- Sun May 20, 2001 11:00 am
#103204
What is the playlist?<P>Radio 1 has a playlist and has done on and off since 1967, however it still means DJ's can choose music. Records can stay on the playlist longer nowadays as frankly we believe there aren't that many records being made that actually appeal to the very wide ranging Radio 1 audience listening during the day.<P>Thus we offer a consistent and, I believe, uniquely challenging mix of music in the daytime including presenter free choices. Most listeners tune in for less than one hour so it's important that when they are listening the mix of music is really representative of the total station sound. This is why we need a playlist of records to choose from and to play them consistently and regularly.<P>In the evenings we offer the biggest commitment to the widest range of genres of any music radio station in the world and we endeavour to bring the best of that to the daytime.<P>The playlist scheduling system (A list 30+ plays per week, B list 15ppw and C list 5 ppw) allows us to break minority interest artists amongst the familiar hits to the wider daytime Radio 1 audience.<P>Without such a system there would frankly be no Oasis, no Chemical Brothers, no Travis, no Basement Jaxx and probably no Lauryn Hill. Choices are made from a pool of over 100 new releases that come into the network every week. Over 30 per week are discussed & played in the Wednesday afternoon playlist meeting, having been filtered by Radio 1 producers before they come to the meeting.<P>Records can stay on the list anything up to around 15 weeks and then are either not played for a while or are reduced in play as these are often our listeners favourite records. Nowadays a hit for Radio 1 is best defined not by its chart position but whether it has wide appeal to our listeners. We check listeners' tastes with regular research of only our most played songs.<P>Alex Jones-Donelly, Head of Music at Radio 1<br>
dave benson phillips
chrismoyles.net
