Sian Anderson joins BBC Radio 1Xtra’s weekday daytime schedule

From September, Sian Anderson takes over Radio 1Xtra's weekday afternoon show, Monday to Friday from 1pm to 4pm. For anyone who has followed her career on the station, the move feels less like a promotion and more like a natural next chapter for someone who has spent over a decade building genuine credibility with the culture rather than just reporting on it. The SAM show with Manga Saint Hilare alone has earned its place in the 1Xtra catalogue, and the Friday Drive time slot showed she could hold a daytime audience just as comfortably as a late night one.

Sian Anderson herself puts it best.

"It's been an absolute dream to host nightly specialist shows championing underground music over the last 11 years, as well as the legendary SAM show with my brother Manga Saint Hilare, we've had some serious laughs. Birmingham already feels like a second home to me, and I can't wait to be on the ground there, build deeper connections with the community and be a chatterbox for another 11 years, this time in the daytime."

That connection to Birmingham, where 1Xtra has been based since 2023, is exactly what a daily afternoon show needs. Not just a familiar voice, but someone who genuinely wants to be on the ground there and in the community that surrounds it.

Kaylee Golding, who has held the afternoon slot since the station's Birmingham launch, leaves after three years on the network. She built something real in that chair and that deserves acknowledgment.

The new show starts in September. Until then, Anderson is on 1Xtra every Monday night from 9pm to 11pm and every Saturday from 4pm to 7pm alongside Manga Saint Hilare.