The eighth floor

[onlyME]

I feel that we've just witnessed the last Big Weekend.

With all the cut backs at the BBC it seems obvious the biggest area of savings at Radio 1 would come from shelving this event.

In other years they've talked about there being a 'next year' but there was no such suggestion this time.

Is it game over?

[BBCAaron]

6 hours ago, onlyME said:

I feel that we've just witnessed the last Big Weekend.

With all the cut backs at the BBC it seems obvious the biggest area of savings at Radio 1 would come from shelving this event.

In other years they've talked about there being a 'next year' but there was no such suggestion this time.

Is it game over?

I know they stripped back over the years how they put out the festival as they used to be able to watch the radio like a music channel on the red button or iPlayer and you don’t have the whole station family out there as unsure if Victoria Jane, Jeremiah Asiamah and Nels Hylton there. 

I don’t see it as being game over as it would be incredibly disappointing to see such an event go away that has brought music gigs and acts to towns and cities that they would’ve never played to getting new audiences and can be some acts first major festival and has improved important exposure and highlights and showcases the names the station has championed and delivers different names than the stations rival giving space for new comers like FLO, Cat Burns, Piri and Georgia. 

I would say that elements have been cut down as it isn’t something that Radio 1 Xtra don’t engage with anymore and the social media and video content has reduced. But think Aled and Lorna in management will see the importance of such events and consider how to sustain it going foreward. 

 

[BBCAaron]

7 hours ago, onlyME said:

I feel that we've just witnessed the last Big Weekend.

With all the cut backs at the BBC it seems obvious the biggest area of savings at Radio 1 would come from shelving this event.

In other years they've talked about there being a 'next year' but there was no such suggestion this time.

Is it game over?

I don’t think it would be the last. I’d be surprised if it is but given the state that how 6 Music changed their festival going forward to only reside in greater Manchester it may consider changes.

[Jono]

I'd like to see some new towns and cities put on the map. Dundee hosted a One Big Weekend previously, for instance. 

[R1Fan1]

I don’t think they’ll get rid, it seems to cover their live set and outreach remit, and of course provides a way to engage with the fans of the station.

Of course it’d be cheaper for them to just do that Out Out concert they did in 2021 every year, but that would mean they don’t met the above two points if they did that. And of course, it’d be a bit bland doing it in Wembley every year.

[shippp]

On 5/29/2023 at 11:33 PM, R1Fan1 said:

I don’t think they’ll get rid, it seems to cover their live set and outreach remit, and of course provides a way to engage with the fans of the station.

Of course it’d be cheaper for them to just do that Out Out concert they did in 2021 every year, but that would mean they don’t met the above two points if they did that. And of course, it’d be a bit bland doing it in Wembley every year.

Also they would be accused of copying Capital with Summertime/Jingle Bell Ball while not necessarily true it does hit that Radio 1 going to all these different cities and towns across the country is something cannot or at least will not do. It would just be more boring to make it one place. The 6 Music festival Greater Manchester feels the same, a decision that is obviously for cost savings and feels exactly like that

 

[TheSaviourisHere]

I think Big Weekend did big numbers on Iplayer so unsure if they would get rid?