FEATURE:
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
IMAGE CREDIT: BBC
The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2
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I have a bit of a quandary…
PHOTO CREDIT: BBC/PA
when I listen to the radio weekday mornings! I am a massive fan of Lauren Laverne and always tune into her BBC Radio 6 Music breakfast show at 7:30 (although there is a schedule change from next month that will change the show time). Starting an hour earlier is Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2. I have been listening to Ball for years. When she used to present children’s T.V. back in the day, I was a devoted viewer. She is a legend who is a phenomenal broadcaster! There is no anniversary or real significant reason for posting this feature. I have been writing a lot about BBC Radio 6 Music and how essential the station has been through such a hard past year or two. I have been listening to Zoe Ball a lot more (switching between her and Lauren Laverne) because she is this very warm and embracing person. Not insulting to say a mother-type figure, the combination of great music and the affection she has for her listeners and team – including Richie Anderson and newsreader Clare Runacres – has won me and millions of others. I don’t think that it is an age thing (I am thirty-eight). Many people my age listen to BBC Radio 2, so I think that radio in general has converted a lot of people. I have written about Lauren Laverne quite a bit, and my affection for her is limitless – she is someone who I have to listen to. Zoe Ball is an iconic broadcaster who delivers such essential listening weekday breakfasts.
She is a joyous voice that spins darn good tunes, plus she brings the listeners in and has a real rapport with everyone. This is a love letter I guess. I can only imagine how great it must be to work on the team and arrive at Wogan House, London to work alongside Ball – the getting up at silly-o-clock every weekday loses some of its sting! Although I listen to Laverne the most, I listen back to Zoe Ball’s breakfast shows on BBC Sounds a bit later sometimes. Although the format of the show has changed - so that guests and live performances are conducted remotely -, the show has lost none of its magic and energy! I know Ball will be looking forward to the day when she can see guests in the studio. If you are someone who feels that listening to BBC Radio 2 is for certain people/age groups, check out The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. Since 14th January, 2019, Ball has been at the helm of one of the most prestigious shows on radio. I have dived into BBC Radio 2 more during the pandemic. I love listening to Sara Cox, Claudia Winkleman and Jo Whiley. Of course, Ken Bruce has been part of my radio listening life for years! I would love to work at the station one day, as you have all these fantastic broadcasters who have so much respect for one another – I like to think that they all used to hang out outside of work and will do so again when things improve!
I will finish up with an interview from back in June. Ball has not long celebrated five-hundred breakfast shows. At fifty, she has been in radio and broadcasting for a long time now. Even so, she still seems genuinely stunned by having this dream job and having listeners call up and interact. Someone who never takes her position for granted. The Guardian chatted with Zoe Ball about an incredible career that includes the phenomenal breakfast show:
“Her job at Radio 2 took on particular significance during the worst of the pandemic, when her listeners, often key workers, contacted the show. She remembers “someone who was sat outside the hospital, about to go in for another shift. They were exhausted and they just sat for a minute to listen to the radio and fill themselves up with the strength to face it. So it was good to get those messages – but they had us in tears.”
She adds that, “The voice on the radio is a friend and is company,” and insists she needed it too, listening to her favourites Liza Tarbuck and Jo Whiley, and as much news as she could handle, which wasn’t much. “Bit of Emma Barnett, Adrian Chiles on Five Live, a bit of Evan [Davis] at PM. Just to hear some calm news, rather than the hysterical. And we had new listeners coming across from the current affairs space going, ‘Actually that’s quite harrowing, I just want to hear some Cher.’”
PHOTO CREDIT: Sophia Spring/The Observer
As for the show, she and her team had just been getting into the swing of it before the pandemic altered what they could do. (The recording studio at Wogan House became skeletally staffed.) They were determined to turn around the reports saying that they had lost a million listeners since Chris Evans left, and the columnists crowing that Zoe wasn’t worth the money. Given what many people think about six-figure salaries, especially in relation to a public body, I wonder if Ball has ever felt able to thoroughly celebrate, to admit she’s smashed it.
“Er, no. I never think I’ve smashed it,” she says. “I don’t think you ever take any of it for granted at all. Erm, you know, honestly, I’ve never done what I do because of the money. I have worked for the BBC for a lot of my career and I kind of always did it for the love. People always go, ‘Oooh, well that’s nonsense,’ but it isn’t, I love my job, I love what I do. It’s great fun to try to entertain.”
I tell her that she will always be the woman who broke the BBC’s glass ceiling, that it’s a historic position to be in. “Well,” she says, slowly and carefully. “It did feel like a good, positive moment, that there was a big corporation willing to pay a woman about the same as what they had paid a man.” She relaxes a bit and lets out a laugh. “Sadly, for some, that story didn’t really seem to be that… And then suddenly you’ve got other headlines.”
She is doing this interview because she has just done her 500th breakfast show on Radio 2, though on the day itself, when listeners phone in to congratulate, she says she can’t quite believe she’s still allowed to be in the job, and jokes that perhaps nobody has noticed. I do think she lives with the anxiety that it could all end. She says her dad taught her to go with the fear of live broadcasting and channel the anxiety into adrenalin, but she also clearly loves it. Really, truly loves it.
“I think there’s something quite lovely about coming to this sort of age and thinking, yeah! Do you know what? I mean, 30 years of working in telly and radio. I’ve had it pretty good”.
I will leave it there. I have always had the utmost love and respect for Zoe Ball! Like so many during the pandemic, her show has become even more important. There are moments of emotion and ‘reality’, though one also gets a lot of joy and laughter. It is a perfect mixture. As we head into the autumn, the weather will get worse and the days shorter. Having Zoe Ball and her team there from 6:30 of a morning definitely gives the day the kick and sunshine that one needs! I hope that Ball remains at BBC Radio 2 for many years to come. She has a family and lot of love there. That is extended by the loyal listeners that she has attracted. In terms of broadcasters, Zoe Ball is…
PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
ONE of the all-time greats.