Radio 1 and 1Xtra Summer Surgery campaign
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Think about what you were like as a teenager.
If you were anything like me you probably felt fear towards drugs. You had nervous fascination with alcohol. Your world was probably amazing or it sucked depending on whether you were popular in school or whether you were in or out with your group of friends.ÌýYou probably felt immense pressure about school, homework and exams not because this was a personal mission of excellence but because your parents heaped on the pressure and the word from every available source was that if you failed at these your future was worthless.
More importantly (as it was then) think about how stressful and difficult it was to talk to someone of the opposite sex, let alone how stressed you felt of this impending doom that you were going to have sex with one of them soon. You had to, otherwise everyone will have left you behind and you'll be an adult virgin - a type of person legally allowed to be branded 'sad'.
Focus on this version of the teenager - ie you, and you soon get an idea of who The Surgery on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 1 is broadcasting to.
As host of The Surgery I'm faced with an average of 3,000 of some of the most innocent texts per hour from 12-16 year olds and older, as well as other much more serious and difficult problems. Every week we try to be a friend to the awkward, confused and embarrassed teenager who just wants answers to some of the most honest questions but would rather die than ask a friend, teacher or (God forbid) a parent!
I was bullied throughout school, and was therefore either laughed at if I tried to find out answers to life from class mates or alienated for the things I didn't know. Had The Surgery been around while I was a teenager it would really have helped me get through what I was facing throughout my school years.
Research shows that during the summertime is when most young people will try things for the first time. For that reason, this week on both Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 1 and Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 1Xtra the evening schedule has been changed with the 9pm-10pm slot from Monday-Thursday being dedicated to a series of Summer Surgeries. The regular Sunday Surgery show kicked off the special week and each night at 9pm we'll be covering a different topic which is of importance and relevance to our young listeners.
A lot of people associate Radio 1 with our entertainment programmes but we also live and breathe the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's other original values, to educate and inform, whether it's through our news output, documentaries, specialist music output and of course our great social action campaigns like this.
On Sunday's show I was live from Newquay in Cornwall - including a live audience - and across the week we'll be focusing on alcohol, drugs, sex and relationships, body image and life stress. We'll be answering questions from the most innocent and basic to the more sensitive and painful. This will then hopefully mean that whatever our listeners get up to this summer they'll be making decisions that are a little more informed than they would otherwise have been.
I'm excited about the week - there'll be a lot to do combining the Surgery with producing The Chris Moyles Show, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Putting a spotlight on The Surgery for the whole week on both Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra for five nights means we can really examine the issues our youngest audiences are facing and provide, what I believe to be, a unique service for our listeners.
Listen to The Summer Surgery on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 1 & Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 1Xtra live every evening this week at 9pm until Thursday.
Aled Haydn Jones is the presenter of The Surgery on Radio 1
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