The Jo Whiley Show

Show format

History

Features

• Changing Tracks – Daily feature – This is when a listener would email in and ask for a song that reminded them of a time in their life when music changed everything, particularly if that had had a great experience or whether a song provided some kind of comfort after a traumatic time. This feature was similar to former BBC Radio 1 DJ Simon Bates's Our Tune.
• Live Lounge – Where invited artists would come into the studio to perform music from their new album/single as well as performing a cover version of a song they particularly admired. They would give their own take on it. Selected guests included Goldfrapp and Nelly Furtado Florence + the Machine's version of Halo by Beyoncé was stated to be the best cover in the history of the Live Lounge when it was performed in 2009. This was a popular feature of the show and several compilation albums of such covered music have been released.
• Pet Sound – Daily feature – A song considered by Jo to be something that we need to hear. It usually had not been released or was due to be released in due time. This song would be played once on Jo's show for the week and it changed every week.
• Marilyn Manson was never in The Wonder Years – This happened infrequently. Basically if there was a question that a listener did not know the answer to and would like answered, then this was the place to find out. The title comes from the urban legend that Marilyn Manson was a cast member for the series The Wonder Years when actually he wasn't.
• I Have Never... – An occasional feature where Jo embarked on something she had never done in her life. Listeners were also challenged to the same thing, examples including not watching television for a whole week and trying a sport for the very first time.
• What Rocked? What Sucked? – This feature involved listeners e-mailing or texting the show to tell Jo and the listening audience what went well and what didn't. Jo sometimes offered her own view from time to time. This feature took place on a Friday allowing listeners to reflect upon the good and bad points of the week that had passed.
• 7 Song Shuffle – Daily feature – A mishmash of seven different songs would be played to a listener via telephone and they would then be given around 45 seconds to name the artist and song title. The number of correct answers they got corresponded to the number of albums they would receive as prizes. The actual prize was vouchers for popular music store HMV, which came in £10 denominations to represent the number of albums. If not all seven songs were guessed correctly then other listeners could claim them by texting or emailing the missing answers. It was more difficult than it appeared, as the contestants had to listen to the jumbled tracks on the telephone rather than the radio, making the songs harder to differentiate. In the show's eight-year run, only four people correctly answered all seven songs. After 17 July 2007 the game became 'just for fun' with listeners playing along at home and no prizes on offer due to the BBC's suspension of all telephone competitions.
• We Love Mondays – Weekly feature – At the start of each week, Jo would run through various reasons to be happy on a Monday morning, such as what was showing at the cinema, what music albums and singles were being released and what was coming up on television and radio.
• Ask the Experts – Weekly feature – For this feature, listeners were able to e-mail in their dilemmas or questions to a certain expert, whether it be about video games, gadgets or relationships. Tracey Cox was one of the experts, with her field being relationships. The full list of experts featured in this section was;
• Martin Lewis – Money
• Angela Buttolph – Fashion
• Johnny Minkley – Video Games
• Tracey Cox – Relationships
• Tom Dunmore – Gadgets
• Natalie Jamieson – Entertainment News
• Mark Chapman – Sport

• Jo's Road Trip
• Top of the Shops
• SpellStar
• Live Lounge