BBC DJ Adele Roberts: It is ‘sad’ that so many in radio can’t come out
BBC radio DJ Adele Roberts has said she thinks people find it hard to be themselves on the radio.
Roberts, who presents the Radio 1 breakfast show, and who was in Big Brother, said she thought it was “sad” that lots of people working in radio can’t come out.
“There is a lot of people I have worked with in radio that are gay and weren’t out on air, and that just makes me feel a bit sad for them,” she said.
“Sometimes in commercial radio you can’t always be as honest as you want to.
“I don’t know whether it is to do with advertisers or the type of people they are trying to target, whether they think it’s a family station and being gay is not a family thing, which I think it is,” Roberts went on.
She spoke at National Student Pride’s R U Coming Out panel, adding: “Sometimes radio can be a bit old fashioned and the people that run the stations are born from a different time. That was one of my problems.”
Having joined BBC Radio 1Xtra back in 2012, she moved to Radio 1 in 2015 to host the breakfast show.
She came seventh overall in Big Brother 2002.
