Is Chris Moyles coming back to breakfast radio? XFM job would put ex-BBC presenter up against Radio One’s Nick Grimshaw
Former Radio One superstar DJ Chris Moyles is rumoured to be returning to breakfast radio where he made his name – this time with XFM.
According to reports in the Sun on Sunday, the new show is going to start in September, after Moyles spends a couple of months putting together some ideas.
If confirmed, the move would set Moyles up for an intriguing breakfast battle with Nick Grimshaw, who replaced him on Radio One in 2012 with a mandate to bring in younger listeners. He was recently announced as a judge on ITV's X-Factor.
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Grimshaw has seen his ratings plunge since taking over what is widely regarded as the biggest job in radio. In the first three months of this year, his programme got 5.5m listeners per week, its lowest in 12 years.
When the figures came out, station controller Ben Cooper said he was "pleased that Grimmy is doing what I've asked of him by keeping his young audience happy and scaring off the over-30s".
Both he and Grimshaw may be less pleased that they could face some major competition for listeners in the very near future.