TV Cream

Radio 1: The Jocks

MAYO, Simon

Simon Mayo, flanked by late eighties 'Breakfast Crew', of Getting The Herbs Released On Video fameRELATIVE longevity-boasting adopter of Tarrantesque zoo format for nationwide breakfast consumption, enabling various attempts at knock-on TV stardom, especially for the patented Confessions™ concept. Also kicked around On This Day In History, a round-up of famous events in the past set to George Michael’s I Want Your Sex, awkwardly-titled Identik-Hit Quiz, knockabout pseudoshagging sixth-form sexual chemistry with the likes of Sybil Ruscoe, Jakki Brambles and Dianne Oxberry, news bulletins from stolid Rod McKenzie and wacky japes aplenty from Ric Blaxill. ‘Spawned’ several novelty hits – Donald Where’s Your Troosers, Kinky Boots and Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Married to a producer of religious programmes. Not an atheist.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Applemask

    July 7, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    Also took over the Golden Hour when he absorbed Bates’ old slot. Much better at it, obviously.

  2. Stone the Crows

    August 29, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    The Identik-Hit Quiz was hilarious at times, as when the sound of munching and guns going off turned out to be Eton Rifles by the Jam (ie, “Eating Rifles”) or when the sound of Gary Davies going “Bye! Bye!” accompanied by a car driving away turned out to be Davy’s on the Road Again by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

    But if you missed the answer, it could be hell, as there was one clue that went on for weeks that I never got the solution to. It was the sound of crows cawing with a deep, male American voice saying something like “If you’re ever in the Arizona territory…” There was probably more to it, but that’s all I recall. Anyone know what on earth that one was? No, it wasn’t School’s Out.

  3. Matthew Rudd

    March 25, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    Still the best Radio 1 breakfast show ever, ever, and that’s ever.

    More great Identik-Hit moments:-

    * Someone listening by accident called “Mrs Day” ringing up and saying the answer was the Blue Danube by Strauss. The clue had been a rodent-esque noise over, er, the Blue Danube. Mayo replayed clips of this poor woman for weeks afterwards.

    * The sound of a heartbeat and a door creaking open, which nobody got even though stand-in host Bruno Brookes accidentally played the correct answer song twice during his week of cover. Someone guessed it correctly the following week, allowing Mayo to ask “didn’t you know the answer when Bruno kept playing it last week?” It was Room In Your Heart by Living In A Box.

    * A bloke saying “Hello” so loudly and then laughing afterwards at shocking Mayo and co that everyone corpsed. They didn’t bother getting the guy’s answer.

    * Mayo playing on the “You! Are! A! Winner!” drop-in a bit too much and saying “You! Are! A! W…..Loser!” to one woman so cruelly that she dropped him in it by calling him a “rotten bastard” on air. Dianne added that he “asked for that”.

    Meanwhile, during that period when he went back on breakfast to bridge the gap between Evans and Radcliffe, he read out an “email” from a listener which said: ” Simon, I’ve just got back from New Zealand, to where I emigrated six years ago, and I’m delighted to hear you’re still doing the breakfast show.” This remains my favourite piece of radio correspondence, and I don’t care if it was real or not.

  4. David Pascoe

    March 26, 2010 at 12:52 am

    A brilliant broadcaster and deservedly still going strong. Forever destined now to be linked with Mark Kermode and I hope he never gets tired of it.

  5. Paul

    December 25, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    Amazing now that when he first took it he got a mixed reception. I seem to remember one review described him as “having about as much personality as a packet of crisps”.

    I used to enjoy his handovers with Gary King at 6pm where the hapless early show jock usually failed to finish bang on time, much to Mayo’s apparent frustration. One day King managed it with a song which had a cold ending and announced with great gusto: “Six o clock on the money!”. To which Mayo responded: “So what?” and played a jingle before King had time to respond.

  6. Paul

    December 25, 2010 at 10:20 pm

    That should obviously read 6am, not 6pm!

  7. Glenn Aylett

    March 30, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    There are no ends to Mayo’s talents as now he works for classical music station Scala. It seemed he could do everything from film reviews, to sport and news( when he worked for 5 Live), then reinvented himself on Radio 2 as a more mature version of his Radio 1 persona. Also survived the big cull at Radio 1 in 1993-94 by being reasonably young, not slagging off his bosses, and adapting to the changes at the station.

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