| BBC Radio 1 is a British radio station, specialising in popular music aimed at
a young audience (children, teenagers and young adults). Radio 1 was launched at 7am on September 30, 1967 as a direct response to the popularity of illegal
pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline.
History
The first DJ to broadcast on the new station was Tony Blackburn,
whose (sometimes sickeningly) cheery style won him the prime slot on what became known as the "breakfast show". The first record
played on Radio 1 was Flowers in the Rain by The Move. The breakfast
programme remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedules, with every change of presenter exciting considerable media
interest.
The initial rota of staff included the legendary John Peel (with the station
until his untimely death in October 2004) and a gaggle of others, some hired from pirates, such as Ed Stewart, Terry Wogan, Jimmy Young,
Dave
Cash, Kenny Everett, Pete Murray, and Bob Holness.
Radio 1 initially broadcast on 1214Khz mediumwave (or 247 metres as it was
refered to at the time) and moved to 1053/1089Khz (275/285 metres)in the late 70's (it was the only BBC National station without
an FM frequency). In the 1970s and early 1980s it was allowed to take over Radio 2's
FM transmitters for a few hours per week, most notably for the Top 40 Singles Chart on Sunday afternoons. Eventually it acquired
its own national FM network on 97–99 MHz in 1988, and its old mediumwave frequencies
were reallocated to commercial stations in 1994. In the 1990s it also began broadcasting on Sky Television's
analogue satellite, initially in mono and later in stereo. Today it can be heard on DAB, Freeview, Sky Digital and the Internet as well as FM.
There were major changes to the station in the mid 1990s by the then controller, Mathew Bannister. He lead a campaign to
return Radio 1 into a youth station catering for the under 25s. Although originally launched as a youth station, by the early
1990s, its loyal listeners (and DJs) had aged with the station over its 25 year history. Bannister had a ruthless purge of the
older DJs and banned old music (typically anything recorded before 1990) from the daytime playlist. Listeners rebelled as the
first new DJs to be introduced represented a crossover from other parts of the BBC media empire with Emma Freud and Danny Baker. Bannister promoted
Chris Evans to the prime
morning slot even though Evans' own media interests were in conflict with the public benefit remit of the Channel. Evans was
eventually sacked in 1996, and was replaced by Mark Radcliffe (along
with the 'boy lard') who was in turn replaced by Zoe ball just 6 months later in october 1997. Listening fiogures continued to
decline but the station succeded in its aim to target a younger age group. In 2000 Zoe
Ball was replaced by friend and fellow laddette Sara Cox but despite heavy promotion listening figures to
the iconic breakfast show continued to fall. In 2004 Cox was replaced by Chris
Moyles and early signs are that Moyles has managed to arrest the decline adding 700,000 listeners in his first few
months.
Ironically, many of the DJs ousted by Bannister, such as Johnnie Walker and Steve Wright, joined Radio 2 which ultimately succeeded Radio 1 as
the UK's most popular radio station.
Music
Radio 1 is notable for the range of music it plays. While most commercial stations concentrate on a particular theme, such as
1980s music or "classic rock", Radio 1 plays a diverse mix of current songs, including
independent/alternative, rock, house/electronica, drum 'n' bass, world, pop and rap.
Due to restrictions on the amount of commercial music that could be played on radio in the UK until 1988 (the so-called
"needle time" limitation) the station has recorded a great many live performances and studio sessions over the years, many of
which have subsequently (and perhaps ironically) found their way onto commercially-available LPs and CDs. There have also been
innumerable rockumentary shows and interviews. Although this type of
programming arose from necessity it has given the station some much-needed diversity.
In recent years, Radio 2 has overtaken Radio 1 as the most listened to UK
radio station, with an audience of slightly older people (over 25), using a style that Radio 1 had up until the early 1990s.
Presenters
Current presenters on this station include Steve Lamacq, Zane Lowe, Mary Anne Hobbs, and Mike Davies, who all host their own respective rock and indie orientated shows. Also in the station's stable
are R&B, garage
and rap supremos such as Tim Westwood, The Dreem Teem and Trevor Nelson. Club DJs Pete Tong and Judge Jules, amongst
many others all present their own weekend dance shows. With these music specialists presenting in the evenings, the daytime
schedules are mostly taken up by less specialised, more mainstream shows primarily hosted by Chris Moyles at breakfast (06:55–10:00), Jo Whiley
(10:00–13:00), Colin and
Edith (13:00–16:00), Scott Mills (16:00–19:00), and Zane Lowe
(19:00–21:00).
Shows
Aside from the daily scheduled programmes, Radio 1 also broadcasts a number of special programmes throughout the week. One of
these is The Official UK Chart, broadcast on Sundays from 4–7
pm.
External links
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