Rave Up with Arielle Free

[the_grove]

Did I just not find it or is there seriously no thread about Access all Areas on here yet? (I am still a bit confused by the site update...)

Anyway, I think this years AAA was well worth listening to/watching/getting in touch with. I was able two watch about 30-60 minutes of the Moyles tour, and it was great seeing Chris and the team interacting with the audience. And I think it was a great idea taking the show into theatres - theatres are nice places, and the stage provides space for loads of things. Carpark Catchphrase on stage - really good stuff...

Last year, I was strangely addicted to the cameras that were scattered all over the Radio 1 offices. It would have been nice to have that again, but then probably there were simply no ressources available to to that sort of video streaming additionally to Moyles on tour and the video webchats that were done.

The biggest and best thing for me this year undoubtedly were the webchats with off-air staff. Getting this insight into the legendary thing that is Radio 1 was just great. Some very funny moments in there too, my favourite being Laura-May's "Bieber fever is a serious condition - it's worse than swine flu...". Still makes me laugh. Rhys the Boss answered two of my questions...excitement everywhere inside my head

Also, getting the bosses do webchats was interesting, because you really got an idea of how those people who decide about everything are actually like.

Compared to that, I didn't find the Newsbeat and Music days as exciting. Still, as a tech-geek, watching how newsbeat is made was interesting. We had the playlist thing last year, so that didn't really catch my interest (I didn't have that much free time that day, so might have missed things...)

As for the Maida Vale video, I think there could have been a bit more. I remember having seen a video about the Maida Vale studios as a whole, probably when Maida Vale celebrated its don't-know-which birthday. In that video, they showed a bit more about the studios and got more Maida Vale people to talk about its history - where John Peels Sessions were done etc. That's not exactly a Radio 1 thing, but still very interesting to see for a proper geek

All in all, a massive "whoop whoop" to all those who made this years AAA happen. Great week of Radio, great stuff online, proper geekiness all around. Very much looking forward to next year

[Viv]

The webchats have been the fave thing for me. For a change, it's not been just about DJs, but also those around them who help so much.

Been nice to put faces to names. 10/10 for this week defo.

[equalsabracket]

I was one of the lucky few that won tickets to go on a tour of Radio 1 for the saturday event of Access All Areas. Scott had grabbed a load of the cards with his face on, signed them and put them on the end of a desk for us to pick up on our way past, so now I have a signed card from him, which is cool. I also got to see all of the props and the actual script from The Bjorn Identity. I also saw all of their desks, including the BeckyCam desk from last year. By the way, i got the impression that that desk was in it's own little room, presuming there'd be a wall to the right of the camera. But it's actually just the corner of a really big office (the same office that had a webcam in the corner showing it all at one point).

With a more general Radio 1 look upon it, they showed us some of the random crap people had sent in, including a giant chocolate sculpture of Chris Moyles' head. We went around the offices, into the live lounge and into the studios. Met a few people - Jo Whiley, Dev, Reggie Yates, Billy on security and Rachel from The Chris Moyles Show. It was a fantastic experience, so happy I was a winner.