“It’s just lovely,” said Welsh presenter and drumathon hero Owain Wyn Evans of his new role on BBC Radio 2. In October, it was confirmed that the 38-year-old, who hails from Ammanford in Carmarthenshire, had landed the Early Breakfast Show on the station. He replaces Vanessa Feltz, who announced that she’d be stepping down in July last year. Read more about that here.
Owain’s television career started at the tender age of 18 when he became the presenter of Welsh language children's news programme, Ffeil. Presenting, however, was never part of the plan for him. Speaking on WalesOnline’s new podcast, In The Spotlight, he said: “When I left school, I didn’t want to be a presenter. I didn’t want to be on TV and I was more interested in the behind-the-scenes element. I was very interested in stage lighting and especially automated lighting. It was either that or drumming.”
After securing his first role on-screen, Owain said that, although he had ‘no experience’, producers had wanted him for ‘exactly that’ reason. He added: “What that allowed me to do was be myself on-screen. There were things, at the time, that I wasn’t open about. As far as being able to get a bit of personality across, I’ve always felt that I wanted to do that, and that has really helped.”
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Owain described how his breakthrough role on S4C’s Ffeil helped him secure future roles. “I was presenting a live news programme every day and I did that for around 10 years. I got to a stage where live TV and broadcasting was just a thing that I did.” You can get more celebrity news and interviews and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
After Ffeil, Owain worked as a reporter, presenter and video journalist at BBC Wales and, in 2012, began presenting the weather for Wales Today. Between 2012 and 2019, Owain presented weather forecasts across many BBC nations. This is something that, in recent years, he has slowly moved away from and he now works in more general presenting roles, including that of his new Radio 2 slot.
“I’ve done radio presenting on and off for the last 10 to 15 years in different capacities,” he confirmed, before saying that his passion for radio (and music, in general) began when he was a young boy. “I remember asking my parents if they would buy me two turntables from Tandy’s in Llanelli and a little mixing desk because I was really interested in DJing,” he explained, “They did and over the years, I bought various bits and bobs and loads of disco lights… Some of which I still have!
“It just shows that when you have an interest in music, that stays with you throughout your whole life.” Owain’s passion for drumming was, he said, one of the “few tools to help with [his] anxiety”.
"I couldn’t tell anyone how I was feeling or about the fact that I was gay but what I could do was use things that I enjoyed to manage it. Drumming was this companion that was always there. My first red Pearl Export drum kit that my parents bought for me was perfect.”
Owain said that when he received it, his parents had made a poor attempt at wrapping it up during one Christmas. “When I saw the drum kit and started playing it and learning this new thing, it was just this amazing release of feelings and emotions that I’d built up over the years.”
Owain’s passion for drumming has never been more present than when he did a drumathon fundraiser for Children in Need in 2021. He played the instrument for 24 hours and broke records for the amount of money raised, with over £3.8 million collected for the charity.
“When I had the idea to raise money using the drums, never could I have imagined that it would raise that amount and break records, but I’d have also never been able to imagine how many people it touched,” Owain said of the drumathon. He added that since it happened, people had been inspired to start drumming after watching.
“Whenever I meet these lovely people who watched the drumathon, I always tell them how beneficial drumming is. It’s something that we can all do. We don’t all have to be amazing drummers but we can all clap our hands and we can all tap something. We’ve all got some kind of sense of rhythm. I think that it’s actually a very accessible instrument as far as that goes.”
Discussing his pitch to the BBC, Owain said it took time to bring it all together. “When I thought of the idea, it went through lots of different kinds of hopes as these things do when working in telly. My husband Arran and I were chatting about it and I remember him telling me one day after BBC Breakfast decided to take it on board, ‘Can you imagine if you were to raise £1 million?’ and I remember saying, ‘No way’. I thought we’d raise £250,000 and I felt that if I raised that, that could really help. £3.8 million was never on my radar.”
