Scottish Media Group's Virgin Radio scored quite a coup yesterday by announcing they had poached Xfm's Christian O'Connell. He will take over the national station's breakfast show when Pete and Geoff leave the slot later this year. Coming so soon after O'Connell's triple win at the radio industry's Sony Awards, and given the critical acclaim his Xfm show has always enjoyed, Virgin bosses will be hoping their new recruit will help them gain ground in the competitive breakfast show domain, especially in London. Confirming his new job, O'Connell told reporters he reckoned both the national and London breakfast show market was "all for the taking", with the exception of Terry Wogan who, he admitted, was untouchable.
Commenting on his decision to leave Xfm, O'Connell says he is leaving with a "heavy heart", telling reporters: "I joined Xfm from a small station in Liverpool and they took a big risk on me. Four and a half years later, after saying I was leaving, it was quite sad. They've been brilliant to me, always supported me and let me do stuff on breakfast that's never been done before. It was a difficult decision but it's the right time for me to move to a national station. I've been chatting to a few different stations, and I was not going to move for the sake of it. I love the Xfm show, we've done difficult and ambitious things like Bounty Hunter and the listeners are brilliant - they have made it."
Speculation is now rife as to who will take over from O'Connell at Xfm. Six months ago it would have seemed obvious that Richard Bacon would be the only candidate - with some reckoning Bacon's fill in stints on Xfm's breakfast slot were better radio than that produced by O'Connell himself. However Bacon, of course, has taken on drive time at sister station Capital FM, delivering his a bigger audience though, arguably, less of the freedom he enjoyed at GCap's alternative station.
Assuming Bacon is out of the running, it will be interesting to see who Xfm now opt for. Fingers crossed it will be a new talent with a completely different approach to O'Connell, because Xfm is always at its best when it opts for the unconventional route.