BBC RADIO 1

:''This page redirects from "Radio 1". See Radio 1 (disambiguation).''
'BBC Radio 1' is a British national radio station operated by the BBC, specialising in popular music and speech and is aimed primarily at the 14-29^[1] age group. Radio 1 was launched at 7 a.m. on 30 September 1967 as a direct response to the popularity of offshore pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline, which had been outlawed by Act of Parliament.

Contents

History

Chart Show

Music

Presenters

News and current affairs

Regionalisation

The Radio 1 Roadshows & Radio 1's Big Weekend

Radio 1 locations

Controllers of BBC Radio 1

Radio 1 chart show presenters

Radio 1 breakfast show presenters

Audio clips

See also

References

External links

History

The first DJ to broadcast on the new station was Tony Blackburn, whose cheery style, first heard on Radio Caroline and 'Wonderful Radio London', won him the prime slot on what became known as the "Radio 1 Breakfast Show" (although its original formal title, as shown in the ''Radio Times'' was ''Daily Disc Delivery'', while Blackburn himself referred to it eponymously as the ''Tony Blackburn Show''). The first words spoken on Radio 1 - after a "countdown" by the Controller of Radios 1 and 2, Robin Scott, and a jingle, recorded at PAMS in Dallas, Texas, beginning "The voice of Radio 1" - were "... And, good morning everyone. Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1". This was the first use of US-style jingles on BBC radio, but the style was familiar to listeners who were acquainted with Blackburn and other DJs from their days on pirate radio. The first complete record played on Radio 1 was ''Flowers in the Rain'' by The Move (although this was preceded by a broadcast of part of ''Beefeaters (On Parade)'' by Johnny Dankworth, being Blackburn's signature tune carried over from pirate radio).The second single was "Massachusetts" by The Bee Gees. There has been some speculation that the inclusion of ''Flowers in the Rain'' was intended to signal the end of the "flower power" "Summer of Love" of 1967. The breakfast show remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedule, with every change of breakfast show presenter exciting considerable media interest.
The initial rota of staff included the legendary John Peel (who remained with the station until his death in October 2004) and a gaggle of others, some hired from pirates, such as Ed Stewart, Terry Wogan, Jimmy Young, Dave Cash, Kenny Everett, Simon Dee, Pete Murray, and Bob Holness. Initially, the station was unpopular with some of its target audience, who disliked the fact that much of its airtime was shared with Radio 2 and that it was less unequivocally aimed at a young audience than the offshore stations, with some DJs such as Jimmy Young being in their 40s. The very fact that it was part of an "establishment" institution such as the BBC was itself a turn-off for some, and the needle time restrictions prevented it from playing as many records as the offshore stations had. It also had limited finances (partially because the BBC did not increase its licence fee to fund the new station) and often, as in January 1975, suffered disproportionately when the BBC had to make financial cutbacks, strengthening an impression that it was regarded as a lower priority by senior BBC executives. Despite this, it gained massive audiences (although it benefitted from a lack of competition: Independent Local Radio did not begin until 1973 and it took many years to cover virtually all of the UK) with audiences of over 10 million claimed for some of its shows.

