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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Sony presents the prizes
Congratulations to Simon Mayo, named Best Speech Broadcaster at last night's Sony Awards. Lots of former Radio One DJs have proved equal to doing a bit of speech but only Mayo has managed to establish himself as a proper all-rounder. His Five Live show proves he can handle anything from a Presidential primary to a sports story without resorting to the old DJ's trick of putting himself at the centre of the item. In the tradition of which I should point out that whenever I've guested on his show I have noted that as you're talking he looks at you as if he's not all that impressed. He doesn't employ the puppy eyes and vigorous nodding with which most presenters semaphore that you're on the right track. It seems to work. Whether he'll follow Five Live to Manchester we shall have to wait and see.
Mayo is increasingly the only thing worth listening to on Five Live (although Steve Claridge wilfully misunderstanding Gabriel Marcotti on Friday evenings can be entertaining). I always try and tune in if I'm not in the office during the week.
ReplyDeleteI hope he stays on after the move to Manchester, after all you don't have to broadcast all your radio shows from the same location.
Seconded.
ReplyDeleteMayo has always been underrated, not least by himself, I suspect. His Radio 1 Breakfast Show is still the best such programme the network has ever had and his survival on 5 Live is simply by dint of being any good.
ReplyDeleteHis stuff with Kermode on a Friday is fantastic, an audible joy, even to those of us who aren't into movies. It's a rare gift to make an appointment to listen on a subject which doesn't interest me, but he has.
I won an On This Day In History book in 1990 (the answer was Walter Winterbottom). I was most proud of that achievement.
I agree with all the comments above. He comes across as a nice guy and very relaxed whilst maintaining genuine enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteNot as easy as it looks I would imagine.
Congratulations, Simon. Well deserved.
I was pleased he won too as his show is indeed the best on Five Live. What always seems to make a difference with him is that he's actually read the guest's book, seen their film, or watched a DVD of the TV programme that they're on promoting. Guests always seem to respond very well to that when it becomes obvious that the line of questionning is not dictated by the fly-leaf of the book or the press release accompanying the film.
ReplyDeleteIt's probably no small committment to anchor a three hour show daily and get time to read/listen to/watch to all that material.
Five Live's move north is going to be very interesting. Will he want to go? Will Nicky Campbell? Will Peter Allen? Will anyone beyond the sports presenters who spend much of their time on location anyway?
as you're talking he looks at you as if he's not all that impressed.
ReplyDeleteHow did you find that? Recently I had to edit some footage where the interviewer have the interviewee absolutely no reaction and they ended each answer looking absolutely bewildered.
They do a daily 'best of' podcast, as well as the weekly Kermode podcast. Both highly recommended for those with day jobs.
ReplyDeleteGiven that he recently stood in for both Chris Evans and Ken Bruce on R2, might that be a hint as to whether or not he'll be continuing his Five Live show in the long term?
ReplyDeleteI think this will tel you whether he's intending to Hit The North;
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/audio/2008/may/29/pool.mayo