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Original poster

To hate Jo Wiley

774 replies

bridgetjonesmassivepants · 03/05/2018 18:43

Not personally obviously, surprisingly enough I don't know her, but I love the Radio 2 Drivetime programme and she is going to ruin it. I find her voice grating, she has a babyish breathy style that is highly irritating. The Drivetime show was perfect and now they have got rid of homework, foody Thursday with Nigel and they are getting rid of MATT!!!! Are they crazy???

I'm all for gender equality but why can't Jo share a show with Steve Wright as his show is already awful.

I know I may be getting this out of proportion but it feels like this show is part of my life and it's just gone.

OP posts:
MrsMozart · 17/05/2018 08:24

Slarty - very true re a part 2, however it's still not a good mix of presenters and so many people preferred what was there before.

I wanted to like it. I still want to like it (nothing to do with being a lazy arse who can't be bothered to go looking), but I just don't. The mix is all wrong for the time of day, etc etc etc. The BBC must be getting so many complaints as it seems to have stopped replying to individuals and has put up a bland (and somewhat condescending) comment.

goonerchick · 17/05/2018 11:33

Have listened this week, don't like the new show- what was wrong with the drive time show as it was- #missing Matt

MightyMucks · 17/05/2018 11:35

I love Jo Wiley and that thing she does where parents are waiting for their kids.

She has unfeasibly hairy toes though.

cistersofterfy · 17/05/2018 13:57

I just thought the tweet was interesting because I assumed Simon was more on board with this than it seems he is. I also wonder whether Matt leaving was all part of the upsetting few weeks and wasn't the initial intention or what really happened. I listen to the show most nights and I was shocked when suddenly it was the last mosh and it still wasn't obvious he was leaving - unless I missed an announcement. It seemed very sudden and quick.

Blobby10 · 17/05/2018 14:08

I hated their first show on Monday - when I'm driving home from work I dont want to listen to interviews for half an hour!! I want the fun stuff ----and Matt and the three way conversations and larking about between Simon, Bobbee and Matt.

Last nights show was slightly more bearable but I'm sorry, Jo Wiley's presenting style isn't suited to Drivetime. Simon sounds very reserved and not at all like his normal self. Maybe it's just new show nerves but I think R2 have lost a lot of listeners at this time.

Why can't they bin Steve 'the whole world and life in general is about meeeeee' or Chris 'lets shout at the top of my voice first thing in the morning to prove I'm a jolly happy chap' Evans??

cistersofterfy · 17/05/2018 17:17

Here we go again.

I do feel sorry for them. They've both alluded to how stressed they are. Simon sounds slightly more upbeat today though.

TheKitchenWitch · 17/05/2018 17:18

So I'm back listening again. I've decided I like Jo's voice, actually (never really listened to her before) and that she doesn't need Simon (or indeed anyone else) there with her. This is clearly meant to be her show. And as she's an experienced dj, she'll probably be fine at it - it won't be to everyone's taste obviously, but hey ho.

What I still cannot get over axing is such a brilliant show as Drivetime to replace it with this. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. I am missing Matt and I am really missing the laughs. I would sometimes be in stitches while listening. Not much of that now.

IJustHadToNameChange · 17/05/2018 17:21

What time they woke up.

Jo texted Simon at 4.15 am and replied an hour later.....

I like the music, I like them both as seperate presenters, but this double act is contrived and they are really awkward.

moodance · 17/05/2018 17:25

I have had to turn off .... she is driving me bonkers and she always over talks Steve Wright .... it's frustrating and I can't bear to listen.

Matt went back to teaching from what I can understand Hmm

MrsMozart · 17/05/2018 17:28

I tried again yesterday. Almost tried again today but it just doesn't work for me.

I like Jo's voice for the evening 'serious' music. Not at this time of day when I want a giggle and a bit of info and just some light fun with the odd serious bit. And the presenter needs a voice with an edge to it, not soft and melodic.

cistersofterfy · 17/05/2018 17:30

It's been a bit better just now as Bobby was in the studio. I'm finding it too much music and not enough banter still though.

GoldenFlaps · 17/05/2018 18:45

I'm not liking what I've heard of it (keep switching off in rage). Simon can't seem to get a word in edgeways or only does the 'this is the phone number' stuff. He sounds like a very dulled down version of himself Sad

I hadn't heard Jo Whiley before but am not liking what she's bringing to a show I really enjoyed before. She seems to be quite an attention seeker, butting in where she's not needed and fannying about in spiderman costumes, how many times do we need to hear that Hmm

Why they had to change Drivetime of all the stuff they could have changed is beyond me and sacking Matt and Nigel was just bloody rotten Angry

ferrier · 17/05/2018 19:01

5-7 Simon May-ay-ay-oh was the only show I listened to on Radio 2. Had tried various of the other shows and rejected them all. If I was in the car before 5 it would be tuned to another station rather than suffer Steve Wright.
Drivetime was great for listening with my dcs as I drove them to and from their various activities. We all loved confessions, homework time and Matt's contributions. Not worth listening to now is it.

