BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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. It specialises in modern
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
and
current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
, dance,
hip hop and
indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
, while its sister station
1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban contemporary, urban music, including Hip hop music, hip hop and Contemporary R&B, R&B an ...
plays
black contemporary music, including hip hop and
R&B. Radio 1 also runs two online streams,
Radio 1 Dance, dedicated to dance music, and
Radio 1 Relax, dedicated to chill-out music; both are available to listen only on
BBC Sounds
BBC Sounds is a Closed platform, walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile pho ...
.
Radio 1 broadcasts throughout the UK on
FM between and ,
digital radio
Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services.
Types
In digital broadcasting syst ...
,
digital TV
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...
and BBC Sounds. It was launched in 1967 to meet the demand for music generated by
pirate radio
Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.
In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...
stations, when the average age of the UK population was 27. The BBC claims that it targets the 15–29 age group, and the average age of its UK audience since 2009 is 30. BBC Radio 1 started 24-hour broadcasting on 1 May 1991.
According to
RAJAR
Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was calle ...
, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 8.1 million with a listening share of 4.8% as of September 2022.
History
First broadcast
Radio 1 was established in 1967 (along with the more
middle-of-the-road BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
) as a successor to the
BBC Light Programme
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...
, which had broadcast popular music and other entertainment since 1945. Radio 1 was conceived as a direct response to the popularity of offshore
pirate radio
Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.
In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...
stations such as
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...
and
Radio London, which had been outlawed by
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
. The new service was initially promoted in the summer of 1967 by trails (voiced by Kenny Everett) which referred to it as "Radio 247", the station's temporary working title.
Radio 1 was launched at 7:00am on Saturday 30 September 1967.
Broadcasts were on
AM (247 metres), using a network of transmitters which had carried the Light Programme. Most were of comparatively low power, at less than 50 kilowatts, leading to patchy coverage of the country.
The first disc jockey to broadcast on the new station was
Tony Blackburn
Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...
, whose cheery style, first heard on
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...
and
Radio London, won him the prime slot on what became known as the ''
Radio 1 Breakfast Show
''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter.
The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...
''. The first words on Radio 1 – after a countdown by the Controller of Radios 1 and 2,
Robin Scott, and a jingle, recorded at
PAMS
PAMS Productions, Inc. (an acronym for Production, Advertising and Merchandising Service), based in Dallas, Texas, was one of the most famous jingle production companies in American broadcasting. It produced identification packages for radio stat ...
in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, Texas, beginning "The voice of Radio 1" – were:
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 reason jingles from PAMS were used was that the
Musicians' Union would not agree to a single fee for the singers and musicians if the jingles were made "in-house" by the BBC; they wanted repeat fees each time one was played.
The first music to be heard on the station was an extract from "Beefeaters" by
Johnny Dankworth
Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females.
Variant ...
."
Theme One
''Theme One'' is a 1967 instrumental piece by George Martin used from 1967 to the mid 1970s as the opening and closing theme music, theme tune for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. ''Theme One'' was the first music heard on both stations on their laun ...
", specially composed for the launch by
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...
was played for the first time before Radio 1 officially launched at 7 am. The first complete record played on Radio 1 was "
Flowers in the Rain
"Flowers in the Rain" is a song by English rock band The Move. The song was released as a single and reached number two in 1967 on the UK Singles Chart, and number four in Ireland.
It achieved its own place in pop history by being the first recor ...
" by
The Move
The Move were a British rock band of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their caree ...
, the number 2 record in that week's Top 20 (the number 1 record, by
Engelbert Humperdink, would have been inappropriate for the station's sound). The second single was "
" by the
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees
were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...
. The breakfast show remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedule, with every change of breakfast show presenter generating considerable media interest.
The initial rota of staff included
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
, Pete Myers, and a gaggle of others, some transferred from pirate stations, such as
Keith Skues
Richard Keith Skues MBE, AE (born 4 March 1939) is a British radio personality. His career spans over 60 years.
Biography
Skues was born in Timperley, Cheshire. His broadcasting career began on the British Forces Network in Cologne, Germany, in 1 ...
,
Ed Stewart
Edward Stewart Mainwaring (23 April 1941 – 9 January 2016), known as Ed "Stewpot" Stewart, was an English radio broadcaster and TV presenter. He was principally known for his work as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 (particularly the Saturday morning ''Ju ...
,
Mike Raven
Austin Churton Fairman (15 November 1924 – 4 April 1997), who used the name Churton Fairman but was more widely known under the pseudonym Mike Raven in the 1960s and early 1970s, was a British radio disc jockey, actor, sculptor, sheep farmer, ...
, David Ryder, Jim Fisher,
Jimmy Young,
Dave Cash,
Kenny Everett
Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...
,
Simon Dee
Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd (28 July 1935 – 29 August 2009), better known by his stage name Simon Dee, was a British television interviewer and radio disc jockey who hosted a twice-weekly BBC TV chat show, ''Dee Time'', in the late 1960s. Aft ...
,
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...
,
Duncan Johnson
Duncan Johnson (aka Gerald Clements) (17 August 1938 - 11 October 2018) was a radio DJ, working in his native Canada and in the United Kingdom.
Born in Fergus, Ontario, during his early years he joined a radio station in Swift Current, Saskatchew ...
, Doug Crawford,
Tommy Vance
Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston (11 July 1940 – 6 March 2005), known professionally as Tommy Vance, was an English radio broadcaster. He was an important factor in the rise of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), al ...
,
Chris Denning
Christopher David Denning (born 10 May 1941) is an English former radio presenter and convicted sex offender. His career effectively ended when he was convicted of sexual offences in 1974, and Denning has been imprisoned in Great Britain and ove ...
, and
Emperor Rosko
Michael Joseph Pasternak (born 26 December 1942), known by his stage name Emperor Rosko, is an American presenter of rock music programmes, most widely known for his shows on Radio Caroline and BBC Radio 1 in the UK in the 1960s and early 1970s.
...
. Many of the most popular pirate radio voices, such as Simon Dee, had only a one-hour slot per week ("Midday Spin.")
1970s
Initially, the station was unpopular with some of its target audience who, it is claimed, 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 a turn-off for some, and
needle time
Needle time was created in the United Kingdom by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited to restrict the amount of recorded music that could be transmitted by the BBC during any 24-hour period. The number of hours per week allowe ...
restrictions prevented it from playing as many records as offshore stations had. It also had limited finances 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, becoming the most listened-to station in the world, with audiences of over ten million claimed for some of its shows (up to twenty million for some of the combined Radio 1 and Radio 2 shows). In the early-to-mid-1970s Radio 1 presenters were rarely out of the British tabloids, thanks to the Publicity Department's high-profile work. The touring summer live broadcasts called the ''
Radio 1 Roadshow
The Radio 1 Roadshow was an annual summer event hosted and broadcast by BBC Radio 1 from the 1970s through to the 1990s. The roadshow enjoyed three decades of live broadcasts from beach resorts around the UK. The curtain was brought down on the ...
'' – usually as part of the BBC 'Radio Weeks' promotions that took Radio 1, 2 and 4 shows on the road – drew some of the largest crowds of the decade. The station undoubtedly played a role in maintaining the high sales of 45 rpm single records, although it benefited from a lack of competition, apart from
Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg).
The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...
and
Manx Radio
Manx Radio (legally Radio Manx Ltd.) ( gv, Radio Vannin) is the national commercial radio station for the Isle of Man. It began broadcasting on 29 June 1964, almost ten years before commercial radio was licensed in the United Kingdom. The Isle of ...
in the Isle of Man. (
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...
did not begin until October 1973, took many years to cover virtually all of the UK and was initially a mixture of music and talk).
Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie Freeman, MBE (6 July 1927 – 27 November 2006), nicknamed "Fluff", was an Australian-born British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years, best known for presenting ''Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 200 ...
's "Saturday Rock Show" was voted "Best Radio Show" five years running by readers of a national music publication, and was then axed by controller Derek Chinnery.
News coverage on the station was boosted in 1973 when ''
Newsbeat
''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically you ...
'' bulletins aired for the first time, and
Richard Skinner joined the station as one of the new programme's presenters.
On air, 1978 was the busiest year of the decade.
David Jensen
David Allan "Kid" Jensen (born 4 July 1950) is a Canadian-born British radio DJ and television presenter. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began as a radio DJ on Radio Luxembourg. Jensen was later a broadcaster for the BBC from 1976 ...
replaced
Dave Lee Travis
David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter.
Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...
as host of the weekday drivetime programme so that DLT could replace
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English television presenter, radio DJ, writer, producer, and businessman. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presente ...
as presenter of the ''
Radio 1 Breakfast
''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter.
The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...
'' show. Later in the year the Sunday teatime chart show was extended from a Top 20 countdown to a Top 40 countdown, and
Tommy Vance
Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston (11 July 1940 – 6 March 2005), known professionally as Tommy Vance, was an English radio broadcaster. He was an important factor in the rise of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), al ...
, one of the station's original presenters, rejoined the station to present a new programme, ''
The Friday Rock Show
The ''Friday Rock Show'' was a radio show in the United Kingdom that was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 from 10pm to midnight on Friday nights, from 17 November 1978 until 2 April 1993. For most of its existence, it was hosted by Tommy Vance.
Vance ...
''. and on 23 November Radio 1 moved from 247m (1214 kHz) to 275 & 285m (1053 & 1089 kHz) medium wave as part of a plan to improve national AM reception, and to conform with the
Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975
The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 (Aka "The Final Acts of the Regional Administrative LF/MF Broadcasting Conference (Regions 1 and 3) Geneva, 1975" or simply "GE75") is the internationally agreed frequency plan which was drawn up to implement the ...
.
Annie Nightingale
Annie Avril Nightingale (born 1 April 1940) is an English radio and television broadcaster. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 in 1970, and is its longest-serving presenter.
Early life and career
Nightingale was born in Osterley ...
, whose first Radio 1 programme aired on 5 October 1969, was Britain's first national female DJ (the earliest record presenter is thought to be
Jean Metcalfe
Jean Metcalfe (2 March 1923 – 28 January 2000) was an English radio personality, radio broadcaster.
Early life
Jean Metcalfe was the eldest child of Guy Vivian Metcalfe, a railway clerk with the Southern Railway (UK), Southern Railway at ...
of ''
Family Favourites
''Family Favourites'' (remembered by its later name ''Two-Way Family Favourites'') was the successor to the wartime radio show ''Forces Favourites'', broadcast at Sunday lunchtimes on the BBC Light Programme, later BBC Radio 2 from 1945 unti ...
'', but given that Metcalfe only presented the programme she is not considered a "true" DJ) and is now the longest-serving presenter, having constantly evolved her musical tastes with the times.
In 1978,
Al Matthews became the first black disc jockey to join Radio 1. His Saturday night show ''Discovatin'' was broadcast for over two years. During the summer months a Wednesday show was also broadcast featuring live acts.
1980s
At the start of 1981,
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...
took over ''
The Radio 1 Breakfast Show
''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter.
The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...
'' from
Dave Lee Travis
David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter.
Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...
. Towards the end of the year,
Steve Wright started the long-running ''
Steve Wright in the Afternoon
''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' was the name given to English DJ Steve Wright's popular radio shows. Wright's afternoon show was known by that name from 1989.
