Get some experience on hospital or university radio. Also, make a tape and send it out to radio stations, but don't start too early. Nobody has anything interesting to say before they're 25. I am fed up with the amount of coverage given to dance music. I would suggest you play a more balanced selection of music instead of letting dance and rap dominate.
Dance is exceptionally popular and the whole culture is enormously influential.
Radio 1 reflects this, and I don't have a problem with that. I take your point about the absence of rock. It has a passionate and devoted following, but there are few acts that are appropriate for a mass daytime radio audience.