The Chris Moyles Show is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as Radio 1 Breakfast from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012, before transferring three years later on 21 September 2015 to the Global Radio-owned commercial radio station Radio X. The show is broadcast between 6:30 and 10:00 each weekday (originally broadcasting from 6:55–10:00 between 2004 and 2007).
Radio X version
On 21 September 2015, Moyles relaunched the show on Radio X, the rebranded XFM, reviving the show under the same title. The new show incorporates elements of the Radio 1 incarnation of the show, in particular referencing the opening "Cheesy Song" at the start of the show before reverting to the Radio X imaging, Paul Turner providing prerecorded voice over, and Richard Oliver singing the show's jingle. In February 2016 RAJAR published the first listener figures for the Radio X show. However, these figures were only for FM listeners in London. Moyles provided a 39% boost in listeners for Radio X and gave the station its best breakfast show figures in London in almost a decade.
Format The Chris Moyles Show's rebrand on Radio X consisted largely of the same format used in the Radio 1 version. The "Cheesy Song" and similar jingles were replaced by a more distinguished rock-led sound. Dominic Byrne returned for news, sport and weather. Similarly Pippa Taylor, also previously at Radio 1, returned as producer joining previous XFM Breakfast Show producer Dave Masterman.
Features
Rob DJ's Monday Night Pub Quiz – the only regular feature to be carried over from the former Radio 1 incarnation, this is still played on each Tuesday's show. Rob DJ remains the host, with Pippa or Rob DJ asking the questions and providing answers. Weekend Round-Up Quiz Type Thing – presented by producer Polly Marquis (formerly Pippa Taylor), played every Monday since January 2019, this is a not-so-serious quiz of three stories that went viral over the previous weekend. Reverse Words – Audio Producer Chris Longman (formerly Matt Parkes-Smith) will record a phrase which is then played backwards. The team have to imitate the reversed phrase, recordings of which are also reversed (so that the phrase is now played "forwards") and see how close they can get to the original. Letters – Dominic Byrne reads out letters sent into the show by listeners, often accompanied by parcels of snacks and other items sent to the team. The address is then sung as a jingle, with many different versions featuring people such as Video Producer Alfie, David Hasselhoff, Taron Egerton, Jon Culshaw (as Donald Trump) and Wynne Evans (the GoCompare man). WhatsApp Messages – since 2019 the show has allowed listeners to send in audio messages via WhatsApp. These are then compiled and the best ones played out on the show. Happy Endings – Chris and Dom (sometimes Audio Producer Matt) compete head-to-head to identify a song from the final few seconds of the track. Themed versions are often played, such as a "Weather" or "Wimbledon" edition. The 6:45 Link – Chris lets the pips interrupt the show at 6:45 before adopting a cheesy local radio DJ voice, reminding the listeners that they are listening to Radio X and to “write that down” (in their RAJAR diary). He then plays a song in a genre that would not normally be played on Radio X (e.g. disco), often cutting it off before the verse or chorus and returning quickly to the conversation the team were having before the interruption. Craptic Birthdays – played on the Saturday Show, this is a quiz of celebrity birthdays hosted by Polly (formerly Pippa) where she gives the team clues that "are not good enough to be cryptic, hence craptic" for them to try to decipher, with Chris and Dom in particular pretending not to know the answers. Introduced by Pippa singing along with her own lyrics to the theme from Curb Your Enthusiasm Now presented by Polly Marquis. The Platinum Hour – the first Platinum Hour was played on Friday 25 September 2015. Excluding the news, sport, weather and advertising as much of the hour was filled with Moyles' favourite songs from the Radio X archives, typically songs that aren't normally played during standard Radio X broadcasting. Wheel of Inappropriate tracks – in this feature, created on the Radio X Chris Moyles Show, Moyles and the team would choose seven "inappropriate" songs (i.e. songs not of the musical genres usually played on Radio X) to then spin on a wheel and whichever it may land on, must play. This would then usually upset Mike, the head of music at Radio X. This feature usually takes place every show either between 7.45 and 8.15 am or between 9.45 and 10 am. It was dropped early on in the show's run, with the "wheel" later used for prize-giving contests for listeners. In January 2019 the original (physical) wheel collapsed live on air after being spun, narrowly missing Chris. Since then a digital wheel has been used with a sound effect of the original played at the same time.
