FEATURE:
Station to Station
Part Twelve: Arielle Free (BBC Radio 1)
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IN this Station to Station feature…
I am highlighting legendary, iconic broadcasters from around the U.K., in addition to younger talent who are shaping up to be broadcasting legends. Last week, I spotlighting BBC Radio 1’s Greg James. Today, I am featuring his station-mate, Arielle Free. On air with the Radio 1 Early Breakfast show, Free is someone who has the job of waking those at an hour most of us aren’t up. I have listened to her show and she is a broadcaster who puts her everything into every show. I think that she will be at BBC Radio 1 for a long time and will move slots in the future – perhaps hosting an afternoon slot or acting as a new music champion like Annie Mac (who is leaving the station soon after seventeen years). Not only is Free a skilled and hugely popular broadcaster, in addition to being a versatile and experienced presenter, there are no end to her talents:
“Scottish TV Presenter and DJ Arielle Free is a Radio 1 presenter who takes over the Early Morning Breakfast show on the station in January 2021 after having presented the Weekend Early Breakfast Show for 18 months. During her short time on the station she has brought her unbeatable energy and studio dance moves to listeners week in week out.
Arielle’s TV work has seen her present ITV’s ‘Scrambled’ whilst also hosting ITV’s hugely popular Love Island podcast ‘Love Island: The Morning After’. The podcast was nominated for a British Podcast Award in 2020. She co-presented the BBC Sounds popular podcast ‘Worst Dates’ alongside Luke Franks, which saw the duo and guests discuss the most embarrassing dates they have experienced.
Aside from landing on Radio 1 in 2019 Arielle, she also presented the backstage interviews for British Academy Scotland Awards and hosted the BAFTA Children’s Awards.
In 2020 she was the presenter for BBC Scotland’s brand new singing dating show ‘Love Song’ which saw contestants sing to win a date.
During 2020, Arielle started the Kitchen Rave which saw her host sets for Ted Baker and Mitchum and The Marketing Society.
With her passion for new music and music festivals, Arielle sees most of her summers hot footing it around the UK’s biggest festivals including live hosting at Glastonbury and Bestival, BST, Wireless, Reading and Lovebox.
A trained ballerina, Arielle also has perfect feet and once was a foot model”.
If you want to know more about the incredible Arielle Free, then there are some great interviews out there. Before I wrap things up, I am going to bring one in. I think that Free is going to be huge broadcaster in the future. In the early breakfast slot, she has amassed a dedicated following and has the sort of electricity, enthusiasm and sense of passion that makes one want to wake up that early during the week (Monday to Thursday from 5 a.m.) just to hear her – though one can hear her show on BBC Sounds if you are not up at such an early hour! Hunter Boo spoke with Free last year. In the interview, she (among other things) discusses her DJ career (where she works until 2 a.m.), the variety of her career, her T.V. work and Harry Potter!
“With a schedule that most of us would find gruelling, Arielle sees her six day working week as a luxury. DJ, TV Presenter, Festival Presenter, Podcast Host. 2am finishes and 5am starts - does this Scot ever stop?!
The answer is, no. We get the down low from how to be a greener festival goer to all the 'pinch me' moments throughout Arielle's career...Starred in Harry Potter. Check! Introduced Elton John on stage. Check! Missy Elliot favourites your tweets. Check!
And there's even more... get the inside scoop below.
When you're not waking up the nation each weekend on CITV’s Scrambled - where can we find you?
This year has been a mixed bag of places you can find me popping up! This winter I’ll be returning to the Gfinity Elite series championships, which is like the champions league of video gaming. I host the Rocket League series meaning each Saturday morning I’m live for over five hours helping to anchor and steer the broadcast.
This summer I was given the opportunity to jump behind the desk at Radio 1 and I’ll be back to cover again in November and December.
I have a new podcast project which I’m currently working on and that will be launching in early 2019.
