Just how do you replace the most popular broadcaster on British radio? That was the question facing the BBC when Sir Terry Wogan announced that he was to give up the Breakfast Show on Radio Two, a slot he has filled since 1993.  With almost 8 million listeners tuning in each morning between 7:30 and 9:30 to hear his mix of music, inane banter and hilarious Janet and John inuendo, his would surely be an impossible act to follow. 

Perhaps wisely, the BBC have accepted that there isn’t anyone who can ‘be Wogan’. Many might have expected the superb Johnny Walker to succeed Wogan in the Breakfast slot, since he has filled in for him very successfully on numerous occasions and has an excellent rapport with Sir Terry’s listeners.  However, Johnny Walker has had serious health issues in the past and is no longer a young man, despite his youthful appearance. The Breakfast Show is a unrelenting challenge which could be too great a permanent commitment for him now.

Chris Evans is a generation younger than Sir Terry Wogan, and a self-made multi-millionaire who rose rapidly to own  Virgin Radio and sell it for a handsome profit. After a tumultuous spell at BBC Radio One he left under a cloud to confront his inner demons and has emerged much the better for it. As a result, he was re-engaged by the BBC to present its 5:OO to 7:00 PM Drive Time show on Radio Two and  regularly attracted 6 million listeners.  His inventiveness and ability to attract and engage with a wide range of listeners made him irresistable to BBC bosses faced with the loss of Sir Terry.

Radio Two has the most difficult listenership to cater to. Radio One caters to the ‘Yoof’ audience. They require little more than  a presenter who swears a bit and plays whatever tuneless moronic ‘music’ happens to have been hyped to the top of the down load charts at any one time. Radio Three plays classical music for the lovers of Mozart or Tchaikovsky. They do not need much beyond knowlegeable facts about the composers. Radio Four is a talk station mixing news, drama and current affairs. But Radio Two has to try to cater to the widest spectrum of all. Radio One listeners grow up eventually and graduate to Radio Two, but Radio Two listeners do not usually switch to Radio Three as they age. The result is that Radio Two has to cater for the 25 to 100+ age group and that is not easy!

Radio Two listeners want intelligent, witty, entertainment and good music. Sir Terry Wogan seemed to manage the whole thing effortlessly. In reality it was probably rather like the Swan, apparently gliding without really exerting itself but in fact paddling hard under the surface. Nobody gets to be that good by accident. Wogan could play Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and  Lilly Allen, discuss the latest ‘Soap’ developments with tongue in cheek and perhaps chat with some Bishop or other ‘worthy’ person all in the same show. His style amused people in high places and in low ones. It is this ability which the BBC detect in Chris Evans.

The Evans style is different, more fast paced, a bit more ‘cheeky chappie’. He seems more inclined to live chat via the phones than reaction to emails or letters, but the range of music is likely to be similar. Chris Evans will hope to bring with him the loyal 6 million Drive Time listeners, or at least most of them who are able to tune in at the new time, and at the same time not alienate too many of Sir Terry’s ‘Old Geezers’ and ‘Old Gals’. The BBC is clearly planning for the long term, accepting that Radio Two has to move forward with the changing tastes of its newer listeners without driving away its older ones. It  hopes that Evans is the man to help accomplish it. Only time will tell, but he has a great talent for broadcasting and has a track record of success. If anyone can do it, it will be Chris.    

( If you don’t live in the UK you can listen on the internet; www.bbc.co.uk/radio2)