FEATURE:
Station to Station
Clara Amfo (BBC Radio 1)
_________
I cannot remember…
IN THIS PHOTO: Clara Amfo in the studio for Future Sounds on BBC Radio 1/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
what number I am up to (as I titled these ‘Part xx…’), so I am going to drop the number and simply focus on a broadcaster and D.J. that everyone should listen to. The point of this series is to discuss amazing and influential broadcasters, in addition to those coming through. Today, I want to celebrate an established and hugely popular figure of radio. Clara Amfo is at the forefront of the BBC Radio 1 schedule. She hosts Radio 1’s Future Sounds from 6 p.m., which then leads to Radio 1’s Hottest Record of the Week at 7:30. That is on a Monday. The rest of the week, Future Sounds runs from 6 to 8. I would urge everyone to tune in to Clara Amfo. For a couple of reasons. You get the best new music coming through. Those artists who are going to change the scene and are delivering some of the most interesting and hottest sounds around. Also, as a broadcaster who has been in the industry a while and is one of the most endearing and talented presenters there is, you can hear the passion Amfo has! Someone determined to spotlight awesome new music, she is a broadcaster who will go on to have a decades-long career. In addition to highlighting influential and important broadcasters who make radio so exceptional and vital, I try to include interviews they have been involved with.
Clara Amfo is someone who is going to inspire a whole crop of broadcasters coming through. I will get to an interview from 2022, but there are some from 2021 that are of particular interest and relevance. Speaking with Harper's Bazaar, Amfo discussed her tips for those looking to get into radio and broadcasting. Aside from being on shows such as Strictly Come Dancing (in 2020), and Great Celebrity Bake Off (2022), she has progressed from Kiss FM, to presenting at the BAFTAs – and taking the reins of the 6 p.m. slot on BBC Radio 1 from the iconic Annie Mac. Amfo provided some tips and advice for those coming through. It makes for fascinating reading (I have selected a few parts of the interview):
“You have to love talking to people
"It sounds really obvious, but that was one of the things that got me into broadcasting. I just love talking to people, and especially about things I love: music, the arts, film. I love conversation and I love people who are passionate about what they do, particularly in these fields. You have to bring that enthusiasm to a job like this; you have to like connecting with people in that way because that's what is going to make you good at it."
Cultivate your own fearlessness
"Live TV and radio - it's never not scary! Don't get me wrong, we've all got our insecurities and fears, but when push comes to shove, you've got to be pretty fearless to do it. Whatever is happening in your head or (quite literally) in your ear, you have to be composed. What makes me achieve that composure is remembering that it is all about trust. If you were put at the front of the TV show or any kind of project, it's because the producer trusts you. If you can channel that trust, it will calm your nerves. Just keep remembering that they put you there for a reason: you can do this.
"Of course you still get everyday nerves. For that, it's a case of literally breathing in and out slowly. The most important thing that I do is also to slow everything down when I talk. Everybody has a tendency when they get nervous to speak fast. Remembering to slow my speech is actually also really good at keeping me calm in general."
Always be yourself
"When you're broadcasting, you are putting yourself out there and it needs to be an authentic you. That's what's going to make you special and unique: being you is what you have to offer. Especially as a woman - and as a Black woman - I know that I can make myself more palatable if I present my hair in a particular way or if I dress in a particular way, but I just know I would be doing a disservice to myself.
"It's the same with my work ethic; I always choose projects that are authentic to me. I never work with a product I would never use myself. That's the best advice I could give someone wanting to get into this field: do it because you love the work. It's a tough industry and it's competitive, so you have to really be in it because it is authentically your passion”.
In 2021, interviewed at a moment when the COVID-19 pandemic was in swing and many radio stations only had a skeleton crew and strict social distancing measures, it must have been strange going onto this huge radio station and keep that same upbeat and professional demeanour. Broadcasters like Clara Amfo were so crucial at a very difficult time – and she is very much as important to this day. The Guardian interviewed a radio icon, where she discussed work, relationships and race. There are a few parts of the interview that caught my eye:
“Last summer, Amfo stopped her listeners in their tracks when she told them exactly how she was feeling about race in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of American police. “I didn’t have the mental strength to face you guys yesterday,” she said, live on air, after advising that anyone with small children might not want them to hear the next part. “To ask, ‘Hi, how was your weekend?’ like I usually do, with my happy intention. Because I know that my weekend was terrible. I was sat on my sofa crying, angry, confused and also knowing,” she continued, before pausing to fight back tears.
