Sorry if this has been posted somewhere else, but could this be mark and lard on their way out?
BBC Radio 1 is gearing up to sign a couple of northern DJs being billed as "the new Ant and Dec".
Jason Griffith and Joel Hogg - better known as JK and Joel, the breakfast show hosts on Emap's Manchester station Key 103 - have become one of radio's hottest properties.
Radio 1 intends to be at the front of the queue to snap them up once their contract with Key runs out next year.
"We think JK and Joel are a great team. As far as we know they are under contract to Emap right now and we respect that," said a spokesman for Radio 1.
"But if they were interested in moving on from there we would certainly be interested in talking to them," he added.
The Radio 1 controller, Andy Parfitt, has made a series of changes to the DJ line-up to refresh the station's image after its ratings sunk to their lowest ever level - 9.85 million listeners.
In January the breakfast host, Sara Cox, will change places with the afternoon presenter, Chris Moyles, while the 4am-7am host, Scott Mills, will swap shows with the weekend afternoon presenter, Nemone.
T4 presenter Vernon Kaye will present a Sunday showbusiness slot in the new year, joining a weekend schedule that has the jovial pairing of Colin Murray and Edith Bowman at its heart.
Radio industry insiders believe JK and Joel are likely to land a spot on Radio 1's weekend schedule as they are newcomers to national radio.
Mr Parfitt has a track record of introducing national radio unknowns to the station - he hired 24-year-old Wes Butters from Chrysalis Radio's Galaxy station in Newcastle a year ago to take over the chart show from veteran Mark Goodier.
If Radio 1's current comedy duo, Mark and Lard, make the move to Radio 2 mooted by some BBC insiders, JK and Joel's cheeky on-air antics could be the ideal replacement.
However, Emap is not likely to let them go without a fight. They are one of the main attractions in its Big City network of regional stations, having won a host of awards including a Sony Silver earlier this year, losing the main prize to Xfm's Christian O'Connell.
The pair's agent, Grant Michaels of Somethin' Else Talent, said JK and Joel are content at Key and were lining up television work, having presented a music and TV magazine programme called Pure on BBC3.
"People say they're a bit like a young Ant and Dec. They are great guys in the same sort of way," he said.
"But they are contracted well into next year and are staying at Key at the moment."
JK and Joel have hosted Key's breakfast show for three years, having joined forces at Viking Radio in Hull when Hogg was moved from the afternoon show to join Griffiths at breakfast.
Their laddish rapport was an instant hit with listeners and they signed to Key's breakfast show, where former Capital and Virgin Radio DJ Steve Penk made his name.
reports Media Guardian...
http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/story ... 70,00.html
chrismoyles.net
- although Scott Mills did a good job (as usual) filling in.
