Who does Chris Evans think he is? OK, compulsory question over.
Let’s ask the more important (and frequently overlooked) question: is he
any good?
The case for the defence reads: Radio 1 gaining one million extra
listeners during his stint on the breakfast show; the mould-breaking TFI
Friday; leaving the Big Breakfast quaking in his wake and, last but not
least, dumping Kim Wilde. The case for the prosecution? He’s a prize
wanker - we all know this. He’s loud, he’s arrogant. We all know this
too. But he’s funny and, sometimes, even disturbingly endearing.
Which is why I didn’t channel-hop on my radio the other morning, as I
had planned to, between Radio 1 (to check out Zoe Ball’s effort), Xfm
(still new enough to warrant scrutiny) and Virgin. After three visits to
each station over ten minutes, I kept it on Virgin.
The ginger fool slagged off Branson, accusing him of cheap PR, hiring
him (Evans) for ten weeks as damage limitation against Zoe Ball (as
if ...), and demanding the renewal of his contract. ’The arse just keeps
talking about himself!’ I fumed, while lapping it up.
Evans is funny. And cute. And the few songs he does play are cracking,
even if they are all by Black Grape. Hell, I like Black Grape. But he
hates commercial radio. He said so, having to stem his flow of verbal
effluvia for an ad break. And thank heaven - it was all getting a bit
much.
So who wins the breakfast war? Take my advice: build your own breakfast
show. Listen to Evans until your brain bleeds, turn over and listen to a
couple of great songs on Xfm. And Radio 1? Well, its traffic news is
quite good.
Eleanor Trickett, Campaign’s rock chick, likes a ginger breakfast.
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