Wright presented the afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 from 30 March 1981 to 24 Decem ...
'' show. In 1982, the new ''
Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show
''Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show'' is a radio show that is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on weekends. It is currently hosted by Adele Roberts, who took over since January 2021.
''Weekend Breakfast'' was an extension of ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' whic ...
'' started, initially with
Tony Blackburn
Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...
supported by
Maggie Philbin
Margaret Elizabeth Philbin OBE (born 23 June 1955) is an English radio and television presenter whose credits include ''Tomorrow's World'', ''Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'' and latterly '' Bang Goes the Theory''.
Early life
As a child, she became ...
and
Keith Chegwin
Keith Chegwin (17 January 1957 – 11 December 2017) was an English television presenter and actor, appearing in several children's entertainment shows in the 1970s and 1980s, including ''Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'' and ''Cheggers Plays Pop''.
...
. Adrian John and
Pat Sharp
Patrick Sharpin, known professionally as Pat Sharp (born 25 October 1961), is an English radio presenter, television presenter and DJ. In the UK, he is known mainly for his work on the children's ITV programme ''Fun House'', and his extensive ...
also joined for the early weekend shows.
Gary Davies
Gary Davies (born 13 December 1957) is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of ''Top of the Pops''.
As of September 2022 Gary Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting Saturd ...
and
Janice Long
Janice Berry ( Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. In a career that spanned five decades, s ...
also joined, hosting Saturday night late and evening shows respectively.
In 1984,
Robbie Vincent
Robbie Vincent (born 9 June 1947) is an English radio broadcaster and DJ. As a champion of jazz, funk and soul music in the UK during the late 1970s he made an important contribution both live in clubs and on radio. In 1995 he was voted Independ ...
joined to host a Sunday evening soul show.
Mike Smith left for a while to present BBC1's ''
Breakfast Time''; Gary Davies then took over the weekday lunchtime slot.
Bruno Brookes
Trevor Neil "Bruno" Brookes (born 1959 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) is an English former radio presenter who became prominent on British radio in the 1980s. He was CEO of in-store radio company Immedia from 2000–2020.
Early life and care ...
joined and replaced
Peter Powell as presenter of the teatime show, with Powell replacing Blackburn on a new weekend breakfast show.
In 1985, Radio 1 relocated from its studios in Broadcasting House to
Egton House
Egton House in Langham Street in Central London was home to BBC Radio 1 for many years from 1985 until 1996.
Radio 1 moved to Yalding House on Great Portland Street in 1996, and Egton House was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Egton Wing of ...
. In March 1985,
Ranking Miss P
Margaret Anderson, better known as The Ranking Miss P, is a British radio presenter and DJ.
Biography
After leaving school, Miss P studied to become a teacher, but was persuaded by her brother Leroy Anderson (DJ Lepke) to start broadcasting on ...
became the first black female DJ on the station, hosting a reggae programme. In July,
Andy Kershaw
Andrew J. G. Kershaw (born 9 November 1959) is a broadcaster and disc jockey, predominantly on radio, and known for his interest in world music.
Kershaw's shows feature a mix of country, blues, reggae, folk music, African music, spoken word pe ...
also joined the station.
Simon Mayo
Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022.
Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...
joined the station in 1986, while Smith re-joined to replace Read on the breakfast show.
In response to the growth in dance and rap music, Jeff Young joined in October 1987 with the ''Big Beat'' show. At the end of the year
Nicky Campbell
Nicholas Andrew Argyll Campbell, OBE (born Nicholas Lackey, 10 April 1961) is a Scottish broadcaster and journalist. He has worked in television and radio since 1981 and as a network presenter with BBC Radio since 1987.
Early life
Campbell wa ...
,
Mark Goodier
Mark Goodier (born 9 June 1961) is a British radio disc jockey best known for his time on BBC Radio 1 between 1987 and 2002. He had two spells presenting the station's Top 40 singles chart, from 1990 to 1992 and from 1995 until 2002. He also h ...
and
Liz Kershaw
Elizabeth Marguerita Mary Kershaw (born 30 July 1958) is an English radio broadcaster. She is the second longest serving female national radio DJ in the UK (after Annie Nightingale), celebrating 30 years on national BBC Radio in 2017.
Career
A ...
all joined, and
Janice Long
Janice Berry ( Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. In a career that spanned five decades, s ...
left.
Mayo replaced Smith on the breakfast show in May 1988. In September, Goodier and Kershaw took over weekend breakfasts with Powell departing. Campbell took over weekday evenings as part of a move into night-time broadcasting as 1 October 1988 saw Radio 1 extend broadcast hours until 02:00; previously the station had closed for the night at midnight.
From September 1988, Radio 1 began its
FM switch-on, with further major transmitter switch-ons in 1989 and 1990. It was not until the mid-1990s that all existing BBC radio transmitters had Radio 1 added. Previously, Radio 1 had "borrowed" Radio 2's VHF/FM frequencies for around 25 hours each week.
1990s
On 1 May 1991, Radio 1 began 24-hour broadcasting, although only on FM, as the station's MW transmitters were switched off between midnight and 06:00.
In 1992, Radio 1, for the first and only time, covered a
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
. Their coverage was presented by
Nicky Campbell
Nicholas Andrew Argyll Campbell, OBE (born Nicholas Lackey, 10 April 1961) is a Scottish broadcaster and journalist. He has worked in television and radio since 1981 and as a network presenter with BBC Radio since 1987.
Early life
Campbell wa ...
.
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
Richard Matthew Bannister (born 16 March 1957) is a British media executive and broadcaster.
Early career
After attending King Edward VII School, Sheffield, he graduated in law at the University of Nottingham in 1978, and joined BBC Radio Not ...
. One of these "
Loud'n'proud
''loud & proud'' was a series on BBC Radio 1 aimed at young lesbians and gay men and their friends. It was presented by DJ Paulette and broadcast weekly in 1993.
It was made by OutSpoken Productions, an independent production company based in ...
" was the UK's first national radio series aimed at a gay audience, which was produced in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and aired from August 1993. Far from being a "parting quirk", the show was a surprise hit and led to the network's first coverage of the large outdoor
Gay Pride
LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sham ...
event in 1994.
The Man Ezeke
Ezekiel Gray, known as The Man Ezeke, was a Jamaican radio presenter and musician. He was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Gray began his career at ERI, a pirate radio station, in the 1980s. He subsequently presented the ''Jammin' Oldies'' Saturday n ...
became Radio 1's first black regular daytime presenter when he began hosting on Sunday lunchtimes in January 1993.
Bannister took the reins fully in October 1993. His aim was to rid the station of its "
Smashie and Nicey
Mike Smash and Dave Nice were two fictional television characters who first appeared in the early 1990s TV sketch show '' Harry Enfield's Television Programme''. They were played by comedians Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield respectively.
They ...
" image in order to 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
Simon Philip Bates (born 17 December 1946) is an English disc jockey and radio presenter. Between 1976 and 1993 he worked at BBC Radio 1, presenting the station's weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. He later became a regular pres ...
,
Dave Lee Travis
David Patrick Griffin (born 25 May 1945), known professionally as Dave Lee Travis, is an English disc jockey, radio presenter and television presenter.
Travis began his broadcasting career on the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in 1965. He ...
,
Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie Freeman, MBE (6 July 1927 – 27 November 2006), nicknamed "Fluff", was an Australian-born British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years, best known for presenting ''Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 200 ...
,
Bob Harris,
Paul Gambaccini
Paul Matthew Gambaccini (born April 2, 1949) is an American-British radio and television presenter and author in the United Kingdom. He has dual United States and British nationality, having become a British citizen in 2005.
Known as "The Grea ...
,
Gary Davies
Gary Davies (born 13 December 1957) is a British broadcaster. From 1982 to 1993 he was a BBC Radio 1 disc jockey and a regular presenter of ''Top of the Pops''.
As of September 2022 Gary Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 2 presenting Saturd ...
, and later Steve Wright,
Bruno Brookes
Trevor Neil "Bruno" Brookes (born 1959 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) is an English former radio presenter who became prominent on British radio in the 1980s. He was CEO of in-store radio company Immedia from 2000–2020.
Early life and care ...
and
Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended ...
left the station or were dismissed, and in January 1995, older music (typically anything recorded before 1990) was dropped from the daytime
playlist
A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...
.
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
Emma Vallencey Freud (born 25 January 1962) is an English broadcaster and cultural commentator.
Early life
Freud was born in London on 25 January 1962 and is the daughter of politician and broadcaster Sir Clement Freud (1924–2009) and June ...
and
Danny Baker
Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television.
Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fam ...
. 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
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...
, and commercial radio, which was targeting the "Radio 1 and a half" audience, consequently enjoyed a massive increase in its audience share at Radio 1's expense.
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 breakfast show in April 1995. Evans was a popular presenter but was dismissed in 1997 after he demanded to present the breakfast show for only four days per week. Evans was replaced from 17 February 1997 by
Mark and Lard
Mark and Lard was the stage name of Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and Marc Riley (Lard), who presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to March 2004.
Career
Radcliffe, then a Radio 1 producer, began presenting specialist shows on the ne ...
–
Mark Radcliffe and his sidekick
Marc Riley
Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...
– who found the slick, mass-audience style required for a breakfast show did not come naturally to them. They were replaced by
Zoe Ball
Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' and ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & K ...
and
Kevin Greening
Kevin Greening (30 December 1962 – 29 December 2007) was a British radio presenter, who co-hosted ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 with Zoe Ball from 13 October 1997 to 25 September 1998.
Early career
Kevin Greening grew up in Bristol whe ...
eight months later in October 1997; Greening soon moved on, leaving Ball as sole presenter. The reinvention of the station happened at a fortuitous time, with the rise of
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...
in the mid-1990s – bands like
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
,
Blur and
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
* ...
were popular and credible at the time, and the station's popularity rose with them. Documentaries like John Peel's ''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
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
.
At just before 09:00 on 1 July 1994, Radio 1 broadcast on
mediumwave
Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...
for the final time.
In March 1995, Radio 1 hosted an "Interactive Radio Night" with Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq broadcasting from
Cyberia, an
internet café
An Internet café, also known as a cybercafé, is a café (or a convenience store or a fully dedicated Internet access business) that provides the use of computers with high bandwidth Internet access on the payment of a fee. Usage is generally ...
and featuring live performances by
Orbital via
ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. Wo ...
.
Later in the 1990s the Britpop boom declined, and manufactured chart pop (boy bands and acts aimed at sub-teenagers) came to dominate the charts. 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
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
culture through the late 1980s and early 1990s gave the station the opportunity to move into a controversial and youth-orientated movement by bringing in club DJ
Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
amongst others. There had been a dance music programme on Radio 1 since 1987 and Pete Tong was the second DJ to present an all dance music show. This quickly gave birth to the
Essential Mix
The ''Essential Mix'' is a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 1 currently broadcast between 0:00 and 2:00 a.m. UK time on Saturday morning. Originally broadcast on 30 October 1993, the ''Essential Mix'' features contemporary DJs and music producer ...
where underground DJs mix electronic and club based music in a two-hour slot. Dance and urban music has been a permanent feature on Radio 1 since with club DJs such as
Judge Jules
Julius O'Riordan (born 1966), better known by his stage name Judge Jules, is a British dance music DJ, record producer and entertainment lawyer. He is known for his DJ activities, music production and long-running radio show which achieved glob ...