Radio 1 initially broadcast on 1214 kHz mediumwave (or 247 metres as it was referred to at the time) and moved to 1053/1089 kHz (275/285 m) on 23 November 1978 (it was the only BBC National station without a dedicated FM frequency). In the 1970s and early 1980s it was allowed to take over Radio 2's FM transmitters for a few hours per week, most notably for the Top 40 Singles Chart on Sunday afternoons and for some late evening programmes including Sounds of the Seventies until 1975, and thereafter the John Peel show. In 1988 the 97–99 MHz frequencies became available when the existing police communication allocation changed, and Radio 1 acquired them for its own national FM network. This was rolled out as of 1 September 1988, starting with the Central Scotland, Midlands & Yorkshire areas (FM broadcasts were available in London as of 31st October 1987, but this was at low power on 104.8 MHz FM - see here). Its old mediumwave frequencies were reallocated to commercial stations in 1994 (Radio 1's last broadcast on MW was on 1 July that year, with Stephen Duffy's "Kiss Me" being the last record played on MW just before 9am). In the 1990s it also began broadcasting on spare audio subcarriers on Sky Television's analogue satellite service, initially in mono (on UK Gold) and later in stereo (on UK Living). Today it can be heard on DAB, Freeview, Virgin Media, Sky Digital and the Internet as well as FM. In July of 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio began simulcasting Radio 1 across the United States on channel 11, and Sirius Canada began simulcasting Radio 1 when they launched on 1 December 2005 (also on channel 11). The simulcast is time shifted five hours to allow US and Canadian listeners in the Eastern Time Zone to hear Radio 1 at the same time of day as UK listeners.
In his last few months as controller, Johnny Beerling commissioned a handful of new shows that in some ways set the tone for what was to come under Matthew Bannister. One of these "Loud'n'proud" was the UK's first national radio series aimed at a gay audience (made in Manchester and aired from August 1993). Far from being a parting quirk, the show was a surprise hit and led to the networks first coverage of the large outdoor Gay Pride event in 1994. Bannister took the reins fully in October 1993. His aim was to rid the station of its 'Smashie and Nicey' image and make it appeal to the under 25s. Although originally launched as a youth station, by the early 1990s, its loyal listeners (and DJs) had aged with the station over its 25 year history. Many long-standing DJs, such as Simon Bates, Dave Lee Travis, Alan Freeman, Bob Harris, Gary Davies, and later Steve Wright, Bruno Brookes and Johnnie Walker left the station or were sacked, and in January 1995 old music (typically anything recorded before 1990) was expressly banned from the daytime playlist.
Many listeners rebelled as the first new DJs to be introduced represented a crossover from other parts of the BBC (notably Bannister and Trevor Dann's former colleagues at the BBC's London station, GLR) with Emma Freud and Danny Baker. Another problem was that, at the time, Radio 2 was sticking resolutely to a format which appealed mainly to those who had been listening since the days of the Light Programme, and only commercial radio, which consequently enjoyed a massive increase in its audience share at the expense of the BBC, was targeting the "Radio 1 and a half" audience.
After the departure of Steve Wright, who had been unsuccessfully moved from his long-running afternoon show to the breakfast show in January 1994, Bannister hired Chris Evans to present the prime morning slot in April 1995. Evans was a popular but controversial presenter who was eventually sacked in 1997 after he demanded to present the breakfast show for only four days per week. Evans was replaced from February 17, 1997 by Mark and Lard - Mark Radcliffe (along with his sidekick Marc Riley), who found the slick, mass-audience style required for a breakfast show didn't come naturally to them. They were in turn replaced by Zoe Ball and Kevin Greening just 8 months later in October 1997, with Greening eventually moving on and leaving Ball as a solo presenter. The re-invention of the station happened at a fortuitous time, with the rise of Britpop in the mid-90s - bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp were both popular and 'credible' at the time and the station's popularity rose with them. Documentaries like John Peels "Lost In Music" which looked at the influence that the use of drugs have had over popular musicians received critical acclaim but were slated inside the dusty corridors of Broadcasting House.
Later in the 90s the Britpop boom declined, and manufactured chart pop (boy bands and acts aimed at sub-teenagers) came to dominate the charts. Radio 1 found itself again in the position it had been in the late 80s, with increasingly bland chart music dominating the daytime shows. New genre music occupied the evenings (indie on weekdays and dance at weekends), with a mix of specialist shows and playlist fillers through late nights. The rise of rave culture through the late 80s and early 90s gave the station the opportunity to move into a controversial and completely youth-orientated movement by bringing in a club DJ, Pete Tong. This quickly gave birth to the Essential Mix where underground DJs mix rave and club based music in a two hour slot.
Listening figures continued to decline but the station succeeded in its aim of targeting a younger age group. Eventually, this change in content was reflected by a rise in audience that is continuing to the day. Notably, the station has received praise for shows such as The Sunday Surgery, Bobby Friction and Nihal, ''The Evening Session'' with Steve Lamacq and its successor Zane Lowe. Its website has also been well received.
A new evening schedule was introduced in September 2006, dividing up the week by genres; Monday is mainly rock-oriented, Tuesday is R&B and hip-hop, Thursday and Friday are primarily dance, with specialist R&B and reggae shows.
However, the station's two showcase shows, the breakfast show and the UK Top 40 continued to struggle. In 2000, Zoe Ball was replaced in the mornings by friend and fellow ladette Sara Cox, but, despite heavy promotion, listening figures for the iconic breakfast show continued to fall. In 2004 Cox was replaced by Chris Moyles. The newly rebranded breakfast show is known as The Chris Moyles Show and has dramatically increased its audience, now ahead of The Today Programme on Radio 4 as the second most popular breakfast show (after Terry Wogan). The chart show's ratings fell after the departure of long-time host Mark Goodier, amid falling single sales in the UK. The show now competes with networked commercial radio's hit40uk which is broadcast at the same time.
Many of the DJs either ousted by Bannister or who left during his tenure (such as Johnnie Walker, Bob Harris and Steve Wright) have subsequently joined Radio 2 which has now overtaken Radio 1 as the UK's most popular radio station, using a style that Radio 1 had up until the early 1990s.
The success of Moyles's show has come alongside increased success for the station in general. In 2006, DJs Chris Moyles, Scott Mills and Zane Lowe all won gold Sony Radio Awards, whilst the station itself came away with the best station award.
Following the death of John Peel in October 2004, Annie Nightingale is now the longest serving presenter at the station having worked there since 1969.

