1Xtra changes

Alfons

Way of the future
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/08_august/02/1xtra.shtml

Adding Tim Westwood and Trevor Nelsons

Presenters leaving the station as part of the schedule changes are:
* Ayesha
* G Money
* DJ Flight
* Blakey
* Richie Vibe Vee
* L Double
* Aaron Ross
* Silver Star
* Rodney P & Skitz
* Fitz

Seems like their getting rid of some of the more underground stuff, too bad...

I've never quite understood this station, what's it really about? Does it have a lot of listeners? Whats with the "best in black music" tagline? What is its daytime schedule like? (I've only ever checked the specialist shows)
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
I find Richie Vibe Vee wooden and unenthusiastic about garage but there you go.

Good news about breakfast show presenters Jason n Iyare, they simply aren't funny.

"From 10 each night, 1Xtra will have the big hitters in specialist music – Ronnie Herel, Robbo Ranx, Bailey, Target and Semtex – representing the very best in RnB, Dancehall, Drum & Bass, UKG and hip hop."

OK, so what about Target's love of Niche, funky house and grime? Hope he keeps playing that.

Still no dubstep on the station, given how they're all over drum & bass I think it's short sighted not to rep dubstep - it would suit their needs.

Trevor Nelson's recent shows on 1X have been notible on how much UK stuff he plays, Ny, Nathan etc, whereas he never played any of that on the big stage, ie R1 :(. He's a great presenter though.
 
Last edited:
It's preposterous to not have any dubstep on that station, considering how big it is at present. Global thing, ffs. How many DnB shows do they have? too many.
 

Alfons

Way of the future
It's preposterous to not have any dubstep on that station, considering how big it is at present. Global thing, ffs. How many DnB shows do they have? too many.

They just got rid of two of them, Flight and L Double, but yea I agree, there should be a dubstep show.

Only one dnb show on there now...Bailey.

RIP Flight's show :(

I think Chrissy Chris will still be on there. But Flight will be missed, really liked her show.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
it is odd that they dont have a dubstep show. i thought the fact its so popular - and therefore a potentially big audience draw - would have made it a sure thing. still, they never had a grime show either.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
it is odd that they dont have a dubstep show. i thought the fact its so popular - and therefore a potentially big audience draw - would have made it a sure thing. still, they never had a grime show either.
Particularly given that they've dumped Plastician from Radio 1, so pretty much the only place on BBC radio you'll hear either grime or dubstep is Mary Anne Hobbes once a week at three in the morning.

To be honest, pretty much the only BBC music station whose output I have any respect for these days is Radio 3.
 

tox

Factory Girl
These moves worry me a bit, in the sense that I hope it doesn't become a trend.

Westwood and Trevor Nelson present probably the most popular "black music" shows on Radio 1. To me, their move from R1 to R1X could present a shift in the R1 specialist show content from a currently healthy mix, to an indie/electro bias. It's difficult to see how it would be good for "UK black music" to have the big Hip-Hop and R&B shows on their own special digital-only station rather than in the mix with everything else...

Having said that I have a large degree of respect for the majority of programming on Radio 1. Its certainly miles above any commercial station and has probably some of the best musical output worldwide. Personally I wouldn't mind paying my license fee for Worldwide and the Essential Mix alone. Annie Mac's a regular fixture on my set as well.

To be honest, pretty much the only BBC music station whose output I have any respect for these days is Radio 3.

If you can honestly look down this list and not want to listen to any of the shows then that probably says more about the listener than the station. I've just glanced at it now and Annie Nightingale and Ras Kwame have caught my eye. Radio 3's quality too of course, especially Late Junction.

As for R1Xtra - its been a disappointment to me. For a specialist station it seems a wee bit directionless. To not have a dedicated Grime/Dubstep/BrokenBeat shows on a station which solely plays "new black music" is just crazy...
 

Alfons

Way of the future
nelson and westwood are retaining their r1 shows

Yeah this is what I found a bit weird, what is Westwood going to do on 1xtra that he couldn't do on r1?

From an outsiders point of view you brits are spoiled silly with the bbc. The amount of good quality ambitious programming there outweighs almost anything else in the world and it seems that they do justice to almost all demographics in radio at least.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
If you can honestly look down this list and not want to listen to any of the shows then that probably says more about the listener than the station. I've just glanced at it now and Annie Nightingale and Ras Kwame have caught my eye. Radio 3's quality too of course, especially Late Junction.
There is still good stuff on R1, but every reshuffle seems to increasingly marginalize anything specialist - and this includes stuff like their rock output as well. I think the trouble is that they've decided that anything seriously specialist (ie something that points out to fans of genre X records in genre X that they haven't heard of before) is going to scare off too many listeners (who aren't serious fans of genre X) because people don't like hearing records they haven't heard of. Far better to have people like Colin Murray all over the evening schedule playing a bunch of mildly eclectic but fundamentally unsuprising records that everyone can enjoy but that never leaves people thinking "what the bloody hell is this and why hadn't I heard it before?"