“Stuck at the news of yet another brutalised black body. Knowing how the world enjoys blackness and seeing what happened to George. We, black people, get the feeling that people want our culture but they do not want us. In other words, you want my talent but you don’t want me,” she said, before quoting Amanda Seales. “You cannot enjoy the rhythm and ignore the blues.”
PHOTO CREDIT: David Titlow/The Observer
It was an incredibly powerful piece of broadcasting – not something I ever thought I’d hear on Radio 1. I ask if she risked her job to do it and she says she actually had overwhelming support from her employers, but that yes, she would have gone ahead anyway.
After getting a degree in media arts and professional creative writing at St Mary’s University in Twickenham (it involved learning how to write Mills & Boons novels – she has “mad respect” for romance novelists now) she interned at commercial station Kiss FM. Her professionalism was noted and promotions were rapid: from admin to stand-in presenter, to scheduled presenter, to BBC 1 Xtra, to Radio 1, to actual celebrity treatment on Strictly and Celebrity MasterChef, to being a guest on Radio 4 – “The only time my parents were truly impressed, ha,” – to the cover of magazines including Cosmopolitan, Grazia and Vogue.
Amfo is devoted to her work in a way that can leave weaker egos feeling bruised, and lockdown has made her assess what she actually wants from a future sofa buddy, or life partner.
“I don’t want to be with anyone who’s going to try to make me dim my light. I want someone who’s so secure in themselves that they don’t have a problem with me just doing me, you know? I’ve definitely been a rehab centre for a few men in the throes of a midlife crisis, and I’m just not going to do that ever again.” She is properly giggling now, says she can see those guys coming since her “detector has become crystal clear. There’s people who like the idea of you, or who just wanted to know that they could have you. I think I have entertained people like that a bit too easily, and I just don’t do that any more. It is a delight to be free of that”.
I will round up soon. An incredibly warm, relatable, and grounded broadcaster, it is small wonder there is so much interest around her! I want to come to something more recent in a bit, but there is a terrific interview with NME form last year that gives us more insight into a remarkable broadcaster. Someone who has this very special relationship with their listeners, it’s clear Clara Amfo loves her job at BBC Radio 1 and is not going anywhere else soon:
“She says Future Sounds is for “people who like a bit of everything [musically]”, which means she can play a silky-smooth tune by girl-group FLO straight after a punky Fontaines D.C. track. “One thing that has surprised me is the amount of people who text or even ‘@’ me on social media to say: ‘You played this song at this time – what is it?'” Amfo says. “I think there’s an assumption that everyone’s got streaming accounts and whatnot, but not everyone can afford them. And that’s been a really healthy but rude awakening for me.”
Amfo goes on to explain that when she hosted an early breakfast show on Kiss FM, she ended up feeling “jet-lagged” all the time. “You’ve always got to be ‘on’ [in this job], but for breakfast you’ve got to be a particular kind of ‘on’ and I don’t think I could handle it,” she says. “I’ve done weekend breakfast [shows] before and I could do that again, but every day? Nah, I know my lane.” Intriguingly, Amfo says there is one particular job in radio she’d love a crack at further down the line, but doesn’t want to mention it out of respect for the current presenter. It’s a moment that says a lot about Amfo. Yes, she’s ambitious – but she’s also classy and fundamentally kind.
At this point, Amfo has accepted that not everyone will appreciate everything she has to say or even like her, necessarily. Astutely, she points out that the way we respond to a particular presenter – from “I can’t put my finger on why I don’t like them” to “do you know what, I absolutely love them” – depends on our unconscious biases as well as whether the presenter’s “energy and personality” meshes with our own.
“I know for a fact that some people can’t stand me and there’s a really sick part of me that wonders why,” she says. “But I don’t go delving into that to find out. Like, I know people who have their names on fucking Google Alerts but I’m not doing that. It’s none of my business.”
Amfo takes a similarly pragmatic approach to social media: she still posts on Instagram but has quietly left Twitter, a platform she used to light up. “No one was being horrible to me, but I noticed especially in lockdown that it just got so fucking toxic,” she says. “I feel so much lighter now. I had a lot of bants on Twitter [back in the day], but anything that’s really funny [on there] gets into my group chats anyway.”
Looking to the future – which appears brighter than ever – Amfo is focusing on the positive. She wants to pick “relevant” projects that fully reflect her personality. “For me, there’s no such thing as a small job,” Amfo says. “Whether it’s being a talking head, a guest on somebody else’s show or hosting a show myself, I just want to do things I enjoy. I think people can really tell when you’re trying to be somebody that you’re not.