,
Danny Rampling
Danny Rampling (born 15 July 1961) is an English house music DJ and is widely credited as one of the original founders of the UK's rave/club scene.
His long career began in the early 1980s playing hip-hop, soul and funk around numerous bars an ...
,
Trevor Nelson
Trevor Ricardo Nelson, MBE (born 7 January 1964) is an English DJ and presenter.
Early life
Born in the London Borough of Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, Nelson attended Central Foundation Boys' Grammar School (now known as Central ...
, and the
Dreem Teem
The Dreem Teem are a British DJ, music production and remixing trio consisting of DJ Spoony, Mikee B, and Timmi Magic. They formed in 1996 through pirate radio, and were instrumental in developing the UK garage sound. They presented radio show ...
all moving from London's
Kiss 100
Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network.
It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol and ...
to the station.
2000s
![Lamacq whiley lowe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Lamacq_whiley_lowe.jpg)
Listening numbers continued to decline but the station succeeded in targeting a younger, cross-gender age group. Eventually, this change in content was reflected by a rise in audience that is continuing to this day. Notably, the station has received praise for shows such as
The Surgery
''The Surgery'' was a British radio show that aired on BBC Radio 1 weekly from 1999 to 2017.
It was most recently hosted by Katie Thistleton and Doctor Radha Modgil, prior to its merger in November 2017 with a new show entitled '' Radio 1's ...
,
Bobby Friction
Paramdeep Sehdev () (born 21 August 1971, in Hammersmith) better known as Bobby Friction, is a DJ, television presenter and radio presenter from west London.
Early life
After studying Contemporary Arts at Nottingham Trent University, Friction's ...
and
Nihal's show, ''The Evening Session'' and its successor
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
's show. Its website has also been well received.
However, the breakfast show and the
UK Top 40
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
continued to struggle. In 2000,
Zoe Ball
Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' and ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & K ...
was replaced in the mornings by close friend and fellow
ladette
Lad culture (also the new lad, laddism) was a media-driven, principally British and Irish subculture of the 1990s and early 2000s. The image of the "lad"—or "new lad"—was that of a generally middle class figure espousing attitudes typically at ...
Sara Cox
Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...
, but, despite heavy promotion, listening figures for the breakfast show continued to fall. In 2004 Cox was replaced by
Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
. The newly rebranded breakfast show was known as
The Chris Moyles Show
''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as Radio 1 Breakfast from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012 before transferring three years later on 21 ...
and it increased its audience, ahead of
the ''Today'' programme on
Radio 4 as the second most popular breakfast show (after
The Chris Evans Breakfast Show
''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show'' (currently referred to on-air due to sponsorship reasons as ''The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky'') is the name given to two versions of a radio programme hosted by broadcaster Chris Evans in the United K ...
hosted by
Chris Evans). Moyles continued to use inappropriate ways to try to tempt listeners from the ''
Wake Up to Wogan
''Wake Up to Wogan'' (''WUTW'') was the incarnation of ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' that aired each weekday morning from 4 January 1993 to 18 December 2009. It was the most-listened-to radio show in the United Kingdom, and the flagship breakfa ...
'' show. In 2006, for example, creating a ''SAY NO TO WOGAN'' campaign live on-air. This angered the BBC hierarchy, though the row simmered down when it was clear that the 'campaign' had totally failed to alter the listening trends of the time – Wogan still increased figures at a faster rate than Moyles.
The chart show's ratings fell after the departure of long-time host
Mark Goodier
Mark Goodier (born 9 June 1961) is a British radio disc jockey best known for his time on BBC Radio 1 between 1987 and 2002. He had two spells presenting the station's Top 40 singles chart, from 1990 to 1992 and from 1995 until 2002. He also h ...
, amid falling single sales in the UK. Ratings for the show fell in 2002 whilst Goodier was still presenting the show, meaning that commercial radio's
Network Chart overtook it in the ratings for the first time. However, the BBC denied he was being sacked. Before July 2015, when the chart release day was changed to Friday, the BBC show competed with networked commercial radio's
The Big Top 40 Show
''The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 from Global'' is a radio chart show broadcast every Sunday from 4 to 7pm on Global's Capital and Heart networks, presented by Will Manning. It was started in May 2009 but the show is the descendant of ''The Ne ...
which was broadcast at the same time.
Many DJs either ousted by Bannister or who left during his tenure (such as
Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended ...
,
Bob Harris and
Steve Wright) have joined
Radio 2 which has now overtaken Radio 1 as the UK's most popular radio station, using a style that Radio 1 had until the early 1990s.
The success of Moyles' show has come alongside increased success for the station in general. In 2006, DJs
Scott Mills
Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...
and
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
won gold
Sony Radio Awards
The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...
, while the station itself came away with the best station award.
A new evening schedule was introduced in September 2006, dividing the week by genre. Monday was mainly pop-funkrock-oriented, Tuesday was R&B and hip-hop, Thursdays and Fridays were primarily dance, with specialist R&B and reggae shows.
Following the death of
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
in October 2004,
Annie Nightingale
Annie Avril Nightingale (born 1 April 1940) is an English radio and television broadcaster. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 in 1970, and is its longest-serving presenter.
Early life and career
Nightingale was born in Osterley ...
is now the longest-serving presenter, having worked there since 1970.
2010s
![Scott Mills](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Scott_Mills.jpg)
The licence-fee funding of Radio 1, alongside Radio 2, is often criticised by the commercial sector. In the first quarter of 2011 Radio 1 was part of an efficiency review conducted by
John Myers.
His role, according to Andrew Harrison, the chief executive of RadioCentre, was "to identify both areas of best practice and possible savings."
The controller of Radio 1 and sister station 1Xtra changed to
Ben Cooper
Ben Cooper (September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020) was an American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot Award in 2005 for his work in westerns.
Stage
Cooper appeared on Broadway in ''Life With Father'' (1939). He debuted in th ...
on 28 October 2011, following the departure of Andy Parfitt. Ben Cooper answered to the Director of BBC Audio and Music, Tim Davie.
On 7 December 2011, Ben Cooper's first major changes to the station were announced. Skream & Benga,
Toddla T
Thomas Mackenzie Bell (born 22 February 1985), better known by the stage name of Toddla T, is an English DJ, record producer, remixer and songwriter from Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
Biography
Bell was raised in Sheffield where he attended Ki ...
,
Charlie Sloth
Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon (born 20 August 1981), known professionally as Charlie Sloth, is a British DJ, hype man, producer and TV presenter.
Early life
Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon was born on 20 August 1981. He was raised in the London Boroug ...
and
Friction
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:
*Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of t ...
replaced Judge Jules,
Gilles Peterson
Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brown ...
, Kissy Sell Out and Fabio & Grooverider. A number of shows were shuffled to incorporate the new line-up. On 28 February 2012, further changes were announced. Greg James and Scott Mills swapped shows and
Jameela Jamil
Jameela Alia Jamil (born 25 February 1986) is a British actress and presenter. She began her career on Channel 4, where she hosted a pop culture series in the T4 strand from 2009 until 2012. She then became the radio host of ''The Official Cha ...
,
Gemma Cairney
Gemma Cairney (born 19 March 1985) is an English television and radio presenter best known for her work on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music. She most recently presented '' The Leisure Society'' on BBC Radio 6 Music where she interviewed cultura ...
and
Danny Howard
Danny Howard (born 14 July 1987) is a British dance music DJ, producer, and current host of ''Radio 1's Dance Party''.
Howard attended Edge Hill University, where he studied sport and exercise science. During his time at Edge Hill, Howard had a ...
joined the station. The new line-up of DJs for ''In New DJs We Trust'' was also announced with
B.Traits
Brianna Price (born 18 June 1986), better known by her stage name B.Traits (Baby Traits), is a Canadian DJ, record producer, remixer and former radio presenter currently living in the United Kingdom. Her debut single "Fever" featuring vocals fr ...
, Mosca,
Jordan Suckley
Jordan Suckley is a British Radio Host, DJ and Music Producer from Liverpool, England, who has composed and remixed notable tracks on albums that have reached No. 1 on the US iTunes Dance Charts.Trance HuInterview with Jordan Suckley/ref>Beat ...
and Julio Bashmore hosting shows on a four weekly rotation. This new schedule took effect on Monday, 2 April 2012.
In September 2012,
Nick Grimshaw
Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...
replaced
Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
as host of "Radio 1's Breakfast Show". Grimshaw previously hosted Mon-Thurs 10pm-Midnight, Weekend Breakfast and Sunday evenings alongside Annie Mac. Grimshaw was replaced by Phil Taggart and Alice Levine on the 10pm-Midnight show.
In November 2012, another series of changes were announced. This included the departure of Reggie Yates and Vernon Kay. Jameela Jamil was announced as the new presenter of ''The Official Chart''. Matt Edmondson moved to weekend mornings with Tom Deacon briefly replacing him on Wednesday nights.
Dan Howell
Daniel James Howell (born 11 June 1991) is an English YouTuber, presenter, comedian and author. He gained prominence through his YouTube channels ''Daniel Howell'' (formerly known as ''danisnotonfire''), which reached over six million subscrib ...
and
Phil Lester
Philip Michael Lester (born 30 January 1987) is an English YouTuber and radio host. He is best known for his YouTube channels ''AmazingPhil'', which gained over 4 million subscribers, and ''DanAndPhilGAMES''. Together with frequent collaborato ...
, famous
YouTubers
YouTubers are people mostly known for their work on the video sharing platform YouTube. The following is a list of YouTubers for whom Wikipedia has articles either under their own name or their YouTube channel name. This list excludes people who ...
and video bloggers, joined the station. The changes took effect in January 2013.
Former presenter Sara Cox hosted her last show on Radio 1 in February 2014 before moving back to Radio 2. In March 2014, Gemma Cairney left the weekend breakfast show to host the weekday early breakfast slot, swapping shows with Dev.
In September 2014, Radio 1 operated a series of changes to their output which saw many notable presenters leave the station – including Edith Bowman, Nihal and Rob da Bank.
Huw Stephens
Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...
gained a new show hosting 10pm1am MondayWednesday with
Alice Levine
Alice Esme Levine (born 8 July 1986) is an English radio and television presenter, narrator, and comedian.
Early life and education
Levine was born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Her father is a retired lecturer at the University of Nottingham. H ...
presenting weekends 1pm4pm. Radio 1's Residency also expanded with Skream joining the rotational line-up on Thursday nights (10pm1am).
From December 2014 to April 2016, Radio 1 included a weekly late night show presented by a well known Internet personality called ''The Internet Takeover''. Shows have been presented by various YouTubers such as
Jim Chapman Jim Chapman may refer to:
* Jim Chapman (congressman) (born 1945), American businessman and politician
** Jim Chapman Lake, a lake in Texas named after the politician
* Jim Chapman (footballer) (born 1965), Scottish footballer
* Jim Chapman (Intern ...
and
Hannah Witton
Hannah Lisa Witton (born 19 February 1992) is an English-German YouTuber, talk-show host, broadcaster, and author. Witton creates video blogs and informational content which is mostly based around relationships, sex and sexual health; liberation ...
.
In January 2015,
Clara Amfo
Clara Amfo (born 22 May 1984) is a British radio broadcaster, television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1.
