I know Dubai better than London: Scott Mills

He's Britian's foremost radio DJ, drawing six million listeners every afternoon on BBC's Radio 1, a station he has called home since 1998. No stranger to the UAE and its commercial radio setup, though, Scott says he has visited over 40 times, most recently for a sell-out "dream" turntable gig under the stars at Ras Al Khaimah's Banyan Tree Al Wadi last weekend.
"I know Dubai better than London," Scott said as we spoke before his Khan Zaman tent session. "One of my friends was setting up Channel 4 radio in '97 or '98. I thought 'this is a nice place, why don't more people come here?' I still have friends that work in radio there, so I still visit and hear about what's going on."
As a result of his UAE contacts, Scott is convinced the formula for radio is similar the world over, which goes some way to explain its enduring popularity.
"Personality is more important with radio now more than ever. If you just want songs then Spotify can provide that. But listeners do want more. We're social creatures. We need interaction and words."
It was around a decade ago, the first warning sign of the emergence of online content reared its head.
"Bosses said: 'The Internet is coming to get us!' To be honest I'm surprised but I'm really pleased radio has managed to keep up. On paper if you had said to me years ago that there would be services where you can watch or listen to any song in the world whenever you want, you'd say radio was doomed.
"What you don't get from streaming or other Internet stations is that personal touch. The fun with the radio is the listener never knows what's going to happen next. You don't know what the DJ is going to do. You can't programme that into a machine."
Rather than poach radio listeners, Scott says the Internet has helped to garner a new generation of fans through social media.
"I have a cassette of one of my early shows where I read out a fax number people can send stuff to. How difficult was it to send a fax?
"A lot of our content now comes from people Tweeting and we'll contact them back. It's useful and quick. The same goes for YouTube. It has got to be done. People get home from school and generally there isn't a radio set in the house, only in the car. People will watch the content we put on YouTube in the evening. Perhaps they'll then go and listen to us online. Hopefully when they drive they listen to Radio 1 because of what they've seen the night before. YouTube needs to compliment the radio.
Perhaps one of the most popular YouTube bits Scott has been involved in is a prank interview involving Jennifer Anniston and his unwitting victim, co-presenter Chris Stark during a media junket for Aniston's comedy film Horrible Bosses 2. Aniston was convinced to act as if the shy and retiring Chris had annoyed her to the point where the interview descended into silence.
"It was mortifying for Chris. That took a year of planning. Even on the day, Jennifer's people weren't sure if she wanted to do it. She was great though. She totally played along. That is an example of complimenting the radio. You can play the tape over the radio and you can hear the cringe without having to see it. As long as it works on both platforms, I'm happy." (david@khaleejtimes.com)