Nick Grimshaw on becoming one of the biggest names in radio

Megan Green | 2nd May 2018

With Radio 1’s Big Weekend returning at the end of the month, Radio 1 Presenter Nick Grimshaw opens up about his journey to becoming one of the biggest names in radio.

 

“My very first Breakfast show that I did was probably my most memorable show. It was the scariest thing I’d done because I was taking over from Chris Moyles, who had such a big following fan base, so it felt quite intimidating to step into his studio. It felt like the world was listening.” Nick claimed.

 

Newspapers were doing live blogs during his first show, listening to every word that came out of his mouth.

 

Nick, also known as ‘Grimmy’, described how, “It did feel quite scary but I just tried to remember why I like Radio 1 and what I wanted to do, which is to just be myself, be honest, be silly, and be a fan of music and pop culture.”

 

Chris Moyles presented the Radio 1 Breakfast show for eight years before Nick, making him a valued part of many people’s day-to-day life. When a DJ changes it has a big impact on people, so, for Nick, taking over from Moyles was a high pressured job.

 

He explains how, “I had Justin Bieber and One Direction on the first show and I remember that just being a big shift from what Chris used to do.

 

“We are very similar in a lot of ways, but we’re also very different in a lot of ways, so I think it was quite polarising when I went on it after Chris.

 

He was really nice about it. He’d take the p*** out of me on the radio, but in real life he sent me a lot of messages and checked in on me.”

 

Grimmy moved to London in order to pursue his career in radio, something he had been dreaming of since he was a child.

 

“I was an intern for about a year in London and it was really good to get hands on experience and be actually working in the industry, even though it wasn’t doing anything major, just making cups of tea and not being paid a lot of money, it was just good to be involved, so I did that a lot.” He said.

 

Grimmy believes that the key to his success in the business was getting a lot of work experience in different areas in order to “see the industry from all different angles and perspectives.”

 

“I was quite specific in wanting to do the Radio 1 Breakfast show so I did loads of work experience, not just in radio, but TV and record labels too. I was interested in anything that was creative basically.” He says.

 

Nick managed to get himself a job in television presenting, which is something he hadn’t seen himself doing. After working there for more or less a year, his agent asked him what he’d like to do and he responded, “I want to be on the radio”.

 

“She got me a meeting with Radio 1. I met with them and they gave me one try where I went on Annie Mac’s show.

 

“Once I went on Annie’s show I just did more and more.” He explained.

 

“I think initially, when you start it’s quite a weird job because you’re just self-conscious of every sentence you say, but I think the more you do the radio, not in a horrible way, but you’re less bothered about what comes out of your mouth, which I think makes good radio because you just get comfortable and are more yourself the more you do it.” He advised.

 

As he became well-known in the public eye, it was important for him to grow a tough skin, because with popularity comes a lot of negativity.

 

Nick states, “You do get negative remarks, but you get them in school. You get them all the time and I think you just need to learn to deal with it. I don’t think you should listen to it when they’re giving you compliments or negativity, you have to try and find your own sense of yourself rather than relying on validation of others.”

 

an accurate representation of what will be happening in Swansea at Biggest Weekend

A post shared by Nicholas Grimshaw (@nicholasgrimshaw) on

This way of life was put into action once more when he became a judge on the twelfth series of ‘The X Factor’ in 2015. He was criticised by thousands for having, what they assumed was, a lack of music industry knowledge.

 

“I really loved the TV show, I loved watching it. My friends and I watched it every Saturday and we’d have a curry. I wanted to do it because I wanted to mentor people. I love the element of trying to make someone’s music career come true and managing someone, that’s the angle I really loved.” Said Nick.

 

2015 was a busy year for Grimshaw, as he also released his very own Topman range. He explained how, “I’ve always liked clothes, when I was little I was always into them. I liked picking clothes and noticing what people had on. When I was little I used to say things like ‘mum, that lady’s outfit doesn’t match,’ or I’d say, ‘that lady’s hair is messy’ and my mum would be like ‘shhh!’

 

“I helped out my friend, who did a collection for Topshop, with the creative process and when I was in there I was like, I want to do this. After about three years or so they eventually had a meeting and said that I could do it. It was really good to be so creative and they let you do what you want basically.” He said.

 

He explains how different designing clothes is compared to the radio path, “In radio there’s not really an end to it, whereas designing clothes is quite good because you have a real beginning, middle, which is really annoying and really hard work, then an end product that you can hold and wear.

 

“I either wanted to do radio or work in fashion when I was little, so it was great to be able to do both.”

 

When we asked what he’d like to do in the future, Nick responded: “The more I do radio, the more I love it. I couldn’t imagine not doing it.”

 

Tickets to Radio 1’s Big Weekend are still available here in:

Belfast – Friday 25th & Saturday 26th May
Perth – Friday 25th May
Coventry – Monday 28th May