Early life and education
Amfo was born in Kingston upon Thames in Lo ...
replaced Jameela Jamil as host of The Official Chart on Sundays (4pm7pm) and in March, Zane Lowe left Radio 1 and was replaced by
Annie Mac
Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...
on the new music evening show.
In May 2015,
Fearne Cotton
Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', ...
left the station after 10 years of broadcasting. Her weekday mid-morning show was taken over by Clara Amfo.
Adele Roberts
Adele Claire Roberts (born 9 March 1979) is a British broadcaster and reality TV personality and DJ. Roberts worked for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. Her best known television appearances were in '' Big Brother'', '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out ...
also joined the weekday schedule line-up, hosting the Early Breakfast show.
In July 2015, the Official Chart moved to a Friday from 4pm to 5:45pm, hosted by
Greg James
Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast '' Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...
. The move took place to take into account the changes to the release dates of music globally.
Cel Spellman
Ceallach Spellman ( ; born 31 August 1995) is an English actor and presenter best known for playing Matthew Williams in the revival of ITV drama '' Cold Feet'', Harry Fisher in the BBC One school-based drama '' Waterloo Road'' from 2010 to 2011 ...
joined the station to host Sunday evenings.
In September 2017, a new slot namely Radio 1's Greatest Hits was introduced for weekends 10am-1pm. The show started on 2 September 2017. On 30 September 2017, Radio 1 celebrated its 50th birthday. Commemorations included a three-day pop-up station, 'Radio 1 Vintage', celebrating the station's presenters and special on-air programmes on the day itself, including a special breakfast show co-presented by the station's launch DJ
Tony Blackburn
Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...
, which is also broadcast on
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
.
In October 2017, another major schedule change was announced. Friction left the station. The change features
Charlie Sloth
Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon (born 20 August 1981), known professionally as Charlie Sloth, is a British DJ, hype man, producer and TV presenter.
Early life
Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon was born on 20 August 1981. He was raised in the London Boroug ...
gained a new slot called 'The 8th' which aired Mon-Thu 9-11pm. Other changes include
MistaJam
Peter Dalton (born 19 January 1983), known professionally as MistaJam, is a British DJ and radio presenter. He is known for presenting radio shows on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra from 2005 to 2020; since 2020 he has presented on Capital and C ...
took over
Danny Howard
Danny Howard (born 14 July 1987) is a British dance music DJ, producer, and current host of ''Radio 1's Dance Party''.
Howard attended Edge Hill University, where he studied sport and exercise science. During his time at Edge Hill, Howard had a ...
on the Dance Anthems.
Katie Thistleton
Katie Lorna Thistleton (born 13 May 1989) is an English television and radio presenter, National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) qualified journalist and author, best known for her work across the CBBC channel. She presents a show ...
joined
Cel Spellman
Ceallach Spellman ( ; born 31 August 1995) is an English actor and presenter best known for playing Matthew Williams in the revival of ITV drama '' Cold Feet'', Harry Fisher in the BBC One school-based drama '' Waterloo Road'' from 2010 to 2011 ...
on Sunday evenings, namely 'Life Hacks' (4-6pm) which features content from the Radio 1 Surgery, and Most Played (6-7pm).
Danny Howard
Danny Howard (born 14 July 1987) is a British dance music DJ, producer, and current host of ''Radio 1's Dance Party''.
Howard attended Edge Hill University, where he studied sport and exercise science. During his time at Edge Hill, Howard had a ...
would host a new show on Friday 11pm-1am.
Huw Stephens
Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...
's show pushed to 11pm-1am. Kan D Man and DJ Limelight joined the station to host a weekly Asian Beats show on Sundays between 1-3am,
Rene LaVice joined the station with the Drum & Bass show on Tuesdays 1-3am.
Phil Taggart
Philip Taggart (born 10 June 1986) is a Northern Irish DJ and radio presenter on BBC Radio Ulster.
Early life
Philly Taggart was born in Derry but was raised in Drumragh, a townland on the outskirts of Omagh in County Tyrone. He attended the ...
presented the Hype Chart on Tuesdays 3-4am.
In February 2018, the first major schedule change of the year happened on the weekend. This saw Maya Jama and
Jordan North
Jordan North (born 14 February 1990) is an English radio DJ, known for hosting shows on BBC Radio 1. In 2020, he was announced as the runner-up of the I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British series 20), twentieth series of ''I'm a Celebr ...
join BBC Radio 1 to present the Radio 1's Greatest Hits, which would be on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Alice Levine
Alice Esme Levine (born 8 July 1986) is an English radio and television presenter, narrator, and comedian.
Early life and education
Levine was born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Her father is a retired lecturer at the University of Nottingham. H ...
moved to the breakfast slot to join Dev.
Matt Edmondson
Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2.
Edmondson currently presents the weekend afternoon show Fridays, Saturdays and Sund ...
would replace Alice Levine's original slot in the afternoon and joined by a different guest co-presenter each week. The changes took into effect on 24 February 2018.
In April 2018, another major schedule change was made due to the incorporation of weekend schedule on Fridays. This means that
Nick Grimshaw
Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...
,
Clara Amfo
Clara Amfo (born 22 May 1984) is a British radio broadcaster, television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1.
Early life and education
Amfo was born in Kingston upon Thames in Lo ...
and
Greg James
Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast '' Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...
would host four days in a week.
Scott Mills
Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...
became the new host for
The Official Chart
''The Official Chart'' is a long-running United Kingdom music chart programme, airing each Friday afternoon on BBC Radio 1. It airs the UK Singles Chart compiled by the Official Charts Company.
In July 2015 ''The Official Chart'' moved from ...
and Dance Anthems, which replaces
Greg James
Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast '' Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...
, and
Maya Jama
Maya Indea Jama (, ; born 14 August 1994) is an English television, radio presenter, and DJ. She co-presented BBC One's '' Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer'' alongside Peter Crouch and Alex Horne and is presenter of the BBC Three competition '' Gl ...
would present The Radio 1's Greatest Hits on 10am-1pm.
Mollie King
Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of the Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit "What About U ...
joined
Matt Edmondson
Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2.
Edmondson currently presents the weekend afternoon show Fridays, Saturdays and Sund ...
officially on the 1-4pm slot, namely 'Matt and Mollie'. The changes took into effect on 15 June 2018.
In May 2018, it was announced that
Nick Grimshaw
Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...
would leave the Breakfast Show after six years, the second longest run hosting the show in history (only second to
Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
). However, Grimshaw did not leave the station, but swapped slots with
Greg James
Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast '' Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...
, who hosted the home time show from 4-7pm weekdays. This change took place as of 20 August 2018 for the Radio 1 Breakfast Show (which was then renamed to Radio 1 Breakfast). Grimshaw's show started on 3 September 2018.
In June 2018, another series of schedule changes was announced. This sees the BBC Introducing Show with
Huw Stephens
Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...
on Sundays 11pm-1am.
Jack Saunders joined the station and presented Radio 1 Indie Show from Monday-Thursday 11pm-1am. Other changes include the shows rearrangement of Sunday evenings. Phil Taggart's chillest show moved to 7-9pm, then followed by The Rock Show with Daniel P Carter at 9-11pm. The changes took into effect in September 2018.
In October 2018, Charlie Sloth announced that he was leaving Radio 1 and 1Xtra after serving the station for nearly 10 years. He was hosting The 8th and The Rap Show at that point. His last show was expected to be on 3 November 2018. However, Charlie had been in the spotlight for storming the stage and delivering a sweary, Kanye West-esque rant at the Audio & Radio Industry Awards (ARIAS) on Thursday 18 October 2018, which points towards Edith Bowman. Charlie was nominated for best specialist music show at the ARIAS – a category he lost out on to ''Soundtracking with
Edith Bowman
Edith Eleanor Smith (born January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted '' Colin and Edith'', weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and ''The Radio 1 Review'' on BBC Radio 1 until 2014 and has presented a variety of ...
'' and prompting him to appear on stage during her acceptance. He apologised on Twitter regarding this issue and Radio 1 had agreed with Charlie that he will not do the 10 remaining shows that were originally planned. This meant that his last show ended on 18 October 2018. From 20 October 2018 onwards, Seani B filled his The Rap Show slot on 9pm-11pm and
Dev covered "The 8th" beginning 22 October 2018.
In the same month,
B.Traits
Brianna Price (born 18 June 1986), better known by her stage name B.Traits (Baby Traits), is a Canadian DJ, record producer, remixer and former radio presenter currently living in the United Kingdom. Her debut single "Fever" featuring vocals fr ...
announced that she was leaving BBC Radio 1 after six years of commitment. She said she feels as though she can no longer devote the necessary time needed to make the show the best it can be, and is moving on to focus on new projects and adventures. Her last show was on 26 October 2018. The Radio 1's Essentials Mix is then shifted earlier to 1am-3am, followed by Radio 1's Wind-Down from 3 am to 6 am. The changes took effect from 2 November 2018 onwards.
At the end of October 2018,
Dev's takeover on The 8th resulted in the swapping between
Matt Edmondson
Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2.
Edmondson currently presents the weekend afternoon show Fridays, Saturdays and Sund ...
and
Mollie King
Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of the Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit "What About U ...
's show with Dev and
Alice Levine
Alice Esme Levine (born 8 July 1986) is an English radio and television presenter, narrator, and comedian.
Early life and education
Levine was born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Her father is a retired lecturer at the University of Nottingham. H ...
's show. This meant that Matt and Mollie became the new Weekend Breakfast hosts, and Dev and
Alice
Alice may refer to:
* Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname
Literature
* Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll
* ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
became the afternoon show hosts. The changes came into effect on 16 November 2018.
On 15 November 2018, Radio 1 announced that
Tiffany Calver, who has previously hosted a dedicated hip-hop show on the new-music station
KissFresh
Kiss Fresh is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network, and a sister station to Kiss.
As of June 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 301,000 listeners, according to RAJAR.
History
Initial ...
, would join the station and host the Rap Show. The change took effect from 5 January 2019.
On 26 November 2018, Radio 1 announced that the new hosts for the evening slot previously hosted by Charlie Sloth would be
Rickie Haywood-Williams
Richard Haywood-Williams is a British radio DJ and television presenter best known for his work with Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges on Kiss FM, later BBC Radio 1 and the 2016 TV series '' Bang on the Money'' on ITV.
Early life
He attended ...
,
Melvin Odoom
Melvin Odoom is a British radio DJ and television presenter. He is best known for presenting on BBC Radio 1 alongside Rickie Haywood-Williams and Charlie Hedges.
Education
Odoom attended the University of Bedfordshire and studied a Media Per ...
, and
Charlie Hedges
Charlotte Hedges is a British DJ and broadcaster, who presents as part of "Rickie, Melvin and Charlie" on BBC Radio 1.
Early life
Hedges studied journalism at Harlow College.
Career Radio presenting
Hedges hosted the breakfast show at Kiss for ...
. The trio previously presented on Kiss's breakfast show. The change took effect in April 2019.
In July 2019 it was announced that there would be two new shows on the weekend, the weekend early breakfast show and best new pop, both of which started on 6 September 2019.
The weekend early morning breakfast show would be and is currently hosted by Arielle Free. It is broadcast between 04:00–06:00 on Friday and Saturday and Sunday between 05:00–07:00.
Best new pop would be and is currently hosted by
Mollie King
Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of the Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit "What About U ...
and is currently broadcast between 06:00–06:30 on a Friday Morning.
