Matthew Bannister - 1993

Matthew Bannister speaks here, on taking up the role as Controller at Radio 1, taking the reins from Johnny Beerling in 1993.

It was Matthew, later with Trevor Dann alongside, who engineered the station's shift from the comfy red and light blue Radio 1, driven by DLT and Bates, to become a spikier, darker blue younger brother.

His tenure was juicy food for the press as they sided with the populist case from those who lamented the departure of the 'star DJ' names.

Commercial radio looked on gleefully when audiences fell: albeit collateral damage of any major shift was inevitable. In truth, the more distinctive programming was returning Radio 1 to its roots and to the audience it was charged to serve. History has already started to be kinder about the strategy; and maybe with the 2012/2013 changes, one hears the sound of a distant echo.

Matthew later became Director of Radio and then Chief Executive of BBC Production. Before his Radio 1 spell, he'd been spearheading 'experimental' radio at GLR, addressing the familiar challenge of how to do 'local' BBC radio in the bigger cities.

Like many good radio folk, his career started in Nottingham. Currently, Matthew presents for the BBC World Service (the insightful 'Outlook') and Radio 4 (the simple and excellent 'Last Word'), and chairs the independent Wire Free Productions.