Chart Show

Radio 1's long running chart show is broadcast on Sunday afternoons between 4pm and 7pm, and has always ended at 7pm since the station's inception, although the format, length and starting time has varied considerably. Until 2002, the show was hosted by veteran DJ Mark Goodier, and the format was a countdown of all the top 40 selling singles in the UK for that week, from #40 to #1. Since that date, the show has taken on new presenters (currently Jason King and Joel Ross) and a new, more chat-oriented, format. The show no longer plays all the top 40 singles; instead, the entire top 20 is played along with a selection of some tracks between #21 and #40, interviews and other features. The chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company; Radio 1 is therefore the only station to broadcast the "official" UK singles chart.
From October 14 2007, Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates will replace JK & Joel as hosts of the Chart Show.

Music

While most commercial stations concentrate on a particular theme, such as 1980s music or "classic rock", Radio 1 plays a diverse mix of current songs, including independent/alternative, rock, house/electronic, drum 'n' bass, world, and pop.
Due to restrictions on the amount of commercial music that could be played on radio in the UK until 1988 (the so-called "needle time" limitation) the station has recorded a great many live performances and studio sessions over the years, many of which have subsequently found their way onto commercially-available LPs and CDs. The station also broadcasts documentaries and interviews. Although this type of programming arose from necessity it has given the station some much-needed diversity. The needletime restrictions meant that the station tended to have a higher level of speech by DJ's. While the station is often criticised for (often banal) "waffling" by presenters, an experimental "more music day" in 1988 was declared a failure after only a third of callers favoured it.
Radio 1 has also organized and broadcast exclusive gigs such as Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, My Chemical Romance, The White Stripes and most recently The Foo Fighters joined Chris Moyles in Brighton for the last week of the six weeks of summer [1].

Presenters

Current presenters on this station include Steve Lamacq, Colin Murray, Zane Lowe, Mary Anne Hobbs, and Mike Davies, who all host their own respective rock and indie oriented shows. Also in the station's stable are Urban and Electronica supremos such as Grooverider and Rob Da Bank and dance specialists Pete Tong and Judge Jules.
An alphabetical list of present presenters is below
'Daytime'

★ Chris Moyles

★ Comedy Dave (Chappers and Dave) / (The Chris Moyles Show)

★ Edith Bowman

★ Fearne Cotton

★ Greg James

★ James King

★ Jason King (JK and Joel)

★ Jo Whiley

★ Joel Ross (JK and Joel)

★ Mark "Chappers" Chapman (Chappers and Dave) / Scott Mills show

★ Natalie Jamieson

★ Reggie Yates

★ Sara Cox

★ Scott Mills

★ Trevor Nelson

★ Vernon Kay
'Evenings'