This in turn changed the timing of the
Weekend Breakfast Show hosted by
Mollie King
Mollie Elizabeth King (born 4 June 1987) is an English pop singer, radio presenter and a member of girl group The Saturdays. As part of the Saturdays, King has had 13 Top 10 and eight Top 5 singles, including the UK number-one hit "What About U ...
and
Matt Edmondson
Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2.
Edmondson currently presents the weekend afternoon show Fridays, Saturdays and Sund ...
, which is now broadcast at Friday 06:30–10:00 and between 07:00–10:00 on Saturday & Sunday.
2020s
Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, there were temporary changes.
In March 2020, ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' began later at 7 am to 11 am.
Scott Mills
Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...
would also present his show from 1 pm-3 pm with
Nick Grimshaw
Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...
starting until 6 pm. BBC Radio 1 Dance Anthems now started from 3 pm with 2 hours Classic Anthems and it would end at 7 pm.
In July 2020,
Alice Levine
Alice Esme Levine (born 8 July 1986) is an English radio and television presenter, narrator, and comedian.
Early life and education
Levine was born in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Her father is a retired lecturer at the University of Nottingham. H ...
and
Cel Spellman
Ceallach Spellman ( ; born 31 August 1995) is an English actor and presenter best known for playing Matthew Williams in the revival of ITV drama '' Cold Feet'', Harry Fisher in the BBC One school-based drama '' Waterloo Road'' from 2010 to 2011 ...
announced their resignation from BBC Radio 1. In September,
Vick Hope
Victoria Nwayawu Nwosu-Hope (born 25 September 1989) is a British TV and radio presenter, journalist and published author.
Vick hosts three shows a week across BBC Radio 1 "Going Home with Vick and Jordan", "Life Hacks" and "Official Chart: F ...
was announced to join Katie Thisleton, replacing Spellman.
In September 2020, a new schedule was announced.
This meant that The Radio 1 Breakfast Show was extended by 30 minutes until 10:30 am. Also, Scott Mills' show was shortened by 30 minutes from 4 to 3:30 pm.
Toddla T
Thomas Mackenzie Bell (born 22 February 1985), better known by the stage name of Toddla T, is an English DJ, record producer, remixer and songwriter from Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
Biography
Bell was raised in Sheffield where he attended Ki ...
was also announced to be leaving the show after 11 years. Annie Mac's evening show moved from 7 pm to 6 pm with Rickie, Melvin and Charlie from 8 pm.
Jack Saunders would host a new show called ''Radio 1's Future Artists with Jack Saunders'' from Monday to Wednesday.
Friday Schedule was also announced. Radio 1 Party Anthems moved from 6 pm to 3 pm and it would be hosted by Dev. Also,
Annie Mac
Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...
,
Danny Howard
Danny Howard (born 14 July 1987) is a British dance music DJ, producer, and current host of ''Radio 1's Dance Party''.
Howard attended Edge Hill University, where he studied sport and exercise science. During his time at Edge Hill, Howard had a ...
,
Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
and Essential Mix shows moved 1 hour earlier. Dance Anthems on Saturday have been confirmed starting to its original time slot from 4 pm.
On 26 September 2020,
MistaJam
Peter Dalton (born 19 January 1983), known professionally as MistaJam, is a British DJ and radio presenter. He is known for presenting radio shows on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra from 2005 to 2020; since 2020 he has presented on Capital and C ...
left BBC Radio 1 and
BBC Radio 1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...
after 15 years. It was announced that Charlie Hedges would take over Dance Anthems from 3 October 2020.
BBC Radio 1 Dance
BBC Radio 1 Dance is a British online-only radio stream, owned and operated by the BBC and run as a spin-off from Radio 1. The station plays a mix of back-to-back current, future and classic electronic dance music, and broadcasts exclusively o ...
launched on Friday 9 October. The station is broadcast exclusively on
BBC Sounds
BBC Sounds is a Closed platform, walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile pho ...
.
In November 2020 it was confirmed that
Dev Griffin
Devin Joseph Jordan Griffin (born 23 December 1984) is a British radio presenter, DJ and actor, who is most commonly known for his former weekend afternoon shows on BBC Radio 1. Since 2 January 2021, he has presented a weekend show on Heart.
...
,
Huw Stephens
Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...
, and
Phil Taggart
Philip Taggart (born 10 June 1986) is a Northern Irish DJ and radio presenter on BBC Radio Ulster.
Early life
Philly Taggart was born in Derry but was raised in Drumragh, a townland on the outskirts of Omagh in County Tyrone. He attended the ...
would all be leaving the station at the end of the year. From January 2021, ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' was to return to five days per week while
Arielle Free
Arielle Free (born 29 March 1988) is a Scottish DJ and broadcaster. She is known for presenting on BBC Radio 1 and touring the world as a celebrated Electronic house DJ. She can also be found hosting the official podcast ''Love Island (2015 TV se ...
would host Early Breakfast (Mon-Thu 0500–0700) and three new presenters were to take turns hosting the early breakfast slot on Fridays. Adele Roberts left Early Breakfast after five years, moving to Weekend Breakfast (Sat-Sun 0700–1030). Matt Edmondson and Mollie King returned to Weekend Afternoons (Fri-Sun 1300–1600). On Sunday evenings, Sian Eleri replaced Phil Taggart as host of the Chillest Show and Gemma Bradley replaced Huw Stephens on BBC Introducing.
On 9 April 2021, BBC Radio 1 and other BBC radio stations were cut at 12:10 pm for the national anthem following the
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...
, and the stations then carried the BBC Radio News special programme until 4 pm. Radio 1 then played music without vocals and on 10 and 11 April 2021 played downtempo and chilled music. The Official Chart was not aired, for the second time since
Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
's
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
.
On 20 April 2021,
Annie Mac
Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...
tweeted that she would leave BBC Radio 1 after 17 years. It was also announced that
Diplo
Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...
would be leaving after 10 years. On Weeknights,
Clara Amfo
Clara Amfo (born 22 May 1984) is a British radio broadcaster, television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1.
Early life and education
Amfo was born in Kingston upon Thames in Lo ...
replaced Annie on Radio 1's Future Sounds (Mon-Thu 1800–2000). On Fridays,
Danny Howard
Danny Howard (born 14 July 1987) is a British dance music DJ, producer, and current host of ''Radio 1's Dance Party''.
Howard attended Edge Hill University, where he studied sport and exercise science. During his time at Edge Hill, Howard had a ...
replaced Annie at 6 pm – with
Sarah Story
Sarah Story (born in Carlisle) is a British DJ and radio presenter. She is best known for presenting '' Radio 1's Future Dance''. Before then, she was a DJ for Capital's Weekender.
Early life
Story grew up in Dalston, just outside Carlisle.
...
, a former
Capital FM presenter, hosting from 8 pm. Rickie, Melvin and Charlie were announced as new hosts of the Live Lounge slot, replacing Clara Amfo. Jack Saunders also moved to an earlier time slot (Mon-Thu 2000–2200), replacing Rickie, Melvin and Charlie. Sian Eleri gained 3 new shows per week, hosting Radio 1's Power Down Playlist from 10pm-11pm Mon-Wed. BBC Introducing Dance with Jaguar airs at this time slot on a Thursday evening.
On 21 April 2021, Radio 1 Relax launched on BBC Sounds, playing relaxing music and sounds such as wind and rain.
After 14 years on BBC Radio 1,
Nick Grimshaw
Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...
announced he would be leaving the station, with
Vick Hope
Victoria Nwayawu Nwosu-Hope (born 25 September 1989) is a British TV and radio presenter, journalist and published author.
Vick hosts three shows a week across BBC Radio 1 "Going Home with Vick and Jordan", "Life Hacks" and "Official Chart: F ...
and
Jordan North
Jordan North (born 14 February 1990) is an English radio DJ, known for hosting shows on BBC Radio 1. In 2020, he was announced as the runner-up of the I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British series 20), twentieth series of ''I'm a Celebr ...
taking over the time-slot. Grimshaw broadcast his final show on 12 August 2021. Vick and Jordan's new show first aired on 6 September 2021. Vick continued to co-host Life Hacks alongside
Katie Thistleton
Katie Lorna Thistleton (born 13 May 1989) is an English television and radio presenter, National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) qualified journalist and author, best known for her work across the CBBC channel. She presents a show ...
, while
Dean McCullough
Dean McCullough (born July 1992) is a Northern Irish radio DJ and TV presenter. He currently presents at BBC Radio 1 and has previously presented on Gaydio.
Early life
McCullough was born in 1992. He is from Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. McCu ...
joined BBC Radio 1 to host Friday-Sunday 1030–1300.
In September 2022, DJ Target and
René LaVice
René LaVice is a Canadian electronic music producer, DJ and singer.
Biography
His song "The Calling", featuring Ivy Mairi, entered the UK Singles Chart at number 118 following a placement on BBC Radio 1's A List playlist. The song also featur ...
left the station, making loads of changes, first of all, 'Radio 1's Soundsystem with Jeremiah Asimiah has moved from 2300 on Saturday to 0100 on Sundays to Saturdays from 1900-2100, replacing
DJ Target Darren Joseph, known professionally as DJ Target, is a British DJ.
Career
Joseph is a former member of Roll Deep.
Joseph began hosting part of the 1Xtra Takeover, a simulcast across BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra, in September 2013.
In 2018, Josep ...
. Radio 1's Drum & Bass Show has been moved to Saturdays 2300 to Sundays 0100, now being presented by Charlie Tee. Radio 1's Indie Show with Jack Saunders has been moved from Thursdays 2000-2200 to Sundays 2100-2300, Future Artists is still being broadcast Mon-Wed 2000-2200. On Mondays, Radio 1's Rock Show with Daniel P Carter will move from Sundays 2100-2300 to Mondays 2300 to Tuesdays 0100, followed by a new 'Future Rock' with Alyx Hylcombe on Tuesdays 0100-0200, and ending off with Future Alternative with Nels Hylton 0200-0300, moving from Thursdays 0300-0400. And a new programme is shown called Future Pop with Mollie King on Thursdays 2000-2200, Mollie will still host Weekends 1300-1600 with co-host
Matt Edmondson
Matthew Edmondson (born 27 December 1985) is a British television and Sony Award-nominated radio presenter, best known for his work with BBC Radio 1 and ITV2.
Edmondson currently presents the weekend afternoon show Fridays, Saturdays and Sund ...
. On 25 August 2022, Scott Mills and co-host Chris Stark aired their final show. Their radio time slots have been given to Dean McCullough and Vicky Hawksworth while the role of hosting the Official Chart has been given to Jack Saunders.
On 8 September 2022, Radio 1 and the other radio stations were cut at 6:32 pm to report the
Death of Queen Elizabeth II
On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death wa ...
and were carrying a BBC Radio News special. The Official Chart did not air on the Friday, which was the third time in two years since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. Radio 1 returned to normal programming on 11 September 2022.
Broadcast
Studios
![BBCBroadcastingHouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/BBCBroadcastingHouse.JPG)
From inception for over 20 years, Radio 1 broadcast from an adjacent pair of continuity suites (originally Con A and Con B) in the main control room of Broadcasting House. These cons were configured to allow DJs to operate the equipment themselves and play their own records and jingle cartridges (called self-op). This was a departure from traditional BBC practice, where a studio manager would play in discs from the studio control cubicle. Due to needle time restrictions, much of the music was played from tapes of BBC session recordings. The DJs were assisted by one or more technical operators (TOs) who would set up tapes and control sound levels during broadcasts.