Peaseblossom22 · 17/05/2018 19:06

I also had to turn it off tonight , Jo Wiley's voice irritates me and I really tried but she just witters on and on and in the end I turned it off . I don 't want to hear about her all the time .

Peanutbuttercups21 · 17/05/2018 19:16

Today was not v. good, had to switch it off during interminable boring interview with an actor (who? Missed that bit Grin)

The fizz has gone out of it, totally

It was the only radio program the teens and I all listened too, even DH who hates radio enjoyed the jokes and the confessions.

The old show felt like a bunch of friends just having fun, but the fun has gone now.

I have no particular opinion on Jo, but she is not "fun" or engaging. Switched the radio on, twice (force of habit: listen to radio 2 whilst cooking) but switched to Sam FM.

Merrylegs · 17/05/2018 19:28

I like it.

I think Simon sounds much nicer now. He was always a bit 'short' and somtimes dismissive.

I thought the Noel Clarke interview was great - my teens love his films. And the interviews are not too long.

I liked Jo's evening show - up to a point - I liked a lot of the music she played but not some of the really new stuff or if she had someone in session I'd never heard of and it got too muso-y and a bit long-winded.

This is like the 'best of' Jo and Simon's bits.

And Simon started off his career as interested in music so it seems like the music they're playing is more relevant and part of the show rather than just filling in between 'banter'.

I feel for Jo this week though. She and Megan Markle are probably the most loathed women in the UK atm. Why? No idea. Actually, Sexism probably.

Slartybartfast · 17/05/2018 19:55

god i dont loathe either of them, i miss them in their own shows

Slartybartfast · 17/05/2018 19:56

gosh i remember when Simon Mayo took over from Chris Evans drive time and i was so upset. In time I grew to very much enjoy Simon Mayo.

Gnittensmum · 17/05/2018 20:01

She is awful, like really, really awful!!! What was that about her earrings on Tuesday? Simon sounded like he wanted to bash his head against his desk. She has to have jokes explained to her, attempts at banter fall flat every time and she's just boring.

She's always been like this, more interested in name dropping than anything else. Now she has a job where personality is more more important than who you know and her true abilities (or lack of) are showing.

The producers must be weeping...

IJustHadToNameChange · 17/05/2018 20:08

Simon sounded so 'dull' and subdued.

It's Drivetime, people need something upbeat and lively not fake or not (Peregrine is a wedding coordinator) and some lame biddy woodenly 'teasing' about an online exchange with a famous rock star "But I can't tell you".

FFS.

Slartybartfast · 17/05/2018 20:18

www.radiotimes.com/news/radio/2018-05-14/bbc-radio-2-jo-whiley-simon-mayo-joint-show-revealed/
oh what happens tomorrow?

Slartybartfast · 17/05/2018 20:19

oh, according to schedules it is All Request Friday, still, with the terrible duo

Ruffian · 17/05/2018 20:32

Never could bear JW way back on radio 1 she came across as a totally self-serving dullard and not a genuine music fan. Continued to be completely unimpressive co-hosting Glastonbury highlights with Mark Radcliffe - just sitting there posing, very stilted. I've avoided her on R2 and will continue to do so.

Nothing to do with sexism - there's plenty of female dj's I like.

Derwent19 · 17/05/2018 20:38

Only tuned in today for the Noel Clarke interview, which I thought was pretty good. Stayed with the show until the introduction to the confession but it just felt too awkward so that was that.

I'll give the new All Request Friday a chance tomorrow but this has been a dreadful mistake by the BBC. As others have said, if the beeb wanted a woman on daytime they should have replaced Steve Wright with Sara Cox and left Simon and Jo where they were.

I miss the old drivetime and its features and Matt and Nigel so much!

TheKitchenWitch · 17/05/2018 20:53

I made it to the end tonight.
I thought the music choices were better than they had been.

She doesn't seem comfortable having conversations, she fires questions at people but there's no chat or banter. And she talks over everyone.
They really should have tried this out beforehand - maybe got the two of them to do a week of shows together covering an event or something - it would be have been immediately obvious that this was not going to work.
I predict The Jo Show sooner rather than later.