Radio 1’s Power Down Playlist begins a regular Monday-Wednesday slot in September; if this slot is pre-recorded that’s a massive downgrade for evening Radio 1.

Radio 1 is of course having a schedule revamp in September, and we’ve already gone over all the big headline changes. But today I want to hone in on one of the changes given very little attention or publicity, but that actually represents a big sea change at Radio 1 for a number of reasons; the changes to the iconic 10pm slot.

The 10pm-midnight (or 10pm-1am, or 11pm-1am, it shifts over time) slot is truly iconic at Radio 1, going right back to John Peel, through Mark and Lard, Nick Grimshaw, Annie Mac for an interlude, Huw Stephens, and any…

Radio 1’s latest big thing is brand extensions on BBC Sounds, giving its evolving audience new ways to access specific genres of content from the station outside linear scheduling, but with the curator element so they don’t have to seek out a specific show if they don’t know what to look for. …

After a dearth of quality younger broadcasters on the station, Aled Haydn Jones is turning things rapidly around.

For a period of 3–4 years at BBC Radio 1, it really did appear as if there was a crisis of new talent coming up the ranks that would be capable of hosting any of the primetime shows. There was experimentation with YouTubers, who cost too much and weren’t willing to put in the hours and do a Breakfast or drive show or anything like that. There was importation from 1Xtra, which was hit or miss, with DJs often not managing to make the transition to mainstream Radio 1 from more specialist 1Xtra. …

Radio 1 Breakfast isn’t in for a change anytime soon; Greg James has the gig for the foreseeable, so long as he continues to want it.

Greg James was always a slightly blindsiding choice for Radio 1 Breakfast, mainly because his appointment made so much sense. Everyone anticipated something ridiculous from Ben Cooper like Maya Jama, or something a bit out there like Matt and Mollie or Dev and Alice, but in the end the most sensible, dull choice, got the gig, and for the last nearly 3 years he’s put his all into his vision of the iconic Radio 1 Breakfast Show, with some excellent results

The show sounds great, and it’s been consistently good. Greg James was the answer to Radio 1’s succession issue…

Arguably one of Radio 1’s strongest weekend line-ups in years came to nothing.

A few years ago BBC Radio 1 had a weekend schedule that looked something like this:

6–10am: Dev

10am-1pm: The Matt Edmondson Show

1–4pm: Alice Levine

Dev kicked off the weekend mornings with self deprecating banter and purposefully rubbish features, Matt Edmondson had guests and a seemingly endless roster of games, and Alice Levine made an engaging and unique afternoon listen with her own brand of sarcastic humour. This was easily on my view the strongest weekend line up that Radio 1 has had in years, it was worse before, and it’s gone downhill since. …

What a brand new stream from BBC Sounds tells us about BBC Radio 1’s current strategy.

And just like that, another spin off service under the Radio 1 banner launches on BBC Sounds; Radio 1 Relax will curate all the chilled out audio content from BBC Radio 1 you could possibly want or need, 24/7, on BBC Sounds. This of course follows on from the (presumably successful) launch of Radio 1 Dance last year, and precedes what we anticipate to be potentially more spin offs in the next few months/years. How smart is this as an idea from the viewpoint of Radio 1, and what does it tells us about what they’re doing? …

Jordan has been passed on another promotion, Grimmy and Scott stay put; what happens now?

Another year, another sweeping change to the Radio 1 line-up, with the biggest change to weekday daytimes since the Greg/Grimshaw straight swap back in 2018, with a new late morning show launching and the evenings being rejigged yet again. And as seems customary now whenever changes are implemented to the Radio 1 schedule, Jordan North has been passed over for a well deserved promotion once again; what does this tell us about Radio 1’s direction moving forwards.

Firstly, it tells us there’ll almost certainly be no more big changes to the line-up for the rest of 2021; the new schedule…

After 17 glorious years on the network, Annie Mac throws in the towel, Clara Amfo gets the Future Sounds gig, and Rickie, Melvin and Charlie move into the daytimes.

All change, another round of musical chairs prompted by Annie Mac’s July departure from Radio 1 being announced, and the changes are all pretty strong. A lot going on, and a lot to get to, Mac has been the face of new music on the network for longer than most of its audience have been listening, and her departure is a big deal for new music radio in Britain and around the world, Clara Amfo is moving to a lower profile timeslot but from a prestige perspective this is a huge deal for her, Jack Saunders is getting a better…