Is Radio 1 turning its back on indie music?

[Jono 38]

Perhaps this is a reflection of what is popular in 2020, but I find myself hearing less indie music and more of rap, grime and dance music on Radio 1's daytime playlist. It could be an age factor, or even a sign of the music industry during the pandemic, but some of the music I'm hearing these days seems distinguishable to commercial radio at times. The launch of Radio 1 Dance hasn't convinced me that appears to be where they think there is a demand.

Has anyone noticed a change in the focus for daytime music recently?

[Old Codger Fan 0]

I don't hear any great difference to the 2019 playlists - With the rise of TikTok however, don't see Indie getting much of a look-in ,,

[Jono 38]

11 minutes ago, Old Codger Fan said:

I don't hear any great difference to the 2019 playlists - With the rise of TikTok however, don't see Indie getting much of a look-in ,,

Yes I fear it might be more that the other music is more in demand, but then I guess it's Radio 1's job to promote the music and make it popular rather than the other way around

[Graeme 5]

I guess cutting Indie show from 4 to 1 days doesn’t help

[Jono 38]

And the loss of our beloved Huw in the evenings!

[anothernerd 13]

Defiantly, All tough the odd indie classic may sneak into anthems. (Probably something like seven nation army)

I guess they’re just trying to keep up with what’s popular within their target demographic. I do think the indie show was a good wind down. Annie has her future sounds show- Jack has his future artists show. Surely they could have just merged that into Annie’s show and kept the indie show as it was?

[DC 84]

I feel the same about the bits I hear from Radio 1 now. It feels more and more like a carbon copy of 1xtra, years ago you could easily separate the two. Just the way the music scene is, rock and indie with young people seems less relevant compared to the 90s and 00s youth. Coupled with the fact that we don't have the big indie/rock bands we had way back. There was a time where through the 00's you had Foo Fighters/Linkin Park/Blink 182/White Stripes/My Chemical Romance/Friendly Fires/Kings Of Leon/Arctic Monkeys... being hammered for weeks on the A list. Foo Fighters have just released a new tune last week, if it gets any higher than Radio 1's B list for more than 2 weeks I'll be surprised. I hear 1xtra playing house music now, when launched in 2002 that was unthinkable. It was garage, hip hop, early grime and r&b back then.

As far as indie and bands during mainstream(ish) hours, has Zane Lowe been truly replaced? Felt like he almost single-handedly pushed the Arctic Monkey's into the big time in late 2005 with no only the support he gave them, but the influence he had on getting them onto heavy rotation on the Radio 1 playlist.

Radio 1 dance feels like it has good intentions with room to grow, Radio 1 have been at it with dance since the very early 90's. It's a chance for them to run some old archive Jules/Rampling/Pete Tong/Carl Cox Fabio & Grooverider shows from the 90's and 2000's overnight, and keep it more modern in the day.

[Old Codger Fan 0]

Good point about the much-missed Zane Lowe. Whilst Annie Mac is a perfectly fine broadcaster, she seems to have minimal interest in records made with "proper instruments", so to speak ,,,,

[anothernerd 13]

16 hours ago, DC said:

Radio 1 dance feels like it has good intentions with room to grow, Radio 1 have been at it with dance since the very early 90's. It's a chance for them to run some old archive Jules/Rampling/Pete Tong/Carl Cox Fabio & Grooverider shows from the 90's and 2000's overnight, and keep it more modern in the day.

Well said, would be nice of them to air some classic dance recordings from Pete Jules etc. Maybe just some classic mixes or interviews to fill an hour or two. 
Seems a waste to use content you’ve already heard in the week on the main station when they must have years worth of classic shows recorded.

 

[Graeme 5]

I wonder if they would

eg would they use Jam or Danny dance anthems shows?

[DC 84]

31 minutes ago, Graeme said:

I wonder if they would

eg would they use Jam or Danny dance anthems shows?

Dave Pearce too when he did it on Sunday nights. But I imagine it's pointless using run of the mill shows all the time, they may as well dig out live broadcasts.

Classic Essential mixes too could be one to use. I know you can more or less get every single one online. But some from the 90's are poor quality, Radio 1 Dance could get the original dat tapes and play them out digitised. The BBC has never made good, proper use of it's archive with a lot of things, it's a chance to do that.

[Old Codger Fan 0]

^^ " The BBC has never made good, proper use of it's archive with a lot of things " ^^

Understatement of the year there, I think! ,,,

[Lee E 51]

On 11/20/2020 at 1:32 AM, DC said:

I feel the same about the bits I hear from Radio 1 now. It feels more and more like a carbon copy of 1xtra, years ago you could easily separate the two. Just the way the music scene is, rock and indie with young people seems less relevant compared to the 90s and 00s youth. Coupled with the fact that we don't have the big indie/rock bands we had way back. There was a time where through the 00's you had Foo Fighters/Linkin Park/Blink 182/White Stripes/My Chemical Romance/Friendly Fires/Kings Of Leon/Arctic Monkeys... being hammered for weeks on the A list. Foo Fighters have just released a new tune last week, if it gets any higher than Radio 1's B list for more than 2 weeks I'll be surprised. I hear 1xtra playing house music now, when launched in 2002 that was unthinkable. It was garage, hip hop, early grime and r&b back then.

As far as indie and bands during mainstream(ish) hours, has Zane Lowe been truly replaced? Felt like he almost single-handedly pushed the Arctic Monkey's into the big time in late 2005 with no only the support he gave them, but the influence he had on getting them onto heavy rotation on the Radio 1 playlist.

Radio 1 dance feels like it has good intentions with room to grow, Radio 1 have been at it with dance since the very early 90's. It's a chance for them to run some old archive Jules/Rampling/Pete Tong/Carl Cox Fabio & Grooverider shows from the 90's and 2000's overnight, and keep it more modern in the day.

They are missing a trick - they could run hours of Dave Pearce Dance anthems shows too