Across December you’ll mostly find me djing the best of the Christmas and New Years Eve parties.
They say “never work with children or animals” – working in children's tv, do you have a funny story to share?
Series two of Scrambled someone thought it would be a good idea to have two pointer dogs appear on the show. They belonged to the location owners. The dogs were beautiful and amazing, but they became terrified when their paws hit the plastic flooring, they couldn't understand why their feet were causing such noisy tapping! They ended up freezing on the spot and shaking. Safe to say we decided to give them a cuddle and let them go back to their happy home.
We've heard you're a trained ballerina, after having started off in dance, how did that develop into being a presenter and DJ?
Dancing, presenting and DJing all stems from my love and obsession with music. I started dancing at around eight years old, just at a Saturday class and it turned out I wasn’t too bad.
I got into a full time Dance school in Scotland and came down to London to further my training. By the time I’d graduated from Uni I’d done everything I wanted to do with dancing. I started to focus on presenting as it gave me the perfect outlet to geek out about my favourite new bands.
I always worshiped the likes Zoe Ball, Zane Lowe, Sara Cox and Annie Mac growing up and I had been doing radio production and presenting courses alongside my dancing. I started DJing properly when I became the drive time presenter of Ministry of Sound Radio. I was already Djing but not to the standard of a club DJ so I got my head down and practised, practised, practised.
I think my sets benefit from my dance background as it all comes down to rhythm and getting people dancing, so I’m grateful for the path my life has taken to get to where I am now. They all support each other. If I could sing or play an instrument I would've been in a band. Unfortunately I wasn’t graced with any singing skills, ha ha!
Is it true you starred in Harry Potter when you were younger? What was that like?
I crashed the auditions for the Beauxbatons which appear in the fourth film Goblet of Fire. I was a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I got the job and spent eight months filming on it. It was one of the best jobs I've ever done and the one that everyone always wants to ask me about.
The level of British acting you have on that film is unprecedented. It was incredible just to watch the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Gary Oldman acting right in front of your eyes.
When you were a kid, What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to present the breakfast show on Radio 1 like Zoe Ball and Sara Cox. I idolised them when I was younger. I also wanted to be like Shirley Manson and front my own rock bank like Garbage or Blondie.
Who were your childhood heroes?
Gosh there are loads. I used to be obsessed with Fearne Cotton and Lorraine Kelly. But also loved Bowie, The Spice Girls, Prince and all the old faves like the Rolling Stones. It was a mixed bag of broadcasting heroes and bands/artists.
Which females inspire you?
My mum. She was a single parent brought up my brother and I whilst having to juggle a part time job and work her way up through a company where she started as the admin lady. She's just about to retire early having made herself a board member, a kick ass vice president and now plans on travelling to as many places around the world as she can. Talk about inspiring.
What do you love most about your work?
The variety! I tried working in an office and hated every second. I love that I can be Djing until 2am one day, getting up at 5am for a shoot the next and then travelling onto a new location for the next adventure.
So many people asked if I was knackered doing the Love Island podcast as it was six days a week? It was the opposite. I was buzzing that I was getting to work six days a week solidly for two months and was still being able to do my festival gigs on my day off.
It’s such a luxury to be able to work that much in my industry. Also how many people do you now who get paid to be gunged on TV? It’s the best job in the world.
What's been your career highlight so far? (Other than getting to work with Kem Cetinay)
Covering Dance Anthems on Radio 1 in the summer. It was the scariest and most incredible moment for me as that has always been the dream. I’ve loved Radio 1 since before I can remember and to actually make it on air and broadcast live was unforgettable. A proper pinch me moment”.
Go and follow Arielle Free on Instagram and check out her BBC Radio 1 show. She is such a young broadcaster and DJ, so I feel the very best and most successful years are still ahead of her. Having achieved so much already, I think a post-pandemic world will offer her further opportunities across radio and T.V. I am a big fan of her work and I think that she will be…
A legend of the future.