The host of the new look Radio 1 Chart Show, which launches this Sunday, has been talking to the Media Guardian. Relative unknown Wes Butters, a 23 year old former Galaxy presenter, told the paper: "I still can't believe it - I've got the best job in the world, and I wouldn't swap it for anything. There's been only three presenters of the chart show in the past 20 years - Bruno Brookes, Mark Goodier, and now me. I don't think there'll be a day when I don't walk into work and think, 'Expletive me, it's Radio 1!'"
But Butters is presented with a real challenge. Radio 1’s chart show has always been second to the Network Chart Show in terms of audience, but in the last year it has lost further quarter of a million listeners. Plus the Network Chart Show was relaunched last month and is about to be sponsored by Woolworths meaning promotion in shops across the UK. Added to the fact EMAP stations are now pushing their Smash Hits Chart, which is cross-plugged through their TV and magazine operations, and the fact single sales are once again in decline, Butters may be counting down the flagship chart, but he’s not taking over the flagship chart show.
But Radio 1 bosses hope the 23 year old will revitalise the show, and crucially appeal to their target audience more than the 42 year old Goodier who fronted the chart until the end of last year. Certainly his musical tastes are akin to that of his audience: "I like pop, rock, Eminem... everything from Level 42 to Justin Timberlake, really.” And some might argue he is representative of the teenage audience when, in response to questions about politics and the situation in Iraq he says: "I have no political standpoint at all, no. Let the prime minister sort it out."
Whether an air of youth will help revitalise Radio 1’s chart show in an increasingly competitive (yet, some might argue, decreasingly relevant) area remains to be seen. Whether his predication regarding his first show – "I think Justin will be number one" – comes true we’ll know sooner, though midweek indicators say Oasis will go in at the top this Sunday.