In 1985, Radio 1 moved across the road from
Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
to
Egton House
Egton House in Langham Street in Central London was home to BBC Radio 1 for many years from 1985 until 1996.
Radio 1 moved to Yalding House on Great Portland Street in 1996, and Egton House was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Egton Wing of ...
. The station moved to
Yalding House
Yalding House is a building at 152–156 Great Portland Street, London, United Kingdom. It was formerly owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and from 1952 until 2013 housed the corporation's music department.
The BBC Central Mus ...
in 1996, and Egton House was demolished in 2003 to make way for an extension to Broadcasting House. This extension would eventually be renamed the Egton Wing, and then the Peel Wing.
Until recently, the studios were located in the basement of Yalding House (near to BBC Broadcasting House) on
Great Portland Street
Great Portland Street in the West End of London links Oxford Street with Albany Street and the A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road. A commercial street including some embassies, it divides Fitzrovia, to the east, from Marylebone to the west. ...
in
central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
. They used to broadcast from two main studios in the basement; Y2 and Y3 (there is also a smaller studio, YP1, used mainly for production). These two main studios (Y2 and Y3) are separated by the "
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...
", although it is mainly used as an office; live sets are rarely recorded from it, for
Maida Vale Studios
Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London.
It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...
is used instead for larger set-ups. The studios are linked by webcams and windows through the "Live Lounge", allowing DJs to see each other when changing between shows. Y2 is the studio from where ''
The Chris Moyles Show
''The Chris Moyles Show'' is the title given to two differing versions of a radio programme hosted by Chris Moyles, originally broadcast as Radio 1 Breakfast from 5 January 2004 to 14 September 2012 before transferring three years later on 21 ...
'' was broadcast and is also the studio rigged with static cameras for when the station broadcasts on the "Live Cam". The station moved there in 1996 from Egton House.
In December 2012, Radio 1 moved from Yalding House to new studios on the 8th floor of the new
BBC Broadcasting House
Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
, Portland Place, just a few metres away from the "Peel Wing", formerly the "Egton Wing", which occupies the land on which Egton House previously stood: it was renamed the "Peel Wing" in 2012 in honour of the long-serving BBC Radio 1 presenter,
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
, who broadcast on the station from its launch in 1967 until his death in 2004.
Programmes have also regularly been broadcast from other regions, notably ''The Mark and Lard Show'', broadcast every weekday from
New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
for over a decade (October 1993–March 2004) – the longest regular broadcast on the network from outside the capital.
In August 2022, the studio 82A (from which Radio 1 broadcasts) was renamed 82Mills, following the departure of the long-running DJ
Scott Mills
Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...
.
UK analogue frequencies
Radio 1 originally broadcast on
AM (or 247 metres). On 23 November 1978, the station was moved to and (275 and 285 m).
The BBC had been allocated three FM frequency ranges in 1955, for the then
Light Programme
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...
(now
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
),
Third Programme
The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3, Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and in ...
(now
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
) and
Home Service
Home Service is a British folk rock group, formed in late 1980 from a nucleus of musicians who had been playing in Ashley Hutchings' Albion Band. Their career is generally agreed to have peaked with the album ''Alright Jack'', and has had an ...
(now
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
) stations. Thus, when Radio 1 was launched, there was no FM frequency range allocated for the station. The official reason was that there was no space, even though no commercial stations had yet been launched on FM. To solve this issue, from launch until the end of the 1980s Radio 1 was allocated
Radio 2's FM transmitters for a few hours per week. These were Saturday afternoons, Sunday teatime and evening – most notably for the Top 40 Singles Chart on Sunday afternoons and up until midnight; 10pm to midnight on weeknights including ''
Sounds of the Seventies
''Sounds of the 70s'' is the name of BBC radio programme, currently broadcast on Sundays by BBC Radio 2, with the ''Sounds of the Seventies'' name also having been used by BBC Television for a number of themed music compilations, now repeated ...
'' until 1975, and thereafter the
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
show (Mon–Thurs), ''The Friday Rock Show'' with
Tommy Vance
Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston (11 July 1940 – 6 March 2005), known professionally as Tommy Vance, was an English radio broadcaster. He was an important factor in the rise of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), al ...
and most Bank Holiday afternoons when Radio 2 was broadcasting a Bank Holiday edition of
Sport on 2.
Full-time FM broadcasting
Due to the rising competition from commercial FM stations, the BBC began to draw up plans for Radio 1 to broadcast on FM full time. This process began in London on 31 October 1987, at low power on a temporary frequency of . The
Home Office in the UK began to free up FM police communication bandwidths, which at the time were operating from 97.9 MHz to 102.0 MHz, in preparation for new FM radio stations planned for the future, which included BBC Radio 1. The BBC acquired 97.9 FM to 99.8 FM specifically for Radio 1.
The rollout of Radio 1 on FM nationally began on 1 September 1988, starting with
Central Scotland (98.6 MHz), the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
(98.4 MHz) and the north of England (98.8 MHz). On 24 November 1988,
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
was added to the network on another temporary frequency on 96.0 MHz.
Due to the expansion of Radio 1's FM broadcast hours, Radio 1 scaled back its airtime on Radio 2's FM frequencies - ending on weeknights (10pm–midnight), Saturday afternoons from 1pm until 7pm and Sunday evenings (7pm–midnight). The only programme continuing to broadcast on Radio 2's FM frequency was the UK Top 40, which broadcast between 5pm and 7pm on Sunday afternoon and evening; at the finish of the Top 40 show, the FM transmitters were handed back to Radio 2 at 7pm.
By September 1990, with further expansion of Radio 1 FM's frequencies, after 23 years all usage of Radio 2's FM frequencies came to an end, resulting in BBC Radio 2 transmitting on FM full-time. This was due to the then new BBC Radio 5 Live broadcasting on Radio 2's former AM frequencies on 603 & 909 MW.
Radio 1 made great efforts to promote its new FM service, renaming itself on-air initially as 'Radio 1 FM' and later as '1FM' until 1995. After reorganisation and a change of
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
reallocation of the FM frequencies, especially in London (from 104.8 to 98.8 MHz), the Midlands (98.4 to 97.9 MHz) and Belfast (96.0 to 99.7 MHz), the engineering programme was completed in 1995.
End of medium wave broadcasting - 1053 / 1089 kHz
The Conservative government decided to increase competition on AM and disallowed the simulcasting of services on both AM and FM, affecting both BBC and Independent Local Radio. Radio 1's medium wave frequencies were reallocated to
Independent National Radio
Independent National Radio is the official term for the three national commercial radio stations currently or previously broadcasting on analogue radio in the United Kingdom. The two stations currently or previously broadcasting on AM were allocat ...
. Radio 1's last broadcast on MW was on 1 July 1994, with
Stephen Duffy
Stephen Anthony James Duffy (born 30 May 1960 in Alum Rock, Birmingham, England) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was a founding member, vocalist, bassist and then drummer of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo perform ...
's "Kiss Me" being the last record played on MW just before 9am. For those who continued to listen, just after 9am, Radio 1 jingles were played in reverse chronological order ending with its first jingle from 30 September 1967. In the initial months after this closure, a pre-recorded message by
Mark Goodier
Mark Goodier (born 9 June 1961) is a British radio disc jockey best known for his time on BBC Radio 1 between 1987 and 2002. He had two spells presenting the station's Top 40 singles chart, from 1990 to 1992 and from 1995 until 2002. He also h ...
was played to advise listeners that Radio 1 was now an "FM-only" station and to retune to the FM frequency.
Around this time, Radio 1 began broadcasting on spare audio subcarriers on
Sky Television's via Astra's SES satellite analogue service; initially in mono (on
UK Gold
Gold is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded UKTV Gold in 2004. In 2008, it was split into current flagship channel Gold and miscellaneous channel, W, with clas ...
) and later in stereo (on
UK Living) transponders. The 1053 / 1089 frequencies were allocated to the then newly-created Talk Radio UK.
Digital distribution
The BBC launched its national radio stations on
DAB
DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to:
Dictionaries
* ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies
* ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949
Places
* Dąb, ...
digital radio in 1995, however the technology was expensive at the time and so was not marketed, instead used as a test for future technologies. DAB was "officially" launched in 2002 as sets became cheaper. Today it can also be heard on UK digital TV services
Freeview Freeview may refer to:
*Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
*Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), a ...
,
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
,
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
and the Internet as well as FM. In July 2005,
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
began
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
ing Radio 1 across the United States as channel 11 on its own service and channel 6011 on
Dish Network
DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...
satellite TV.
Sirius Canada
Sirius Canada was a Canadian company, a partnership between Slaight Communications, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Sirius Satellite Radio, which was one of three services licensed by the CRTC on June 16, 2005 to introduce satellite ra ...
began simulcasting Radio 1 when it was launched on 1 December 2005 (also on channel 11). The Sirius simulcasts were
time shifted five hours to allow US and Canadian listeners in the
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
to hear Radio 1 at the same time of day as UK listeners. On 12 November 2008, Radio 1 made its debut on XM Satellite Radio in both the US and Canada on channel 29, moving to XM 15 and Sirius 15 on 4 May 2011. Until the full station was removed in August 2011, Radio 1 was able to be heard by approximately 20.6 million listeners in North America on satellite radio alone.
BBC Radio 1 can be heard on cable in the Netherlands at 105.10 FM.
SiriusXM cancellation in North America
At midnight on 9 August 2011,
Sirius XM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
ceased carrying BBC Radio 1 programming with no prior warning. On 10 August 2011 the BBC issued the following statement:
The BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide has been in partnership with SIRIUS Satellite Radio to broadcast Radio 1 on their main network, since 2005. This agreement has now unfortunately come to an end and BBC Worldwide are in current discussions with the satellite radio station to find ways to continue to bring popular music channel, BBC Radio 1, to the US audience. We will keep you posted.
Thousands of angry Sirius XM customers began a campaign on Facebook and other social media to reinstate BBC Radio 1 on Sirius XM Radio. One week later, Sirius and the BBC agreed on a new carriage agreement that saw Radio 1 broadcast on a time-shifted format on the Sirius XM Internet Radio platform only, on channel 815.
Starting on 15 January 2012, ''The Official Chart Show'' began broadcasting on SiriusXM ''20on20'' channel 3, at 4pm and 9pm
Eastern Standard Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
.
On 19 August 2014, SiriusXM again stopped carrying BBC Radio 1 programming with no advanced notice. The stream is no longer available on the Internet Radio platform.
Regionalisation
From 1999 until 2012, Radio 1 split the
home nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
for localised programming in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to allow the broadcast of a showcase programme for regional talent. Most recently, these shows were under the
BBC Introducing
BBC Music ''Introducing'' is BBC Radio's platform supporting unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar UK music talent. It gives artists the opportunity to be played on Local BBC Radio and nationally on BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 ...
brand. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had their own shows, which were broadcast on a 3-week rotational basis in England.
From January 2011 until June 2012, Scotland's show was presented by Ally McCrae. Previously it was hosted by
Vic Galloway
Michael "Vic" Galloway (born 4 August 1972) is a DJ on BBC Radio Scotland. Galloway presents a self-titled show on Radio Scotland every Monday from 9pm to 11pm and also the BBC Introducing Scotland Thursday evenings/Friday mornings from 11pm to ...