★ Annie Mac

★ Annie Nightingale

★ Bethan Elfyn

★ Bobby Friction

★ Chris Goldfinger

★ Colin Murray

★ Daniel P Carter

★ Dave Pearce

★ Eddie Halliwell

★ Fabio

★ Gilles Peterson

★ Grooverider

★ Huw Stephens

★ James King

★ Judge Jules

★ Dr. Mark Hamilton

★ Mary Anne Hobbs

★ Mike Davies

★ Nihal

★ Pete Tong

★ Ras Kwame

★ Rob da Bank

★ Rory McConnell

★ Steve Lamacq

★ Tim Westwood

★ Vic Galloway

★ Zane Lowe

★ Kelly Osbourne

News and current affairs

Main articles: Newsbeat

Radio 1 has a public service broadcasting obligation to provide news programming, which it fulfills through its Newsbeat bulletins throughout the day. Short news summaries are provided roughly hourly on the half hour with two longer 15 minute news bulletins at 12:45PM and 5:45PM. The main presenter is Georgina Bowman, with Sports news read by David Garrido. However, there are other presenters, such as Dominic Byrne and Carrie Davies who read the news and sport (respectively) on The Chris Moyles Show and Mark Chapman who reads the sports news in the afternoon and the Scott Mills show.

Regionalisation

Since 1999, Radio 1 has split the home nations on a Thursday night with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland broadcasting their own shows showcasing regional talent with Zane Lowe still being heard in England (this applies to the FM broadcast only). Scotland's show is presented by Vic Galloway (who also has a position on BBC Radio Scotland) who has presented the show on his own since 2004 after original co-host Gill Mills departed. Wales's show is hosted by One Music's Huw Stephens and Bethan Elfyn, whilst Rory McConnell presents the Northern Irish programme.
They originally went out from 8PM-10PM on the Evening Session's time slot but now broadcasts from 7:30PM-9PM with the first half hour of Zane Lowe going out across the whole of the UK before going their separate ways.
This practice has also been used in Radio 1's T in the Park coverage where broadcasts to Scotland provide extended coverage of the festival which the rest of the United Kingdom does not receive (they instead have the normal Radio 1 schedule at that time). This Scotland-only coverage has been presented by Vic Galloway in recent years.

The Radio 1 Roadshows & Radio 1's Big Weekend

Main articles: Radio 1's Big Weekend

The Radio 1 roadshows began in 1973, with the first one being hosted by Alan Freeman in Newquay, Cornwall and the final one was held in 1999. Roadshows usually involved Radio 1 DJs and high profile pop stars travelling around the most popular seaside destinations in the UK. Although the style of the events changed in later years along with the style of the station itself, for example with the introduction in 1994 of whistle stop audio postcards of each location ("2minuteTour"), they were still considered to be rooted in the "cheesy" old style of the station, and in the 1980s they sometimes featured elements which would be seen as highly politically incorrect today, such as wet T-shirt contests. In March 2000, Radio 1 decided to change the format and renamed it One Big Sunday. Several of these 'big' Sundays were held each year in city-centre parks around the country.
In 2003, the event changed again, and was renamed One Big Weekend. The event now lasted two days and occurred twice a year. Under this name; One Big Weekend visited Derry in Northern Ireland as part of the Music Lives campaign and Perry Park in Birmingham.
The most recent change occurred in 2005 when the event was again renamed and the decision was taken to only hold one a year, this time as Radio 1's Big Weekend. Venues under the new name include Sunderland and Dundee. Moor Park in Preston was the venue for Radio 1's Big Weekend 2007, and had a first for the event: a third stage. The line-up included Scissor Sisters, Razorlight, Kasabian, Rihanna, Kaiser Chiefs, The Fratellis, Stereophonics and Natasha Bedingfield amongst others.
Tickets for Radio 1's big weekend are free, making it the largest free music festival in Europe. ^[2]

Radio 1 locations

The BBC Radio 1 studios are currently at Yalding House (very near to BBC Broadcasting House) which is on Great Portland Street in central London. The station moved there in 1996 from Egton House, which was demolished in 2003 to make way for the new extensions to Broadcasting House.
Radio 1 also uses the BBC Maida Vale studios in West London, where artists record special music sessions for various shows, including the very popular Live Lounge for the The Jo Whiley Show. There are also special live performances held there in front of Radio 1 competition winners.

