Don’t turn on Radio 1 when Kim Wilde is around. “The times I’ve switched off the radio because someone didn’t know when to shut up”, says an angry Kim. “A few years ago I was doing the school run and there was so much waffle on BBC Radio 1, I felt like throwing myself out of the car.” That’s why the star began hosting Kim Wilde’s Secret Songs on Magic 105.4 FM. “I thought, why not?” she reasons. “I feel like I have a certain entitlement to represent the Eighties both as an artist and as a record-buyer.”
And does she feel music has changed? “Yes. In the Eighties, a lot of music was timed and cut for radio play. It was about getting the point across and moving on to the next three-minute song. That’s changed, which is not such a bad thing. Music has to evolve.”