(who also presents for
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...
); who had presented the show solo since 2004, after his original co-host Gill Mills departed.
Wales's show was hosted by Jen Long between January 2011 until May 2012. Previously
Bethan Elfyn
Bethan Elfyn () is a Welsh radio and television presenter.
Elfyn was born in Bangor, Gwynedd, was brought up in Newtown, Powys, and now lives in Cardiff with her husband, Clwb Ifor Bach Promoter and Works Manager Richard Hawkins. They had a ...
occupied the slot, who had at one time hosted alongside Huw Stephens,
until Stephens left to join the national network, although he still broadcasts a show for Wales – a Welsh-language music show on
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio network owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts on two stations across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and online.
The main network broadcasts for hours a day from ...
on Thursday evenings.
Phil Taggart presented the Northern Ireland programme between November 2011 and May 2012. The show was formerly presented by
Rory McConnell
Rory McConnell is a DJ and radio presenter for BBC Radio 1. He previously presented the Northern Ireland edition of ''BBC Introducing'', a regionalised radio programme transmitted Belfast from midnight to 2am on Sunday night/Monday morning.
Bio ...
. Before joining the national network,
Colin Murray
Colin Murray (born Luke Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. In 2010, he became host of BBC Television's ''Match of the Day 2'' on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, including '' 5 ...
was a presenter on ''The Session'' in Northern Ireland, along with Donna Legge;
after Murray's promotion to the network Legge hosted alone for a time, and on her departure McConnell took her place.
The regional opt-outs originally went out from 8pm to 10pm on Thursdays (the ''Evening Session''s time slot) and were known as the "Session in the Nations" (the "Session" tag was later dropped due to the demise of the ''Evening Session''); they later moved to run from 7:30pm to 9pm, with the first half-hour of Zane Lowe's programme going out across the whole of the UK. On 18 October 2007 the regional programmes moved to a Wednesday night/Thursday morning slot from midnight to 2am under the ''BBC Introducing'' banner, allowing Lowe's Thursday show to be aired across the network; prior to this change Huw Stephens had presented the Wednesday midnight show nationally. In January 2011, BBC Introducing was moved to the new time slot of midnight to 2am on Monday mornings, and the Scottish and Welsh shows were given new presenters in the form of Ally McCrae and Jen Long.
The opt-outs were only available to listeners on the FM frequencies. Because of the way the DAB and digital TV services of Radio 1 are broadcast (a single-frequency network on DAB and a single broadcast feed of Radio 1 on TV platforms), the digital version of the station was not regionalised.
The
BBC Trust
The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...
announced in May 2012 that the regional music programmes on Radio 1 would be replaced with a single programme offering a UK-wide platform for new music as part of a series of cost-cutting measures across the BBC. In June 2012, the regional shows ended and were replaced by a single ''BBC Introducing'' show presented by Jen Long and
Ally McCrae
Ally McCrae (born 1987) is a radio DJ best known for presenting the BBC Introducing show on BBC Radio 1 with Jen Long. He previously presented the BBC Introducing in Scotland show until it ended in June 2012. He is co-creator of Detour Scotland.
I ...
.
Content
Music
Because of its youth-orientated nature, Radio 1 plays a broad mix of current and potential future hits, including
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
/
alternative
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
,
hip hop, rock, dance/
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
and pop. This made the station stand out from other
top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...
stations, both in the UK and across the world. Since its progressive view on modern electronic music, the BBC Radio 1 is well-liked and known in the worldwide
drum and bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
community, frequently hosting producers and DJs like
Hybrid Minds
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
or
Wilkinson Wilkinson may refer to:
People
* Wilkinson (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places in the United States
* Wilkinson, Illinois
* Wilkinson, Indiana, a town in Hancock County
* Wilkinson, Minnesota
* Wilkinson, Mis ...
.
Due to restrictions on the amount of commercial music that could be played on radio in the UK until 1988 (the "
needle time
Needle time was created in the United Kingdom by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited to restrict the amount of recorded music that could be transmitted by the BBC during any 24-hour period. The number of hours per week allowe ...
" limitation) the station has recorded many live performances. Studio sessions (recordings of about four tracks made in a single day), also supplemented the live music content, many of them finding their way to commercially available LPs and CDs. The sessions recorded for
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
's late night programme are particularly renowned. The station has continued to record live music with its
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...
feature and the Piano Sessions, which started in November 2014.
The station also broadcasts documentaries and interviews. Although this type of programming arose from necessity it has given the station diversity. The needletime restrictions meant the station tended to have a higher level of speech by DJs. While the station is often criticised for "waffling" by presenters, an experimental "more music day" in 1988 was declared a failure after only a third of callers favoured it.
News and current affairs
Radio 1 has a
public service broadcasting
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...
obligation to provide news, which it fulfills through
Newsbeat
''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically you ...
bulletins throughout the day. Shared with
1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban contemporary, urban music, including Hip hop music, hip hop and Contemporary R&B, R&B an ...
and
Asian Network, short news summaries are provided roughly hourly on the half-hour between 06:30 and 16:30, with two additional 15-minute bulletins at 12:45 and 17:45 and nine summaries over the weekend and
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...
between 07:30 and 15:30.
Online visualisation and social media
In recent years Radio 1 has used social media to help reach a younger audience. Its YouTube channel now has over 7.5 million subscribers. The highest viewed videos on the channel are predominately live music performances from the
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...
.
The station also has a heavy presence on social media, with audience interaction occurring through Facebook and Twitter as well as
text messaging
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...
.
It was announced in 2013 that Radio 1 had submitted plans to launch its own dedicated video channel on the
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...
where videos of live performances as well as some features and shows would be streamed in a central location. Plans were approved by the
BBC Trust
The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...
in November 2014 and the channel launched on 10 November 2014.
Special programming
Bank Holiday programming
Radio 1 provides alternative programming on some Bank Holidays. Programmes have included 'The 10 Hour Takeover', a request-based special, in which the DJs on air would encourage listeners to select any available track to play, 'One Hit Wonder Day' and 'The Chart of the Decade' where the 150 biggest selling singles in the last 10 years were counted down and played in full.
Anniversary programming
On Sunday 30 September 2007, Radio 1 celebrated its 40th birthday. To mark this anniversary Radio 1 hosted a week of special features, including a re-creation of Simon Bates'
Golden Hour, and 40 different artists performing 40 different covers, one from each year since Radio 1 was established. On Saturday 30 September 2017, Radio 1 celebrated its 50th birthday.
Tony Blackburn
Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...
recreated the first ever Radio 1 broadcast on
Radio 2, simulcast on pop-up station Radio 1 Vintage, followed by
The Radio 1 Breakfast Show
''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter.
The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...
celebration, tricast on Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 1 Vintage, presented by Tony Blackburn and
Nick Grimshaw
Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), also known as Grimmy, is an English television and former radio presenter, podcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a t ...
, featuring former presenters as guests
Simon Mayo
Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022.
Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...
,
Sara Cox
Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...
and
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...
.
Charity
Radio 1 regularly supports the BBC's in house charities
Comic Relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
,
Sport Relief
''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002.
It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educati ...
and
Children in Need.
On 18 March 2011, BBC's Radio 1 longest-serving breakfast DJ
Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
and sidekick
Dave Vitty
David Lloyd Vitty (born 24 April 1974) is a radio presenter working in the UK. He worked alongside Chris Moyles at BBC Radio 1, having originally been a broadcast assistant on Moyles' early morning show. He became the show's head writer and ' ...
broadcast for 52 hours as part of a
Guinness World Record
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
attempt, in aid of
Comic Relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
. The pair stayed on air for 52 hours in total setting a new world record for 'Radio DJ Endurance Marathon (Team)’ after already breaking
Simon Mayo
Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022.
Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...
's 12-year record for Radio 1's Longest Show of 37 hours which he set in 1999, also for Comic Relief.
The presenters started on 16 March 2011 and came off air at 10:30am on 18 March 2011. During this Fearne Cotton made a bet with DJ Chris Moyles that if they raise over £2,000,000 she will appear on the show in a swimsuit. After passing the £2,000,000 mark, Cotton appeared on the studio webcam in a stripy monochrome swimsuit. The appearance of Cotton between 10:10am and 10:30am caused the Radio 1 website to crash due to a high volume of traffic.
In total the event raised £2,622,421 for Comic Relief.
Drama
In 1981, Radio 1 broadcast a radio adaptation of the
space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soci ...
film, ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
''. The 13-episode serial was adapted for radio by the author
Brian Daley
Brian Charles Daley (December 22, 1947 – February 11, 1996) was an American science fiction novelist. He also adapted for radio the ''Star Wars'' radio dramas and wrote all of its episodes.
Biography
Daley was born in Englewood, New Jersey ...
and directed by
John Madden
John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...
, and was a
co-production between the BBC and the American Broadcaster
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
.
In 1994, Radio 1 broadcast a radio adaptation of the ''Batman'' comic book storyline Knightfall, as part of the Marc Goodier show, featuring
Michael Gough
Francis Michael Gough ( ; 23 November 1916 – 17 March 2011) was a British character actor who made more than 150 film and television appearances. He is known for his roles in the Hammer Horror Films from 1958, with his first role as Sir Arthu ...
recreating his movie role as Alfred. Later that same year, Radio 1 also broadcast a re-edited version of the
Radio 4 Superman radio drama.
Events
Radio 1 Roadshows
![Radio 1 Roadshow on Southsea Common (1) - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Radio_1_Roadshow_on_Southsea_Common_%281%29_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1124352.jpg)
The
Radio 1 Roadshow
The Radio 1 Roadshow was an annual summer event hosted and broadcast by BBC Radio 1 from the 1970s through to the 1990s. The roadshow enjoyed three decades of live broadcasts from beach resorts around the UK. The curtain was brought down on the ...
, which usually involved Radio 1 DJs and pop stars travelling around popular UK seaside destinations, began in 1973, as a response to the imminent introduction of local commercial radio stations. hosted by
Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie Freeman, MBE (6 July 1927 – 27 November 2006), nicknamed "Fluff", was an Australian-born British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years, best known for presenting ''Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 200 ...
in
Newquay
Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast of ...
, Cornwall, with the final one held at
Heaton Park
Heaton Park is a public park in Manchester, England, covering an area of over . The park includes the grounds of a Grade I listed, neoclassical 18th century country house, Heaton Hall. The hall, remodelled by James Wyatt in 1772, is now only o ...
, Manchester in 1999. Although the Roadshow attracted large crowds and the style changed with the style of the station itself—such as the introduction of whistlestop audio postcards of each location in 1994 ("2minuteTour")—they were still rooted in the older style of the station, and therefore fit for retirement.
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend
![Radio 1 big weekend main stage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Radio_1_big_weekend_main_stage.jpg)
In March 2000, Radio 1 decided to change the Roadshow format, renaming it ''One Big Sunday'' in the process. Several of these ''Sundays'' were held in large city-centre parks. In 2003, the event changed again and was rebranded ''
One Big Weekend
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend (R1BW) (previously known as One Big Weekend, for 2012 as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, and for 2018 as BBC Music's Biggest Weekend) is a British music festival run by the BBC's radio station. It is held once a year, in a ...