He added that, following the drumathon, he “cried every day for two weeks”. Before then, I suppose the longest that I’d played the drums for was two 45 minute sets. To play for 24 hours is totally something else.” Following the event, Owain won the hearts of the nation and would then go on to appear in BBC series, Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof, the year after.
In the programme, Owain and a whole bunch of other celebrities were put to the test as they endured a series of sub-zero challenges. Week-by-week, viewers looked on as he grew in confidence by embracing the positive effects of cold water. The final episode of the series even saw Owain jump from a 500 foot bridge.
Summarising the experience, he said: “It changed my life, that show and I had no idea that it was going to do such a thing. There was something about Freeze the Fear that kind of captured people’s imagination because it’s a thing that we can all do.”
Whilst appearing on Freeze the Fear, Owain openly talked about his life-long struggle with anxiety. This is something that began when he was growing up. “I had a very happy childhood and a wonderful family but growing up as a young gay man in Ammanford during was a very different time. It has been lovely going back and seeing how much things have changed.
“I guess I was quite a lonely child. I’ve got a handful of friends who I was friends with back in school but I was never one to be actively social. Actually, my social anxiety has been a thing that has returned over the years.
“You have this thing with social anxiety where you feel that you can be the most outgoing person ever when the environment is right but sometimes that can be literally whipped away from underneath your feet and you feel yourself going back into your shell. I have ways of managing that now but you still get that feeling every now and then.”
Last year, Owain shared some of the homophobic abuse that he occasionally receives on social media. He captioned a post: “The vast majority of letters I get from people are so, so lovely. But I still find it bizarre that people take time to scrawl stuff like this onto a notepad and send it to me.” In the note, the anonymous person asked Owain why he had to be so camp on TV and accused him of ‘putting him off his meal’.
Speaking of the incident, Owain said: “I think it’s mad that someone literally took time out of their day to write that. This thing is weird because you put yourself out there because it’s part of what you do and most of the time, the response is lovely and I feel very lucky.
“But then, you can’t please everyone and some people don’t like the fact that I’m a camp man, who’s also a really good drummer or some people don’t like the fact that I’m a gay man on their TV. Some people might just not like my quiff! But I’ve got to a stage now where, when I was growing up, I didn’t have gay people on TV but now I feel that I can be myself and I’ll wear the flamboyant suits if I want to.”
Owain has become synonymous with his vibrant suits and eccentric clothing. This is something that he admits is very important to him. Speaking of this, he said: “I’m a massive fan of vintage clothing. A lot of the time, you buy a vintage piece of clothing but it can be a brand-new thing that is styled in a reflective way.” He described how he loves “nothing more than going to second-hand shops”.
“As time has gone on, I’ve just been able to be more comfortable in my own skin and I think I'm going to wear these clothes because I like the look of them." Despite his passion for fashion, Owain confirmed that he never bought designer brands and didn’t spend a lot of money on them, either.
In a break from the norm, Owain’s Early Breakfast Radio 2 show will be recorded at BBC’s Central Square building in Cardiff. The show would usually be recorded in London. This means the presenter has returned to Wales with husband Arran Rees, after previously living in Manchester. Speaking of this, he said: “The fact that it’s coming from Cardiff is just incredible that I’m back here. I’m still doing a lot of work in London but it’s very easy to get to from here.
“Being home is the loveliest thing. If you’re Welsh, I think that you’ve got this connection with Wales that you don’t ever really shake. I didn’t think that I’d be back here doing a network job so it’s going to be brilliant and I can’t wait.”
Of his Radio 2 appointment, Helen Thomas, head of the channel, said: "I’d like to welcome Owain to the Radio 2 family. His deep connection with Wales is obvious and I’m delighted he will be broadcasting live from Cardiff every weekday morning. His warmth and wit make him the perfect host to set up the day for our listeners right across the country."
Listen to Owain’s Early Breakfast debut between 4am and 6.30am from Monday, February 13. Our podcast, In The Spotlight with Owain Wyn Evans, is available to listen to below.
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