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BBC Radio 1

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by MikeNolan (talk | contribs) at 23:45, 22 August 2006 (Not sure the BBC "own" radio stations in the regular sense of the word - changed to operate). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
BBC Radio 1
Radio 1 logo
Broadcast areaUK - National FM & DAB
US/Canada - Sirius Satellite Radio
Frequency97 MHz - 99 MHz (UK)
XS11 (Sirius)
Channel 0101 (Sky)
Channel 858 (NTL)
Channel 901 (Telewest)
Channel 700 (Freeview)
Rest of World (Internet)
Programming
FormatContemporary
Ownership
OwnerBBC
History
First air date
September 30 1967
Links
Websitewww.bbc.co.uk/radio1

BBC Radio 1 is a British radio station operated by the BBC, specialising in popular music aimed at the 16-24 age bracket. Radio 1 was launched at 7 a.m. on September 30, 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.

History

The first DJ to broadcast on the new station was Tony Blackburn, whose cheery style, first heard on Radios Caroline and 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 Detroit, Michigan, beginning "The voice of Radio 1" - were "... And, good morning everyone. Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1". The first record played on Radio 1 was Flowers in the Rain by The Move. There has been some speculation that this was intended to signal the end of the "flower power" "Summer of Love" of 1967. The breakfast programme remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedules, with every change of 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.

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 metres) in 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 evening programmes including John Peel's 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. Its old mediumwave frequencies were reallocated to commercial stations in 1994 (Radio 1's last broadcast on MW was on July 1 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, NTL and Telewest Broadband cable television services, 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 December 1 2005 (also on channel 11). The simulcast is timeshifted 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.

There were major changes to the station in the mid-1990s by the then controller, Matthew Bannister. He led a campaign to rid the station of its 'Smashie and Nicey' image and revert it to a youth station catering for 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. Bannister had a ruthless purge of the older DJs and banned old music (typically anything recorded before 1990) from the daytime playlist. 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. Bannister promoted Chris Evans to the prime morning slot even though Evans' own media interests were in conflict with the public benefit remit of the station. Evans was eventually sacked in 1997, and was replaced 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 6 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 early 90s - bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp were both popular and 'credible' at the time and the station's popularity rose with them. As the 90s went on 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, where bland playlisted chart music dominated the daytime shows and new genre music (through most of the late 90s, indie on weekdays and dance at weekends) occupied the evenings with a mix of specialist shows and playlist filler through late nights.

Listening figures continued to decline but the station succeeded in its aim to target 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 introduced recently divides up the week by genres; Tuesday is mainly rock-oriented, Wednesday is R&B and hip-hop, Thursday is dance, Friday and Saturday 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 new rebranded breakfast show is known as The Chris Moyles Show and has dramatically increased its audience to challenge Today programme on Radio 4 as the second most popular breakfast show (after Terry Wogan). The chart show has struggled as single sales in the UK fell and Wes Butters unsuccessfully replaced long-time host Mark Goodier. Current hosts JK and Joel now present only the second most popular radio chart show, losing out to networked commercial radio's hit40uk.

Many of the DJs either ousted by Bannister or who left during his tenure (such as Johnnie Walker 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' 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.

Music

Radio 1 is notable for the range of music it plays. 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/electronica, drum 'n' bass, world, pop and rap. It is also known, however, to concentrate mainly on songs and artists which are in the top 40. It is also radically different from mainstream American radio stations. For example, Sheryl Crow is known as a mainstream artist in the US, but she recently performed a live session on the 'slower-paced' Radio 2 in the UK, instead of performing on Radio One.

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 (and perhaps ironically) found their way onto commercially-available LPs and CDs. There have also been innumerable rockumentary shows 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.

Presenters

Current presenters on this station include Steve Lamacq, 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 R&B, garage and rap supremos such as Tim Westwood and Trevor Nelson. Club DJs include Pete Tong, Fergie and Judge Jules.

An alphabetical list of present presenters is below

Daytime

Other

News and Current Affairs

As a public sector broadcaster, Radio 1 has an obligation to provide news programming. It does this 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 12:45 and 17:45. The main presenter is Georgina Bowman, with Sports news read by David Garrido. However, there are other presenters, such as Dominic Byrne and Mark Chapman.

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. Scotland's show is presented by Vic Galloway (who also has a position on 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, taking over from Donna Legge who continues to present Across the Line (BBC Radio Ulster).

They originally went out from 20.00-22.00 on the Evening Session's time slot but now broadcasts from 19.30-21.00 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, that the rest of the United Kingdom does not receive, they instead have the normal Radio 1 schedule at that time, This has been presented by Vic Galloway in recent years.

Controllers of BBC Radio 1

Audio Clips

See also

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