Is There Another John Peel Out There?

George Ergatoudis, the head of BBC Radio 1, recently stated that he believed there could well be another presenter like John Peel along in the future. While admitting that "John Peel was a one-off," in the interview with NME he went on to say:  "When the right presenter comes along who's passionate about a wide range of music, who appeals to our young audience, there's no reason why there couldn't be a new Peel."

Two of our writers, Richard O'Hagan and Linn Branson, sit down for a chat about the state of things.

Richard: The question of who should be the next Peel rather presupposes that there ever could be a next Peel. A decade after his unfortunate death, there is practically a whole new generation of music devotees who never heard the man’s shows live, or experienced just how special his influence on music was.

Linn: I don't see why there couldn't be. After all, when you break it down, he was just a guy enthused about music. Do you not see any djs around that are filling that slot now on radio? I am thinking of the likes of Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, John Kennedy as three off the top of my head...

R: Those three are the obvious ones to mention, but they've all been around since before Peel died. I don't think any of them has the wide range of tastes that Peel had, but more importantly Peel played things that weren't necessarily to his taste but which he thought were worthy of wider exposure.

L: True, but in the case of Lowe at least look how getting to be his next big thing has become a very big thing in itself...

R: Ah, but are we looking for someone to be a champion of a wide range of (often) new music, or a personality, or both?

L: Both, surely? Sounds like you are thinking the two today are mutually exclusive?

R: I don't think they are mutually exclusive, but I'd rather have someone who ticked the first box and then became a personality - which is pretty much what Peel did.

L: Supposedly, when the BBC launched 6 Music in 2002 that was to embrace the Peel ethos, with 1Xtra, also launched that year, specialising in urban music. Not sure whether they actually succeeded there ...although you do have his son, Tom Ravenscroft, and Marc Riley whose wit might at least be considered to be on a similar par. The trouble - and what puts me off a lot - is that so many of today's djs seem to be riding up their own ego; it's not about the discovery of a new band as much as reinforcing how THEY were first to play on radio etc. I can think of one at least I know of who peruses the blogs to see who is starting a buzz and then whacks on with a word about 'their' discovery.

R: I agree with that a lot. Obviously DJs have to get their info from somewhere, but people like that clearly want to be famous first and to simply follow the zeitgeist. Everything they do is too slick and manufactured. Nowadays, Peel is remembered as a discoverer of new bands and promoter of new and different music, but he was much more than that. His shows took place in an atmosphere of organised chaos, where the wrong track at the wrong speed was just as likely to be played as the debut single from the next big thing.

L: Peel certainly had an ear for new talent and as one of the early tastemakers. Like you have said, he could ease in session tracks by some unknown, next to King Sunny Ade followed by Pulp and The Undertones.

R: There was a hierarchy, too. First your song got played (an achievement in itself). Then it got played repeatedly. If you were lucky you then got a session. And the elite few made it into the legendary Festive Fifty. Getting to the point where all of that became important and meaningful, especially the last bit, took Peel years of airtime that most stations, especially Radio 1, just aren’t prepared to grant anymore.

L: But we are going back a few decades here, and things were a lot different then. Back in pre Soundcloud and YouTube days we relied a lot on the likes of radio and John Peel to provide our ears with new sounds. These days aren't we all doing it for ourselves? Checking out the likes of Hype Machine and who the bloggers are rating?

R: I'd say that there are SOME of us who are doing it for themselves, but the vast majority still want to be spoon fed. If that were not that case, NME would not have their ill-deserved high circulation figures, and we'd have even more readers here!

L: I still personally feel that music and how we find it today has changed since Peel's time. He brought the listener into a world of music that many would perhaps have never come across otherwise. That is not the case today.

R: That doesn't have to be the case, though. There's no reason why a DJ can't say 'send me stuff and if I like it I will play it'. If you're only playing things that everyone has heard already you turn your show into daytime XFM. Then you have to remember that Peel’s presenting style was unique, too. There aren’t many DJs nowadays who could bring themselves to stay quiet from the first note of a song to the last...

L: Have to cut in and disagree there, Richard. I think that might be the case with a lot of radio djs, but mainly those dishing out the top 40 fodder on Radio One, Absolute etc.

R: ...Easier to do nowadays, of course, with songs not fading out the way they used to...but Peel's gentle tones, more travel documentary narrator than typical radio presenter, are hard to emulate (plenty have tried and failed) and his knack for finding music that you could feel confident would be interesting even if you didn’t like it is even harder to replicate.

L: Not sure it would work today, replicated per se, but certainly I see elements of what you have mentioned in John Kennedy. Do you not agree?

R: Elements, certainly, but JK has been around a long time and I at times wonder if he feels constrained by his own reputation as a booster of indie bands; I don't hear too much world music on his show, for example. The fact that he hasn't found a wider audience than XFM (the rest of which has become disappointingly mainstream anyway) suggests that the big networks aren't willing to take a chance on even a Peel-lite show such as his. I don't mean that to be in any way derogatory of someone who is both a fine DJ and a fine man, but to emphasise that a very big part of the problem is networks not being willing to go all in on a show that is roughly 75% of a Peel show.

L: Although I don't listen too much, Tom Robinson puts out a lot of stuff not heard anywhere else, and invites new artists to upload their tracks to his Listening Post. Amazing Radio allows any artist to upload their tracks to their system which at least ensures a degree of a chance if their getting heard.

R: Tom Robinson is 65 next year, though, so hardly the 'next' Peel. And allowing bands to upload things to listen to isn't the same as giving them that personal recommendation that carried such cachet when it came from Peel. Indeed, you could argue that it is taking the easy way out.

L: Peel would have been 76 this year. Would he still be going do you think? 

R: I'd like to think so. Annie Nightingale is still going strong at 74 (and boy has her taste changed over time!); Fred Dellar is still writing about music and he's well into his 80s. and I'm sure we'd both like to do the same!

L: I think Kennedy is one of the few who does actually give complete unknowns a break, simply by their perhaps having tweeted him a link on Twitter and he has picked up on. Hardly something you would have with the likes of say, Nick Grimshaw.

R: If you're pushing me, I think Kennedy is the best of those out there, he's not afraid to have people dislike what he plays. For all of his reputation, Peel had far more misses than hits. Take a look at his last Festive 50 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/festive50s/2000s/2004/) and you could argue that only The Black Keys from that list went on to make it big. The rest are either acts who were already established (even the execrable Bloc Party) or who never went anywhere (you could argue that McLusky might have had a chance had they not imploded, but on the other hand Future of the Left have hardly trained on, either). It is hard to see, in this ego-driven entertainment business, anyone willing to be that wrong that often. Peel was no fool and his bumbling persona was carefully constructed. He was a public school educated (he was at Shrewsbury with the founders of Private Eye), intelligent individual with an instinct for being in the right place at the right time and a desire to shun the mainstream. It is hard to think of a single DJ who would rather be wading through a hundred new submissions a day from bands than introducing the headliner at Reading.

All of which is a lengthy way of saying that, in fact, any one of us could be the next Peel. All it takes is a willingness to listen to a lot of bad music, a talent for picking the pearls from that trash, a willingness to listen to a wide range of sounds, an understanding radio station and hours and hours and hours of hard work. If you’re willing to do all of that, there’s a vacancy for you somewhere.

L: Exactly. Which is kind of the point I alluded to before, in that we are all our OWN John Peels, in a way, especially the ones who are enthused enough to blog about the latest exciting new band they've found.


What do YOU think: is there another John Peel out there today? Do we even need one? If you have a view or opinion, agree or disagree with anything above, we'd like to hear. Drop us a line in the comments section below.