'', with each event occurring biannually and covering two days. Under this name, it visited
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
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 yet again renamed and the decision taken to hold only one per year, this time as
Radio 1's Big Weekend
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend (R1BW) (previously known as One Big Weekend, for 2012 as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, and for 2018 as BBC Music's Biggest Weekend) is a British music festival run by the BBC's radio station. It is held once a year, in a ...
. Venues under this title have included
Herrington
Herrington is an area in the south of Sunderland, lying within historic County Durham in North East England.
''The Herringtons'' are split into ''East & Middle'' and ''West'' and ''New'' villages. East and Middle Herrington is now a largely re ...
Country Park,
Camperdown Country Park
Camperdown Country Park, often known as just Camperdown Park, is a public park in the Camperdown area of Dundee, Scotland. The park comprises the former grounds of Camperdown House, a 19th-century mansion, which was bought by the city in 1946. ...
,
Moor Park–which was the first ''Weekend'' to feature a third stage–
Mote Park
Mote Park is a multi-use public park in Maidstone, Kent. Previously a country estate it was converted to landscaped park land at the end of the 18th century before becoming a municipal park. It includes the former stately home Mote House toget ...
,
Lydiard Park
Lydiard Park is a country park at Lydiard Tregoze, which was its former name, about west of central Swindon, Wiltshire, England, near Junction 16 of the M4 motorway.
The park, which is included on the Historic England Register of Historic Par ...
,
Bangor and
Carlisle Airport.
Tickets for each ''Big Weekend'' are given away free of charge, making it the largest free ticketed music festival in Europe.
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend was replaced by a larger festival in 2012, named 'Radio 1's Hackney Weekend', with a crowd capacity of 100,000. The Hackney Weekend took place over the weekend of 23–24 June 2012 in
Hackney Marshes
Hackney Marshes is an area of open space in London's Lower Lea Valley, lying on the western bank of the River Lea. It takes its name from its position on the eastern boundary of Hackney, the principal part of the London Borough of Hackney, and ...
,
Hackney, London. The event was to celebrate the
2012 Cultural Olympiad
The 2012 Cultural Olympiad was a programme of cultural events across the United Kingdom that accompanied the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics.
The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympi ...
in London and had artists such as
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...
,
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
and
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and ...
.
In 2013, Radio 1's Big Weekend returned to
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
as part of the City of Culture 2013 celebrations. So far, Derry is the only city to have hosted the Big Weekend twice.
In May 2014, Radio 1's Big Weekend was held in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland. Acts which played at the event included
Rita Ora
Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut studi ...
,
The 1975
The 1975 are an English pop rock band formed in 2002 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Now based in Manchester, the band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matthew "Matty" Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer G ...
,
Katy Perry
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...
,
Jake Bugg
Jake Bugg (born Jake Edwin Charles Kennedy on 28 February 1994) is an English singer-songwriter. His self-titled debut album, ''Jake Bugg'', some of which was co-written with songwriter Iain Archer, was released in October 2012 and reached numb ...
and
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...
. The event was opened on the Friday with a dance set in
George Square
George Square ( gd, Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is the principal civic square in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of six squares in the city centre, the others being Cathedral Square, St Andrew's Square, St Enoch Square, Royal Exchange Sq ...
, featuring Radio 1 Dance DJs such as
Danny Howard
Danny Howard (born 14 July 1987) is a British dance music DJ, producer, and current host of ''Radio 1's Dance Party''.
Howard attended Edge Hill University, where he studied sport and exercise science. During his time at Edge Hill, Howard had a ...
and
Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
, and other well-known acts such as
Martin Garrix
Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram and GRX, is a Dutch disc jockey and music producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—201 ...
and
Tiesto.
In 2015, the event was held in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
and featured performances from the likes of
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
,
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
,
David Guetta
Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...
,
Years & Years
Years & Years is the solo project of British singer Olly Alexander. Originally formed as a band in 2010, Years & Years' music has been described as electropop, mixing R&B and 1990s house elements. The band's debut studio album, '' Communion'', ...
and others.
2016 saw the event make its way to
Exeter
Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol.
In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
. It was headlined by
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...
, who closed the weekend on the Sunday evening.
The event was in
Hull in 2017 and saw performances by artists such as
Zara Larsson
Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recogni ...
,
Shawn Mendes
Shawn Peter Raul Mendes (; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian pop singer. He gained a following in 2013, when he posted song covers on the video sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gert ...
,
Stormzy
Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his ''Wicked Skengman'' series of f ...
,
Katy Perry
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...
,
Little Mix
Little Mix are a British girl group, composed of group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Perrie Edwards. Jesy Nelson was originally part of the group before she left in 2020. After becoming the first group to win the British ver ...
,
Sean Paul
Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists.
Paul's singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...
,
Rita Ora
Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single, "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. Her debut studi ...
,
The Chainsmokers
The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alexander "Alex" Pall and Andrew "Drew" Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The EDM- pop duo achieved a breakthrough with the ...
,
Clean Bandit
Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...
and
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill.
The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...
.
To take advantage of
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
's fallow year in 2018, 4 separate Big Weekends were held simultaneously between 25 and 28 May. Stylized as "BBC Music's Biggest Weekend", events were held in
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
(with a line-up curated by Radio 1),
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
and
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
(both curated by Radio 2) and
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
(curated by Radio 6 Music). Tickets sold out for the Swansea, Perth and Coventry Big Weekends.
In 2020, the Big Weekend at
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
was cancelled as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. In May 2020, Radio 1 announced a virtual Big Weekend. It took place from 22 to 24 May and featured performances from artists like
Mabel
Mabel is an English female given name derived from the Latin ''amabilis'', "lovable, dear".Reclams Namensbuch, 1987,
History
Amabilis of Riom (died 475) was a French male saint who logically would have assumed the name Amabilis upon entering th ...
and
Anne-Marie
Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's "Rockabye (song), Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm (Anne-Marie song ...
.
Ibiza Weekend
Radio 1 has annually held a dance music weekend broadcast live from
Ibiza
Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...
since the 1990s. The weekend is usually the first weekend in August and has performances from world-famous DJs and Radio 1's own dance music talent such as
Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
and
Annie Mac
Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...
.
BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards
In 2008, Radio 1 launched an annual event for teenagers aged 14 to 17 years. Originally named
BBC Switch
BBC Switch was the brand for BBC content aimed at UK teenagers. The brand was launched on Saturday 20 October 2007 on BBC Two and ceased broadcasting on 18 December 2010. It included a block of television programmes on BBC Two, an online portal ...
Live, the first event was held on 12 October 2008 at the
Hammersmith Apollo
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...
. The event has been hosted by various Radio 1 DJs and guest co-hosts. In 2010 the event was renamed 'BBC Radio 1's Teen Awards' now hosted at
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...
.
Edinburgh Festival
Radio 1 often has a presence at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
. Past events have included 'The Fun and Filth Cabaret' and 'Scott Mills: The Musical'.
Europe's Biggest Dance Show
''
Europe's Biggest Dance Show
''Europe's Biggest Dance Show'' is an annual multinational dance music simulcast presented by Euroradio and hosted by BBC Radio 1, in collaboration with several European radio stations, all of which are affiliated with Euroradio and owned by p ...
'' is a series of radio specials produced by Radio 1.
The first,
Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2019
''Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2019'' was the first edition of ''Europe's Biggest Dance Show'', a multinational dance music simulcast presented by Euroradio and hosted by BBC Radio 1, in collaboration with seven other radio stations from across E ...
, was broadcast on Friday 11 October 2019 where Radio 1 joined with several European radio stations, all members of the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
, including Swedish
SR P3, German
1LIVE
1LIVE is a radio station operated by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk public broadcasting corporation in Germany. It specialises in popular music aimed at the 14–39 age demographic, the average age of its listeners is 34.
History
On 1 April 1995 ...
and
RBB Fritz RBB or rbb may refer to:
In banking:
* Rastriya Banijya Bank, the largest commercial bank in Nepal
* Westpac Retail and Business Banking, a business unit of Australian bank Westpac
In broadcasting:
*Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, a national broadcas ...
, Belgian
VRT Studio Brussel, Irish
RTÉ 2fm
(RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...
, French
Radio France Mouv and Dutch
NPO 3FM
NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster Netherlands Public Broadcasting, NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are Rock music, rock, Alternative rock, alternative, Indie rock, indie and Pop mus ...
.
A second show,
Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2020
''Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2020'' was the second and third editions of ''Europe's Biggest Dance Show'', a multinational dance music simulcast presented by Euroradio and hosted by BBC Radio 1, in collaboration with nine other radio stations f ...
, was broadcast on Friday 8 May 2020. It had the same contributing stations as 2019, however it had begun at 7 pm BST, rather than 8 pm as the previous year.
A third show,
Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2021
''Europe's Biggest Dance Show 2021'' was the fourth iteration of ''Europe's Biggest Dance Show'', a multi-nation dance music simulcast hosted by BBC Radio 1, in collaboration with eight other radio stations from across Europe: 1LIVE, Fritz, NRK ...
, will be broadcast on Friday 29 October 2021.
Online-only sister stations
On 17 September 2020, the BBC announced that it would launch an online-only sister station for BBC Radio 1, called
BBC Radio 1 Dance
BBC Radio 1 Dance is a British online-only radio stream, owned and operated by the BBC and run as a spin-off from Radio 1. The station plays a mix of back-to-back current, future and classic electronic dance music, and broadcasts exclusively o ...
, which would primarily play all kinds of songs from the Dance genre. The station was launched on 9 October 2020 at 6 pm BST. A second online-only sister station,
BBC Radio 1 Relax
BBC Radio 1 Relax is a British online-only radio stream, owned and operated by the BBC and run as a spin-off from Radio 1. The station plays a selection of relaxation and well-being focussed shows, and broadcasts exclusively on BBC Sounds.
His ...
, was launched on 22 April 2021. The station plays a selection of relaxation and well-being focussed shows.
Controllers/Head of Station
Former logos
File:BBC Radio 1 Logo 1967.jpg, BBC Radio 1 logo from its 1967 launch.
File:BBC_Radio_1_Logo_1976.jpg, BBC Radio 1 logo from 1976 to 1988.
File:BBC Radio 1 Logo 1988.jpg, BBC Radio 1 logo from 1988 to 1990.
File:BBC Radio 1 Logo 1990.jpg, BBC Radio 1 logo from 1990 to 1994.
File:BBC Radio 1 logo 1994.jpg, BBC Radio 1 logo from 1994 to 1997.
File:BBC Radio 1.svg, BBC Radio 1 logo from 2007 to 2021.
Awards and nominations
International Dance Music Awards
Radio 1 has won the
International Dance Music Awards
The International Dance Music Awards or IDMAs is an annual awards ceremony held in Miami Beach, Florida, United States as a major part of the Winter Music Conference. The awards have been held every year since the conference's creation in 1985 ...
every year from 2002 to 2020 with the exception of 2010.
See also
*
List of BBC radio stations
This is a list of national, regional and local radio stations owned by the BBC in the United Kingdom.
List of national radio stations FM, AM, DAB, TV and online platforms only
List of regional radio stations Scotland
*BBC Radio Scotland - A rad ...
*
Radio 1 Podcasts
*
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
*
Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1
Contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom
Radio stations established in 1967
1967 establishments in the United Kingdom
Radio stations in the United Kingdom