Meanwhile, the good stuff (eg the aforementioned Annie Nightingale and Ras Kwame, and also Mary Anne Hobbes, Giles Peterson, the New DJ's slot) gets shifted to the prestigious 2-4am slot. "In new music we trust, but not enough to risk actually putting it on at a time when it might jeapordize our evening listener figures."

6 Music is even worse for this - whenever I've listened to it, half of the DJ's could happily be replaced by a half decent eclectic-but-not-particularly-edgey mp3 collection stuck on random.
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
Meanwhile, the good stuff (eg the aforementioned Annie Nightingale and Ras Kwame, and also Mary Anne Hobbes, Giles Peterson, the New DJ's slot) gets shifted to the prestigious 2-4am slot. "In new music we trust, but not enough to risk actually putting it on at a time when it might jeapordize our evening listener figures."

It's a victim of its own nicheness. They know the serious fans of genre x will clock it on the web later in the week.
 
The only way you'll get the radio you want is by getting off your arses and doing it yourself. 1Xtra was always going to be a sort of Blue Peter nicey nicey thing. The internet's there use it.
 

tox

Factory Girl
nelson and westwood are retaining their r1 shows

ooops. silly me. :D in which case hopefully they'll just attract plenty of new listeners to 1xtra.

There is still good stuff on R1, but every reshuffle seems to increasingly marginalize anything specialist - and this includes stuff like their rock output as well. I think the trouble is that they've decided that anything seriously specialist (ie something that points out to fans of genre X records in genre X that they haven't heard of before) is going to scare off too many listeners (who aren't serious fans of genre X) because people don't like hearing records they haven't heard of. Far better to have people like Colin Murray all over the evening schedule playing a bunch of mildly eclectic but fundamentally unsuprising records that everyone can enjoy but that never leaves people thinking "what the bloody hell is this and why hadn't I heard it before?"

Meanwhile, the good stuff (eg the aforementioned Annie Nightingale and Ras Kwame, and also Mary Anne Hobbes, Giles Peterson, the New DJ's slot) gets shifted to the prestigious 2-4am slot. "In new music we trust, but not enough to risk actually putting it on at a time when it might jeapordize our evening listener figures."

6 Music is even worse for this - whenever I've listened to it, half of the DJ's could happily be replaced by a half decent eclectic-but-not-particularly-edgey mp3 collection stuck on random.

6Music is a total mess. As you say, they might a well stick a hipster's i-tunes on party shuffle and just let it play.

Yeah, I agree with you on the selection of early evening shows. Colin Murray/Zane Lowe type shows do nothing for me what-so-ever. (Unsurprisingly) no-one's been able to step up to the John Peel slot and do anything even half as good as his show with it. That's been a real loss for the station, as he seemed to have earned the right to play people records they'd never heard before.

I do remember the programming re-shuffle before last R1 tried putting specialist shows in an 11 til 1am slot, including One World, Breezeblock and Worldwide. I'm guessing they didn't do too well as they got pushed back to the 2 til 4 in the next bout of re-organization. Still, as you say, that's not reason to fill the airwaves with the likes of Colin Murray.
 
no matter how you look at it

this is all sides, shapes and brands of f*****

three drum and bass presenters leaving? aaron ross going when soulful house is getting bigger...again? why not put him in a new time?! richie going meaning less time for mc's and the scene in general? MISTAJAM ON A FIVE DAY SLOT?!?! cameo's loses 2 hrs? why have they f****** with semtex's times?!? midnight to 2?!?! NO ACTUAL NEWS RELATED SHOWS replaced by heat mag gossip and news by that stupid talentless nobody (on a ppl group level I feel this is properly taking the p***) - there's actually too much s*** to comment on

I know getting trevor nelson and westwood is to boost ratings but takes the mick out of the actual dj's who BACKED UK FROM DAY and are versatile (rodney p and skitz)...putting mistajam on at these times must be the worst kind of decision making ever

it feels like sabotage but obv that would be silly to say - I don't think I'll be listening to 1xtra much any more. it all started going wrong when they got rid of heartless imo - I give the station a yr and a half left

someone send tempz to murk parfitt pls lol

*EDIT* sarah love getting a show is a bit of a surprise...but still no dubstep, grime or jazz shows...no fitz?!?

ZENA?!?!?!?!?!? AARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
 
Last edited:
Top