TV Cream

Radio 1: The Jocks

LONG, Janice

"Ian, are you free for a spot of baby-sitting?"DEPENDABLE Chegger-siblinged presenter of the definitive Cream-era Evening Session, taking over from The Kid in that celebrated semi-alternative slot spanning the vast gulf between Steve Wright’s back-to-back Chris Rea extravaganza and Peel’s Beefheart retrospective with copious amounts of Housemartins and La’s, not to mention frequent in-studio tomfoolery with John Walters and XTC’s Andy Partridge (who did a regular spoof advice segment as ‘Agony Andy’), and the odd bit of Christmas panto with the sending-self-up-friendly likes of Captain Sensible and Marc Almond. Left in much-publicised controversy when she became pregnant.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Glenn A

    March 14, 2010 at 11:08 pm

    It makes me laugh how Janice Long saw herself as an early version of Jo Whiley- though with a bit more humour- and was obsessed with breaking new bands, while despising musicians loved by daytime jocks, yet now will happily play Phil Collins records through the night on Radio 2. Just as the guy who used to try to sell you Socialist Worker outside the student union is now your local Conservative candidate, a similar transformation must have happened to Miss Long. However, I never thought she was a po faced indieist in the tradition of later Radio 1 muso DJs as she used to sometimes appear on Blankety Blank.

  2. Paul Hale

    March 28, 2010 at 7:10 pm

    Jance was one of the founders of Crash fm in liverpool, now better known as juice. So she did retain some credibility before talking to truckers at radio two.

  3. Glenn A

    December 7, 2014 at 6:15 pm

    She didn’t leave, she was sacked in a small cull at Radio 1 that saw Dixie Peach( perhaps one of the best DJ names ever) and The Ranking Miss P go around the same time. JL never seemed to quite make the grade on Radio 1, she was nowhere near as good as David Jensen and seemed overpromoted. Perhaps keeping her on a Friday night request show and a little heard Saturday night show would have been better as she didn’t know whether she wanted to be the next Peel or a full on daytime jock.

  4. Irn-Bru Kid

    December 10, 2014 at 10:30 pm

    She wasn’t sacked, she was a ‘beneficiary’ of the 1990s Radio 1 maternity leave scheme. This involved leaving a weekday evening show (3-4 days a week) and, on returning, being offered a half-hour ‘best of the week’ show, which she rejected, resulting in the controversy mentioned in the main article.

    Glenn A: I guess you’re not a fan, then?

  5. Glenn Aylett

    March 14, 2022 at 10:38 am

    I was never that much of a fan of her radio show, but when paired with John Peel on TOTP, she seemed to come into her own and once admitted on air to fancying Stephen Tin Tin Duffy. This double act was always a highlight on TOTP. Also RIP Janice, I might not have cared for your evening show on Radio 1, but you must have encouraged other women to apply for a job at Radio 1 and probably inspired Jo Whiley.

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