Celebrity send-off for Chris Moyles’ final Radio 1 broadcast

Published on 14/09/2012 12:42

DJ Chris Moyles said goodbye to the Radio 1 breakfast show today as he made way for successor Nick Grimshaw.

• Richard Curtis, Tom Daley, Gary Lineker and McFly among celebrities paying tribute to departing broadcaster

• Nick Grimshaw will replace Moyles’ flagship Radio 1 slot

The broadcaster, who has hosted the show for more than eight years, got behind the microphone for the last time to tell listeners that his final show felt like “some weird victory” after “all the flak we’ve taken”.

He said: “We just got through all of it and here we all are celebrating us and I’m really proud.”

He joked: “What am I going to do?”

“I’m so institutionalised, I might just turn up Monday morning and just clean.”

The broadcast featured a video message from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who also sent a cook from one of his restaurants to make breakfast for Moyles and his team.

The show’s American voiceover man Paul Turner also joined in via Skype from Philadelphia.

Another special guest was filmmaker - and Comic Relief supremo - Richard Curtis who went into the studio to meet the team he described as some “of the greatest fundraisers in the history of Comic Relief”.

Curtis said Moyles and his sidekicks had raised about £10.4 million for Comic Relief with various stunts over the years.

Last year they raised millions by setting a world record after Moyles and his colleague Comedy Dave spent 52 hours on air in a continuous show.

There was also a video message from McFly who recorded a special version of their number one hit Star Girl with the lyrics changed to refer to Moyles and the show.

Moyles played the song regularly on his show in a section called McFlyday.

That was followed by tributes from stars including veteran broadcaster Terry Wogan - who was Moyles’ main rival for a while when he presented the early morning show on sister station Radio 2.

It all got too much for sports presenter Tina Daheley who was the first of the team to burst into tears.

Olympic diver Tom Daley also sent a video message, while Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker told them they would be “a hard act to follow”.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin sent in his “congratulations on running the breakfast show for so long”.

In a message for his successor, Nick Grimshaw, Moyles said: “I’ve had a few lows but mainly a gazillion highs doing the show. It was my dream to do it and it’s been so much better than you can ever imagine it to be.”

He said presenting the show brought “a lot of crap” with it, but it was “all worth going through”.

The DJ thanked listeners who he said were “awesome” and admitted he was happy just to “get here without being frog-marched out of the building” before playing Dry Your Eyes by The Streets.

Moyles told the audience: “Thank you for listening, thanks for supporting us and with a risk of sounding ridiculously cheesy, thanks for making all our dreams come true”.

The show ended with the whole team singing along to their goodbye jingle before people watching online saw Moyles leave the studio and walk out of Broadcasting House.

It comes after a celebrity-filled send-off yesterday by showbiz pals including Ant and Dec who hosted a This Is Your Life-style farewell as Moyles prepared to step down.

Paying tribute to Moyles, station controller Ben Cooper said: “Chris is a phenomenal broadcaster and he has been the most successful breakfast show host on Radio 1. I’d like to thank him and the team for all their early morning alarm calls.”

The show received in excess of 120,000 text messages from listeners during the morning and £ByeChrisMoylesShow was one of the most popular terms on Twitter during the broadcast.