So today saw the much publicised launch of the Chris Evans breakfast show on Radio 2. I for one have been looking forward to it as a halfway house for those of us too sensible for Moyles but not yet ready for Wogan.
The show was billed as an “interactive show for all the family”. Great I though, popped onto Twitter to @achrisevans to see what the listeners / man himself were tweeting about. Aside from a few thanks tweeted before the show, nothing….
Popped onto facebook to see if there was an official fan page….found this group with about a hundred fans and no content on it….
Went to the radio 2 homepage which had a lovely graphic:
And a link to Chris’ blog……..not updated since Jan 5th.
Come on Chris – I always held you up as a broadcaster that made his success from really knowing your audience…but a breakfast slot with a phone-in doesn’t cut it as an interactive show today I’m afraid.
I am freelance 
Hi Becky
Some fair comment here but just to respond on Chris’ behalf (i work for BBC Radio).
Chris updates his blog pretty religiously. Over 200 posts in 2009 for example and he posted immediately after the show this morning…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chrisevans/2010/01/lovely_ken_bruce_lovely_sarah.shtml
The Facebook page. Still early days but its here: (I’m sure there’ll be tens of thousands of fans in a few weeks or so) but already some feedback from Chris and healthy discussion/feedback.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Chris-Evans-Breakfast-Show/
Chris likewise is a pretty avid tweeter. 1500 updates and lots of replies to listeners in the 3 months or so he’s been online.
There’s also fairly robust discussion about the first prog at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbradio2/F14126215
I think thanks to facebook, twitter, his blog and things like this behind the scenes video for example
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/chris-evans/videos/pilot/ that you get much more access, feedback and responses from radio presenters than ever before including Chris…
Anyway its day 1. Please stick with it 🙂
Jem Stone (exec producer, social media, BBC Radio)
Hi Jem
Thanks for stopping by with this feedback – great to know you’re listening and yes, I hear you that it is only day 1 🙂
I am hoping Chris and the team does get the format right for the new breakfast show both on air and online because the UK is in dire need of a decent b’fast show and radio 2 is the perfect home for it IMO. There is a real opportunity for this show to be truly interactive too with the use of social media tools and audience population/user generated content (as Chris has always done in real life with his previous ventures).
I will keep listening and will check out the blog etc as it gets more heavily populated. I hope people who switched on/logged on to see what the show was all about will persevere too, despite the lack of interactive elements at the kick off.
Best of luck with it.
Becky