Team members
Current
Chris Moyles – host (2015–present) Dominic Byrne – newsreader and regular contributor (2015–present) Aaron Morgan - Executive producer (2026-present) Chris Longman (aka Captain/Captain Crapbeard owing to there already being a Chris on the show and Moyles formerly having a friend who appeared on the show called Longman) – sound designer and regular contributor (2022–present) Polly Marquis – producer and regular contributor (2025-present) Phoenix Stone – video producer and contributor (2022–present) Toby Tarrant – cover presenter and regular contributor (2017–present) Adam Brown – Radio X Early Breakfast DJ and regular contributor to “the First 25” from Global’s Manchester studios (2023-present)
Former
Pippa Taylor – executive producer and regular contributor (2015–2025) James Robinson – executive producer and regular contributor (2017–2025) Matt Parkes-Smith – audio producer and regular contributor (2015–2022) Alfie Butler – video producer and contributor (2016–2019) Karl Russell – video producer and contributor (2015–2016) Dave Masterman – producer/day producer and regular contributor (2015–2017) Sam Owen – video producer and contributor (2019–2022) Harry Fell – relief sound designer and contributor (2022–2024)
Stand-in presenters Johnny Vaughan initially covered the programme when Moyles and the team were absent and presented the programme under the title The 6.30 till 10 Thang – a variation on his normal 4 till 7 Thang drive-time slot. Vaughan used most of his own features from his afternoon slot and would be joined on air by his usual team of Gavin Woodman, Sunta Templeton, Big Si and Little Si.
As of 2019, Toby Tarrant is the regular cover presenter and retains a similar show format of chat, listener interactions and celebrity guests, especially when joined by Dominic Byrne. Other presenters such as Adam Brown and Polly James have also covered the show, particularly on Saturdays or bank holidays, but revert to a more generic Radio X show format by playing more music and shorter links.
BBC Radio 1 version
At eight years and 253 days, The Chris Moyles Show holds the title of the longest running breakfast show in Radio 1's history, having overtaken original Radio 1 breakfast show presenter Tony Blackburn's tenure of five years between 1967 and 1973.
Format The original Radio 1 show lasted for three and a half hours, with news and sport read half-hourly between 06:30 and 10:00, except at 09:00. Starting on 1 January 2007, the show began with the "Cheesy Song", an opening song performed by session singer Richard Oliver in the style of the "Station Song" jingles which were commonly used in radio before the advent of 24-hour broadcasting. Starting on 5 January 2009, the song had its own day, for example, if it was Wednesday, it would go "the Wednesday Cheesy Song" repeatedly. A typical half-hour segment contained fifteen to twenty minutes of chat, discussing the team members' lives, Radio 1's features, music or popular culture. There were regular celebrity guest interviews usually between 08:00 and 09:00, with the occasional live music performance and frequent first exclusive plays of new single releases. At 10:00, when Fearne Cotton took over (who took over the slot previously occupied by Jo Whiley from 21 September 2009) Moyles and the team would typically talk to Cotton for the first few minutes. The show relied in a variation of the "zoo" format, with members of the production team, news and sport readers and other studio guests contributing throughout the show.
Features
Dave's Tedious Link – this feature was carried forward from Moyles' afternoon show and was a parody of Tenuous Link a feature Jo Whiley used in her show. Each day the feature would include a well-known song. Comedy Dave would start with the Tedious Link song from the previous show and then lead to the next with a deliberately ramshackle and vague succession of linking "facts", some real and some ludicrous. The style was an extreme parody of "bloke down the pub" logic. After the song, any of the real facts contested by the team or listeners were debated while Dave explained and defended his logic. It appeared at 9am on the Monday to Thursday shows, making way for the Golden Hour on Fridays. The Golden Hour – a well-established feature, previously on various Radio 1 Breakfast Shows from 1973 to 2001. For the first half, records were played that all charted in the UK Singles Chart in a certain year and listeners were invited to guess the year. The second half contained random songs chosen by each member of the team in turn, time permitting. After a hiatus, the feature returned for a one-off on Friday 22 July 2005 during the "Summer Friday Thing" strand, on a show broadcast live from a canal boat, and then as part of Radio 1's 40th birthday celebrations in 2007. After which it appeared in the final hour of each Friday's show. The final Golden Hour was played on Friday 7 September 2012. Buzz Off – this feature took place every morning at 7:20 from the first breakfast show in 2004. The feature consisted of Moyles playing a song from his personal CD collection, and three members of the team (usually Dave, Aled and Rachel) would "Buzz Off" when they wanted the song turning off. Audience participation consisted of a fourth vote, with the vote being "Buzz Off" if less than 50% of the audience voted in favour of keeping the song on. The song would normally be turned off when all three team members and the audience had all 'buzzed off', although Chris often ignored the votes if it was a song he particularly liked, or if he disagreed with the votes. The feature was discontinued after the final show of 2004. Rob DJ's Monday Night Pub Quiz –the team played a five-question pub quiz against each other. The questions were taken from a real pub quiz run the previous evening by one of Moyles' friends, Rob DJ, in their mutual hometown of Leeds. Running totals of each team member's recent scores were kept and analysed. Since 2007, the quiz became an interactive feature, with listeners able to play along via SMS and more recently through Facebook and Twitter. A basic rule of the quiz was that the only answer taken as correct is that given by Rob DJ, regardless of its accuracy or clarity. However, inaccuracies or any vagueness in Rob DJ's answers were usually vigorously debated amongst the team, with Moyles usually bearing down for the answer to be taken in his favour. Chris Moyles won the pub quiz in both 2007.The Chris Moyles Show - Radio 1–6 December 2008 and 2008.The Chris Moyles Show - Radio 1–16 December 2008 This feature appeared in Tuesday shows, sometime between 7:45 and 8:15.