BOLTON broadcaster Vernon Kay was back on the airwaves today as part of new rock station Radio X.

Former Radio 1 DJ Vernon hosts the mid-morning show while Chris Moyles is the breakfast presenter, Johnny Vaughan at drivetime and Kaiser Chiefs front man Ricky Wilson at weekends.

The brand new national radio station — which has replaced XFM — promises to play the "best fresh rock and guitar-based music across the UK" and was described in marketing material as "male-focused" for 25 to 44-year-olds.

Regulars on the playlist will include Florence & The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Blur, Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, The Maccabees, Radiohead, Nirvana, The Smiths, Royal Blood, Kasabian, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Kings of Leon.

 

Vernon said: "I'm excited to be getting back on the radio. The launch of Radio X is the dawn of a new era in radio. There is a real buzz around the station because we know that this is going to be a lot of fun.

"It's going to be a real honour to have Chris Moyles as my warm-up, bringing his unique style of broadcasting back onto the radio waves."

Moyles, 41, kicked off by mocking the controversy caused by Radio X's self-professed "male-focused" rock tag, by playing Girls Aloud's Love Machine as his first track.

He said: "You're gonna love this haters," before adding: "Girls are allowed as men and everybody else."

Moyles said: "There's been a lot of 'confused' press aboutRadio X. A lot of people took that as Radio X being a radio station for blokes. That was news to me ... Let me be the first of many Radio X DJs to say 'That's a load of balls'. I don't care if you're male, female, gay, straight, white, black.

"It was just a marketing thing - it should never have gone out in the press release. It's not a radio version of a Yorkie bar, it's just a radio station."

He was joined by Noel Gallagher and asked the High Flying Birds frontman: “When’s Oasis getting back together?”

Gallagher said: “I would think probably not in the very near future."

He added: “One should never say never, should one look like a bit of an idiot somewhere down the road, when you’re waving a cheque for a quarter of a billion in The Sun!”

Moyles - who handed over the breakfast slot on BBC Radio 1 to Nick Grimshaw in September 2012 after more than eight years at the helm - has reunited with newsreader Dominic Byrne and his former Radio 1 producer Pippa Taylor. Xfm's Dave Masterman completes the team.

But Moyles's return to morning radio was somewhat dampened by many listeners being unable to tune in.

@SuperPixelCube complained on Twitter: "@RadioX The app keeps crashing! Making it difficult to listen! It's good to hear Chris Moyles though! #MoylesIsBack"

And @Ollieworld tweeted: "Chris Moyles has broken the Internet. App has crashed. Great to have him back in a morning #thechrismoylesshow"

And some listeners were not as enthusiastic to wake up to Moyles.

Siobhan Horan tweeted: "Where to go now we've lost the indie music from our mornings, replaced by Chris Moyles' constant talking. #RIPXFM #RadioX"

And @thetuskenraider commented: "20mins in the car and not a single record played... So glad I listened to #xfm from start. Alternative music at its best and ruined in a instant. #radiox #chrismoyles"

Radio X is available all across the UK on the digital radio platform D1 as well as on 104.9FM in London and 97.7FM in Manchester.

Did you listen to Radio X's launch? What did you think?