and Alice Levine will present the breakfast show from Friday to Sunday.

Ben Cooper, controller of BBC Radio 1, said: "The weekend will start here at Radio 1 on a Friday morning giving our young audience that feel-good factor a day early.

"It's our job at Radio 1 to reinvent the way young people listen to the radio, to disrupt traditional thinking and to look for new ways in which to grow audiences."

The new schedule comes into effect in June.

It's unclear how the schedule changes might affect the daytime hosts' current salaries, but a BBC spokesman said all presenters on the station are paid fairly.

Image caption Mollie King and Matt Edmondson will host the 13:00-16:00 slot over the weekend

The changes include:

This marks the first time in Radio 1's history that the daytime DJs will be on a four-day week, although Chris Evans once tried to take Fridays off when he was hosting the breakfast show.

In the late 1990s, he famously asked if he could host the programme only from Monday to Thursday - a request which was denied by then-controller Matthew Bannister.

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Greg James, Nick Grimshaw and Clara Amfo all go down to four shows a week

Jama joined the station earlier this year as the presenter of Radio 1's Greatest Hits.

King has been appearing as a guest presenter with Edmondson in recent weeks but will now officially be a permanent fixture on the station.

The singer, who appeared on the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing, said: "I've grown up listening to Radio 1 and I can't wait to be one of the team.

"This is an absolute dream for me! The only person more excited than me is my mum - who is delighted I finally have a proper job."

She added: "I've had so much fun working with Matt over the past few weeks, and I'm so glad I'm no longer just 'Mollie from the Saturdays' but 'Mollie from the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays'."

Scott Mills said: "I was sat with my mum when I got this news, and she actually cried because I've been pretending to do the chart show on Radio 1 since I was 8 years old.

"I've filled in on the show so much over the years, and I can't believe it's actually mine. I'm beyond excited."

Radio 1's new Friday schedule

Image copyright Getty / BBC

06:30-10:00 - Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast with Dev and Alice

10:00-13:00 - Radio 1's Greatest Hits with Maya Jama

13:00-16:00 - Matt Edmondson and Mollie King

16:00-19:00 - The Official Chart with Scott Mills

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