Nick Grimshaw on leaving Radio 1: ‘I’ve interviewed everyone, twice’on August 12, 2021 at 3:10 pm
The legendary presenter reflects on leaving BBC Radio 1 after 14 years.
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What’s it like to quit your dream job?
When Nick Grimshaw was a kid, his dad took him from Oldham, Greater Manchester down to London to watch a football match.
Nick asked to go to the Radio 1 office while they were down there.
“I just wanted to look through the windows and I just wanted to imagine it,” he tells Newsbeat.
“It was sort of like a window into life outside of my bedroom walls when I was growing up.
“Really, it was just exactly what I needed as a teenager, listening to Radio 1.”
About a decade later – after working at MTV and E4 – he made it to Radio 1, hosting a Sunday night slot.
He says his parents were “really proud” of him. “When I did my night time show, they’d stay up late and listen.”
Over the next five years, Nick worked his way up to present the coveted breakfast show, which he took over from Chris Moyles in 2012.
“Even before I went to Radio 1, I used to imagine life on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show,” he says.
After six years, he moved to the drive time slot, and earlier this summer decided to call it a day.
But why go when this was the childhood dream?
“Because I’ve worked there for 14 years and interviewed literally everybody. Twice.”
“It wasn’t a case of, ‘Oh my god, I should change my life’.
“But when I had time off I was thinking, ‘What else could I be doing? What would I love to do?’
“I guess you think about your life a lot when you’re locked in doors by the government.”
He adds: “Change is so important – especially in a job like mine… you can freestyle a bit and move around. So that’s what I thought I’d do.”
“I wanted to leave at a time when I was still loving it.”
Nick’s spent the last week reminiscing about his last 14 years at Radio 1, which he says has made him feel nostalgic.
“I’ve looked back with it with like a sense of contentment,” he says. “I feel good.”
But leaving means he can be more honest about his time at the station – like which song he hated playing.
“I had a very interesting love-hate relationship with Timber by Pitbull and Kesha.”
“Some days I was like, ‘I love this’, and some days it put me in an instant bad mood. That’s art for you, isn’t it?”
He says the most random guest he had on was wrestling veteran Hulk Hogan, who was “just walking past,” and ended up on the show with Paramore.
“They were both on at the same time doing a quiz. It was just very surreal.”
And one guest subverted Grimmy’s expectations – in a good way.
“Kim Kardashian surprised me. I never really got the appeal to the Kardashians and why they were so famous.
“Then when she came in, we all sort of fell in love with her on the show. She was super charming, and funny and warm.
“I didn’t think she’d be as charismatic and warm as she was. She was very funny.”
Grimmy says he doesn’t have a set plan for what’s next.
All he can say is he’ll “definitely do some telly – I love doing TV.”
He’s also working on a website related to his interior design Instagram page, which he says is “coming soon.”
And – after a break – he’d love to go back to radio: “I’m still very passionate about the power of radio.”
He adds: “I’m leaving in a leap of faith. Before I left, I wasn’t like, ‘Alright, I’m lining this up so now I can leave.’
“I’ve never done anything like that, career-wise. So I just thought I didn’t want to change that now.”