By Darren Waters
BBC News Online
The BBC is putting its faith in youth, hiring a virtual unknown as the face of the All New Top of the Pops.
Kash will still work on MTV
When the first All New Top of the Pops is broadcast live on 28 November, the BBC will be hoping the fresh face of Tim Kash will give the old show new appeal.
Described by the BBC as an "edgy, quick-witted and talented presenter" and "one of music television's rising stars" he is a surprise choice as the front man for the BBC's flagship music programme.
Twenty-two-year-old Kash was not even born when the first ever Top of the Pops (TOTP) was broadcast in 1964.
From Kingston Upon Thames, in Surrey, he is already the youngest ever presenter on music network MTV in the UK.
According to the MTV website he spent his first 18 years "dreaming of becoming a Jedi, joining the Rebel Alliance".
But his relative youth will be the very quality TOTP producer Andi Peters will be hoping can make the programme relevant for an audience which has left the show in droves.
If nothing else. he is certainly a strong contrast to former DJ and TV host Jimmy Savile - TOTP's first ever presenter.
Before his new appointment, he had begun to gather a lot of fans working on the news side of MTV's Total Request Live.
Kash himself described the MTV show in the very terms Peters will be praying are translated to TOTP.
Earlier this year he said: "It's going to be the biggest and best.
"For the level of guests, live music and getting these big names to hang out and talk about stuff you normally don't see - no other programme can compete."
Interestingly, Kash will continue to present for MTV and the hope is that there will be a level of cross-pollination with the more youthful cool of Total Request Love rubbing off on TOTP.
Fittingly for someone so young, Kash's star qualities were spotted on that most youthful of mediums, the internet.
Three years ago he was a presenter on Network of the World (NOW), which was billed as the world's first converged TV and web service and mp3TV, an online music show.
He has also worked on the gaming website Gamer TV.
Despite his tender years, Kash certainly does not lack confidence.
In an online interview for NOW in 2000, he spoke of "Tim's Master Plan".
He explained: "If you're asking what's next for me, then I couldn't possibly tell you. But, if you want to know what I intend to do in the next five years, then that's another story altogether.
"Let's just say that by 30, I want to have had an international best-selling autobiography. Why? Because if I have that, then the next 10 years of my life will be worth writing about."
It is not the first time that the BBC has turned to youth to try and reinvigorate a flagging programme.
Last year 24-year-old Wes Butters was plucked from obscurity to front the chart show on BBC Radio 1.
But listening figures have declined since he took over - although a poor year for chart singles is being blamed.
A spokesman for BBC Radio 1 said: "We are really happy with such a young presenter who is out there buying singles like his listeners."