Controllers of BBC Radio 1

★ 1967–1968: Robin Scott

★ 1968–1976: Douglas Muggeridge

★ 1976–1978: Charles McLelland

★ 1978–1985: Derek Chinnery

★ 1985–1993: Johnny Beerling

★ 1993–1998: Matthew Bannister

★ 1998–present: Andy Parfitt

Radio 1 chart show presenters

★ Alan Freeman - October 1, 1967 to September 24, 1972 (Pick of the Pops, featuring new entries between numbers 21 and 30 and the complete Top 20)

★ Tom Browne - October 1, 1972 to March 26, 1978 (initially a three-hour show called ''Solid Gold Sixty'', featuring new releases, climbers and chart entries below the Top 20 from 4-6 pm, and the Top 20 itself from 6-7 pm: from March 24, 1974 just the Top 20 from 6-7 pm)

★ Simon Bates - April 2, 1978 to August 26, 1979 (extended from an hour-long Top 20 from 6-7 pm to a two-hour Top 40 from 5-7 pm from November 12, 1978)

★ Tony Blackburn - September 2, 1979 to January 3, 1982

★ Tommy Vance - January 10, 1982 to January 1, 1984

★ Simon Bates for a second stint - January 8, 1984 to September 23, 1984

★ Richard Skinner - September 30, 1984 to around March/April 1986

★ Bruno Brookes - around March/April 1986 to September 23, 1990

★ Mark Goodier - September 30, 1990 to March 1, 1992 (extended to a two-and-a-half-hour Top 40 from 4:30pm-7 pm from January 6, 1991)

★ Bruno Brookes for a second stint - March 15, 1992 to April 16, 1995, extended from March 15, 1992 to a three-hour Top 40 from 4-7 pm (the March 8 1992 show was hosted by Tommy Vance)

★ Mark Goodier for a second stint - April 23, 1995 to November 17, 2002 (there was then an interim where various DJs from the station guest-hosted the show)

★ Wes Butters - February 9, 2003 to January 16, 2005 (there was then an interim where various DJs from the station guest-hosted the show)

★ JK and Joel - March 6, 2005 to October 7, 2007

★ Fearne Cotton & Reggie Yates - October 14, 2007 to date.

Radio 1 breakfast show presenters

★ Tony Blackburn - September 30, 1967 to June 1, 1973

★ Noel Edmonds - June 4, 1973 to April 28, 1978

★ Dave Lee Travis - May 1, 1978 to January 2, 1981

★ Mike Read - January 5, 1981 to April 18, 1986 (there was then a two-week interim when Adrian John hosted the show)

★ Mike Smith - May 5, 1986 to May 1988

★ Simon Mayo - May 1988 to September 3, 1993

★ Mark Goodier - officially October 25, 1993 to December 24, 1993 (although he had previously hosted the show as a stand-in since September 6, 1993)

★ Steve Wright - January 10, 1994 to April 21, 1995

★ Chris Evans - April 24, 1995 to January 17, 1997 (the show was then hosted as an emergency by Kevin Greening, and then Simon Mayo came back as a stand-in)

★ Mark and Lard (a.k.a. Mark Radcliffe & Marc Riley) - February 17, 1997 to October 10, 1997

★ Kevin Greening and Zoe Ball (Along with traffic 'eye in the sky' presenter 'Major Holdups') - October 13, 1997 to around August 1998

★ Zoe Ball on her own - around August 1998 to around March 2000

★ Sara Cox - March 31, 2000 to December 19, 2003 (Cox was due to start on April 3, 2000 but began three days early to feel more comfortable.)

★ Chris Moyles - January 5, 2004 to date

Audio clips

★ The Close of Radio 1 on Mediumwave

See also

★ List of BBC radio stations

★ List of Sirius Satellite Radio stations

★ List of Dish Network channels

★ Radio 1 Podcasts

References

1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/service_licences/radio/radio_servicelicences/radio1_servicelicence_30apr2007.pdf Radio 1 Service Licence (Issued 30 April 2007)
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend/ Radio 1 announced line-up for One Big Weekend, Preston

External links

★ BBC Radio 1 at bbc.co.uk

★ The Official UK Charts Company

★ Radio Rewind's BBC Radio 1 historic website

★ 2005's Big Weekend at bbc.co.uk

★ 2006's Big Weekend at bbc.co.uk

★ 2007's Big Weekend at bbc.co.uk

★ BBC Radio 1 Live Stream in Windows Media Player at bbc.co.uk

★ BBC Radio 1 Live Stream in Real