Arielle Free to host weekend early breakfast at Radio 1

DJ and TV presenter Arielle Free is joining BBC Radio 1 permanently to host weekend early breakfast show starting on Friday 6th September.

The show is brand new to BBC Radio 1 and will air before weekend breakfast with Matt and Mollie from Friday to Sunday. Adele Roberts will host the show Mondays to Thursdays.

Arielle, who also presents podcast Love Island: The Morning After and Scrambled! on CITV as well as previously fronting BBC Scotland coverage of T in the Park. She has previously covered Early Breakfast and Radio 1’s Dance Anthems.

Arielle Free says: “To use a cliché, this is a dream come true for me to join the greatest radio station in the world. Radio 1 is the reason why I got into broadcasting in the first place and has been the soundtrack to my life. I’ve been a music lover ever since my mum took me from festival to festival in the womb. It’s truly an honour to wake the nation up and ready for the weekend.”

Alongside this new show, Radio 1 presenter and singer Mollie King will also host Best New Pop (6-6.30am) every Friday as it moves from its current Monday timeslot. Mollie will continue to host the Weekend Breakfast show (6.30-10am, Fri, 7-10am Sat & Sun) alongside Matt Edmondson.

Mollie King says: “I’m really excited to be presenting Best New Pop on Fridays. I love pop music, it’s a huge passion of mine and I love discovering new talent. So I can’t wait to bring you all the best new pop tunes first every week on Radio 1.”

As part of these weekend schedule changes, Radio 1’s Wind Down, currently 4am to 6am on Saturdays, will become a one hour show from 4-5am (Sat-Sun), with Saturday’s chill out show hosted by chill labels, whilst Sunday will see a companion show, Radio 1’s Chillout Anthems.

As part of the changes, 3-4am Monday to Sunday the station will also showcase a range of new podcasts, music mixes and documentaries from BBC Sounds.

The new weekend schedule will look like:

FRIDAY

4-6am– Radio 1’s Weekend Early Breakfast with Arielle Free

6-6.30am – Radio 1’s Best New Pop with Mollie King

0630 – 10am – Radio 1’s Weekend Breakfast with Matt and Mollie

10am-11am – Radio 1 Anthems with Maya Jama

11am-1pm – Maya Jama

1-4pm – Dev & Alice

4-6pm – The Official Chart on Radio 1 with Scott Mills

6-7pm – Radio 1’s Party Anthems with Scott Mills

SATURDAY

4-5am – Radio 1’s Wind Down Presents…7 (curated by Dance labels)

5-7am – Radio 1’s Weekend Early Breakfast with Arielle Free

7-10am – Radio 1’s Weekend Breakfast with Matt and Mollie

10am-11am – Radio 1 Anthems with Maya Jama

11am-1pm – Maya Jama

1-4pm – Dev & Alice

4-7pm – Radio 1’s Dance Anthems with MistaJam

SUNDAY

4-5am – Radio 1’s Chillout Anthems

5-7am – Radio 1’s Weekend Early Breakfast with Arielle Free

7-10am – Radio 1’s Weekend Breakfast with Matt and Mollie

10am-11am – Radio 1 Anthems with Jordan North

11am-1pm – Jordan North

1-4pm – Dev & Alice

4-6pm – Radio 1’s Life Hacks

6-7pm – The Official Chart: First Look on Radio 1