Planned changes herald new look to R1 schedule.(News)

Radio One controller Andy Parfitt insists the most sweeping line-up changes being brought in during his reign represent the culmination of a year of planning and not a sudden, "revolutionary" shake-up as listening figures further fall.

By the end of May, the station's daytime, weekday line-up will be almost unrecognisable from a year ago, with only Jo Whiley and Dave Pearce's slots unchanged. Alongside Chris Moyles' recent move to breakfast, Colin & Edith will by then have replaced Mark & Lard and Scott Mills will have temporarily succeeded Sara Cox. Evening presenter Zane Lowe only arrived last July.

However, despite these changes and a series of reshuffles at weekends, Parfitt--who has been station controller since 1998--says the moves cannot be compared to the bloodbath overseen by his predecessor Matthew Bannister in the early Nineties. "There's a great difference now and the changes we're making are in a planned and evolutionary way," he says. "Some people have said it's more revolutionary, but we have thought this through. It's a pretty careful campaign which started a year ago."

Parfitt, whose station's audience slipped further in the most recent Rajars to 9.44m, has also been careful to avoid the pitfalls of the past over the exits of high-profile presenters. In the case of Mark & Lard, who leave their 1pm to 3pm weekday programme at the end of ...