For Amfo, this “intersection of passion and trust” has become a guiding principle. “If those two things aren’t happening, there’s just no point,” she says. “The day I stop being passionate, I shouldn’t be doing my job.” Fortunately, there seems to be precisely zero chance of this happening any time soon. And if any TV exec wants to launch a new live music show, she should be the first person they call”.
I am going to end with an interview from December. Looking ahead to 2023, Amfo talked with Notion about her career, advice to those coming through and 'Co-Signed by Clara Amfo': Notion’s collaborative artists to watch list. It is amazing to see how much this wonderful young broadcaster has achieved so far – and realising that she is going to go so far. I can well see her having a broadcasting and television career in the U.S. someday:
“Speaking from her home office before she travels to Boston to present the The Earthshot Prize awards, it’s surreal hearing one of radio’s most loved and recognisable voices coming through laptop speakers. I want to start by reflecting on Clara’s 2022, but embarking on a summary of her recent achievements is no mean feat. In the last two months alone, Clara’s re-launched her star-studded ‘This City’ podcast, fronted a brand-new astrological dating format, hosted a live music event with her ambassador-charity Bloody Good Period, presented numerous awards, interviewed the likes of Stormzy and been interviewed herself by Lorraine Kelly.
PHOTO CREDIT: Pip Bourdillon
Perhaps best known for hosting the official chart and Live Lounge shows, as well as sitting down with world-famous musicians, Clara’s past interviewees could easily fill a Glastonbury line-up. The headliners? Billie Eilish, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Sir Elton John to name a few – Billie’s interview was recorded as an hour long special for BBC One. Currently hosting the prestigious Future Sounds show, it’s also not just the big names that Clara champions. There’s a sense that Clara’s experiences have given her a true understanding of the challenges involved in embarking on a music industry career. She often thanks those who guided her when she started out, and considers how rising talent might best be equally supported from the outset.
Curating of our ‘Co-Signed by Clara Amfo’ list feels like a natural extension of a career-long dedication to championing the best of new talent. Putting together a roster of artists from various genres, Clara is tipping these selections as set for a big 2023: FLO, DellaXOZ, MetteNarrative, Connie Constance, LF System, Finn Foxell, Dylan Fraser and Leo Kalyan. We caught up with Clara to reflect on how far she’s come, what she looks for in fresh talent, and why ultimately, you always have to back yourself.
Is there anything you’ve learned over the last decade you wish you’d known when you were starting out? Or any advice you’d give to young people in similar positions?
I’ve always had a level of self-belief. I’m only human, of course, and self-belief can waver because there are so many different components that can make you not back yourself, whether it’s race, class, or gender. It can sometimes take one comment, or one bad experience, professionally or socially to make you think, ‘oh, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.’ I think my only regret is that I wish I’d consistently and unwaveringly backed myself.
Would that be your advice to people coming up?
Definitely, you’ve got to back yourself. But at the same time, you have to have the humility and openness to understand that you don’t know everything. There are people that are willing to take the time to properly and sincerely teach you and you have to hold on to those people. They’re going to be your lifesavers when it comes to navigating the industry. Having those people to challenge you to be your best self I think is really important.
PHOTO CREDIT: Pip Bourdillon
There’s so much pressure on artists for constant reinvention and sustained relevance…
Mentally, I just don’t think this is very healthy for artists because there’s so much pressure. You’d be hard-pressed to read an interview with an artist who doesn’t reference whether people still care or not because of this culture that has been created. I think we’re all obsessed with newness but we’ve got to respect artists’ journeys, from the start to wherever they may finish.
For people who are eager to find and support new artists, what could they be doing?
I think they should be supporting small venues where these artists are playing. This is a massive conversation that we need to keep alive. With COVID, so many amazing venues struggled and a lot shut down, but these are the spaces where artists find their fanbase and perfect their craft. Find people online, seek them out and follow them, but get back to the venues because that money from tickets goes back into their production costs. It all comes from those moments.
What are you looking forward to in 2023?
I’m looking forward to people supporting live music venues again. I think that next year, there’s going to be a renaissance. We’re living in peak times and the cost-of-living crisis is very real. I’m not trying to ignore those factors. But I think because of what we’ve been through, people will seek enjoyment, and one of the best places you’re going to get escapism is at a gig. I think we’re going to get even better albums next year and I’m excited about that, for sure”.
A wonderful broadcaster who is a jewel in the BBC Radio 1 crown, go and check out her Future Sounds. With such a varied career under her belt so far, Amfo sounds very comfortable at BBC Radio 1. She has found a perfect place where she can showcase the best new music around. Who knows what the future holds, but you know she is going to have enormous success in everything she does. London-born Clara Amfo is definitely…
ONE of the all-time great broadcasters.