Zoe’s worth every penny on breakfast slot, says dad
ZOE Ball’s dad has praised his daughter’s debut as the new host of BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show and said she was good value for her £1.2million salary.
Johnny Ball, seen regularly on children’s TV in the late 1970s and 1980s, said: “Whatever they pay Zoe, I think she’s worth every penny. If some people think it’s too much, then talk to the BBC about that.”
Zoe’s rumoured salary is less than her predecessor Chris Evans, 52, whose paypacket was £1.6million.
Asked if she and Chris should be paid the same, the 80-year-old said: “I do think there should be parity. It has gone on long enough. And in this day and age it’s totally different and women do have an immense amount of say in all walks of life.”
He also told how he tuned in on Monday and listened to the majority of the show “although the music was a bit loud”. The former presenter added: “We switched it on and her opening line was, ‘Hello, I’m Zoe Ball, how’s your belly off for spots?’ That’s an old family joke, and it’s lovely that she’s using references to gags we did with them when they were kids.”
Johnny said Zoe, 48, had what it takes to make the show a massive success after a strong start this week.
“Keeping up the momentum is the most complex and difficult thing to do, but I’m sure she’s capable of doing that because she is aware of what it requires,” he added.
Zoe’s debut saw her become the first woman to host full-time the weekday breakfast slot at the station, having taken over from Chris, who will host a new breakfast show on Virgin Radio from next week. Her inaugural show kicked off with Aretha Franklin’s Respect and included interviews with Monty Python star John Cleese and former Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain.
Following the broadcast, Zoe admitted she had been nervous ahead of her new presenting job but said it kicked off “so quickly” and “the listeners were so positive and really supportive”.
She said she had received a message of support from Chris: “He was just saying remember to breathe, remember to time check. It meant a lot, actually.”
Zoe and Chris were previously breakfast show rivals in the 1990s when she hosted on Radio 1 and he was on Virgin.
BBC director-general Tony Hall said that Zoe was “brilliant, absolutely brilliant. We knew she was going to be brilliant”.