BBC Radio 1Xtra is having a major shakeup of its weekday line-up, with breakfast duo Trevor Nelson and Gemma Cairney splitting up to look after daytimes.
Weekend presenter Twin B will take over the breakfast show instead, with Trevor on 10am-1pm and Gemma 1-4pm ahead of Tim Westwood who stays put at drivetime.
Twin B says: "I'm super excited about the prospect of waking up the nation on a weekday. I love 1Xtra! There's no other institution around with more passion for the music it plays. It's an honour to be asked to present such a massive show. Trevor and Gemma have left some huge shoes to fill… and I'm only a size 9! I can't wait!"
Trevor says he's enjoyed his time on breakfast but it's time for a change. "Gem and I have had a unique dynamic," he said. "But I am ready for a lie-in and eight hours sleep a night! With my new show I will be broadening the style of music I play as well as introducing a live music element and doing more in-depth interviews."
Gemma added: "Getting up at 5am day after day, gaining a life-long friend in Trevor, a silver Sony for our efforts and learning what's really involved in the craft that is radio over the past two years has been immense. I love 1Xtra and I'm ready to go solo, so bring it on and expect havoc!"
Ben Cooper, Deputy Controller of 1Xtra, told us: "We're making these changes from a position of strength after we secured record listening figures in the last quarter. We want to continue to refresh our offer in order to grow the station and increase the number of young listeners we're bringing into the BBC via a digital platform and we believe these changes will do just that."
As a result of these changes, Nick Bright moves to weekend breakfast (7-10am) from early weekday breakfast; Charlie Sloth will front Saturdays (10am-1pm); CJ Beatz Sundays (10am–1pm) and Sarah-Jane Crawford shifts to weekend afternoons (1–4pm) from weekend breakfast.
In addition, from 1-3am every Saturday night/Sunday morning a new show is being introduced. The Specialists will allow a rotation of the DJs who host the 10pm weekday genre shows to be showcased across Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra, with every six weeks a guest DJ from an up-and-coming genre being featured too. A further new two-hour The Mix Specialists show from 3-5am on Saturday night/Sunday morning will also allow a rotation of all the weekday 1am mix show DJs.
The introduction of the new schedule means that Rampage (Mike Anthony and Treble T); Max and Ras Kwame will leave the station. Seani B will no longer host a regular weekly show but will continue to work with 1Xtra in the future.
Ben Cooper added: "They have all made significant contributions to Radio 1Xtra and I thank them for that. I wish them all well for the future."
All the changes will come into place from 8 January 2011.