The DJ is dead. Long live the DJ.

January 11, 2005 11:53 AM

John Peel's Successors Named. Begining on February 1st, John Peel's week night show will be succeeded by OneMusic, three shows hosted by three DJs. The three chosen to fill those gigantic boots? Huw Stephens, Ras Kwame, and Rob da Bank. Good luck gents.
posted by helvetica (8 comments total)

nice dude. thanks for the update.
posted by garfield at 1:25 PM on January 11, 2005

Yet to see how this will play out, and the website says that the DJs have been chosen for their in depth musical knowledge across a variety of musical genres but I'm disappointed that this looks like the three shows can break along genre lines.

Stephens (heard last week describing the programme following him as a 'genreless dance music show') playing the guitar end, Kwame covering the more 'urban' stuff, and Bank doing the 'electronica' end. I just hope that's not the case as one of the delights of Peel's show for me was that he played anything and everything regardless of genre.
posted by drill_here_fore_seismics at 1:32 PM on January 11, 2005

These guys will probably do a great job, but I'm afraid that nobody can fill the great man's shoes, because none of them (and probably nobody else alive) has Peel's knowledge and experience of modern music, combined crucially with his breadth of taste. His death was quite genuinely the passing of an era, and it's all about fresh starts rather than continuations now.
posted by Holly at 2:02 PM on January 11, 2005

It's quite a testament to the man when it takes three people to replace him. John Peel was quite the legend, and it saddens me that his show is no more, but all things must come to an end. Best of luck to these lucky three - and maybe, just maybe, someone else will come along with Peel-like taste, knowledge and individuality.

I'm not holding my breath.
posted by salad spork at 2:38 PM on January 11, 2005

Damn, looks like the anchor tags at the bbc aren't working.

Anyways, I'm with drill_here_fore_seismics. It will be a damn shame if it ends up being three different genre-based shows, eventually pushing so far away from each other that they end up becoming completely independent of each other
posted by helvetica at 3:52 PM on January 11, 2005

ah, damn. i thought i was going to get that gig....
posted by protocool at 4:13 PM on January 11, 2005

Oh boy.
Huw Stevens - feckless eegit, driven by the fashion and the urge to be popular,
Rob Da Bank - voice for the deaf, personality malfunction,
Ras Kwame - interesting, and potential, but he's not going to be flipping from Papa Wemba to DJ Shitmat


The king is dead. That is all.
posted by NinjaPirate at 2:08 AM on January 12, 2005

I was driving across the Midlands the day after Peel died and was taken aback by the lack of references to Peel's death by the various DJs on the Beeb that day. They seemed highly disinterested by the whole thing.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 2:33 PM on January 12, 2005