BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...

radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been code named "Network X" during the consultation period. At the time, the station was listed as "1 Xtra BBC" on many electronic programming guides. The station broadcasts from the 8th floor of Broadcasting House, shared with Radio 1 and the

Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 724,000 with a listening share of 0.3% as of September 2022.

Music policy

BBC Radio 1Xtra's music includes largely British, North American, Caribbean and African hip hop, grime,

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. I ...

, dubstep,

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub- ...

, UK funky,

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The R ...

, soca,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is co ...

, bhangra,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

, and R&B. It is available on digital radio (

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * '' Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dą ...

), digital satellite television, digital terrestrial television (

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

), and the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

. The first ever track played on 1Xtra was a specially created track produced by

DJ Skitz DJ Skitz or Skitz is a British DJ and music producer. He was born in 1970 in Cambridgeshire and started DJing in 1991. He has compiled a number of British Hip Hop compilations and other Hip Hop compilations. Along with Rodney P he produced the ...

and

Rodney P Rodney Panton, also known as Rodney P (born in Balham, London, 12 December 1969) is an English MC, as well as a radio and television personality who first gained attention via the UK hip hop scene in the 1980s. A former member of UK hip-hop group ...

and featuring

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, '' The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and ...

and Blak Twang. The five-hour show was presented by the Rampage DJ collective and the station's then breakfast show host, KC.

News and speech

As part of its public service broadcasting remit, 1Xtra is required to carry a significant amount of news, information and speech content. 1Xtra had its own news service, 1Xtra News (formerly known as "TX"), which was operated as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

of Radio 1's

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically youn ...

operations. The tone and style of the news presentation is in keeping with the station's overall target audience - young and predominantly urban. Initially, in addition to regular hourly bulletins, TX had a flagship weekday two-hour news, features and discussion show under the title "TX Unltd" (pronounced "Unlimited"). This show - initially broadcast in a 5pm7pm slot - rated poorly, however, and was later absorbed into a mixed music-and-speech format (similar to that used by Jeremy Vine on Radio 2) which aired in mid-afternoon (2pm4pm) and was named after its host, Max. In 2009, the BBC Trust agreed to a further change to the scheduling of news content on 1Xtra, such that it could use the same format successfully operated by Radio 1's Newsbeat: two 15-minute news bulletins, one in the middle of the day and another in the early evening, with other speech features, profiles and social/cultural specials being broadcast on an ad hoc basis within music-led shows, and with regular hourly news bulletins also continuing. The Trust required that 1Xtra's main bulletins not air at the same time as those on Radio 1. When the new bulletins were introduced in late summer 2009, they aired at noon and 5pm, with Radio 1's bulletins remaining at 12:45pm and 5:45pm. As of Summer 2009 it was reported that Radio 1 and 1Xtra were carrying shared news bulletins at weekends; weekday news output remained separate. September 2012 saw a substantial increase in Newsbeat bulletins simulcast with Radio 1. Weekday breakfast bulletins at 6am, 7.30am, 8am, 8.30am and 9.30am remain bespoke 1Xtra broadcasts. From 10:30am, bulletins are shared with Radio 1, including the 15-minute Newsbeat magazines at 12:45pm and 5:45pm. In the first quarter of 2011, 1Xtra was part of an efficiency review conducted by John Myers. His role, according to Andrew Harrison, the chief executive of RadioCentre, was "to identify both areas of best practice and possible savings." In November 2017, reports signalled that the Roundhouse Rising concert series would partner with 1Xtra. As part of the change, the BBC curated a free grime night in the venue's Sackler Space.

Audience profile

BBC Radio 1Xtra's typical audience is between fifteen and thirty years old. According to the "Submission to the Secretary of State's review of digital channels" in March 2004, Radio 1Xtra "provides music output 24 hours a day, punctuated by bespoke BBC news bulletins and other speech output designed specifically to be pertinent to the audience."

Notable presenters

Current notable presenters

* Kenny Allstar *

Benji B Benjamin Benstead, known professionally as Benji B, is a British DJ, radio presenter, and record producer. A longtime BBC Radio producer and presenter, he has presented a weekly show on BBC Radio 1 since 2010 that highlights an eclectic mix of h ...

* Nick Bright *

Tiffany Calver Tiffany Calver (born 16 September 1994) is a British radio DJ and presenter. Early life Calver was born and bred in Telford, but moved to London at the age of 17 in order to attend college and be closer to the music scene in the city. Calver ...

* Eddie Kadi * Lady Leshurr * Nadia Jae * Trevor Nelson *

David Rodigan David Michael "Ram Jam" Rodigan MBE OD (born 24 June 1951) is a British radio DJ who also performs as a disc jockey. Known for his selections of reggae and dancehall music, he has played on stations including Radio London, Capital 95.8, Kis ...

* Snoochie Shy *

Sir Spyro ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only a ...

DJ Target Darren Joseph, known professionally as DJ Target, is a British DJ. Career Joseph is a former member of Roll Deep. Joseph began hosting part of the 1Xtra Takeover, a simulcast across BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra, in September 2013. In 2018, Josep ...

Heartless Crew The Heartless Crew are a UK garage crew from North London. The group has been credited for paving the way for grime music, alongside So Solid Crew and Pay As U Go. Its original members are MCs Bushkin and Mighty Moe and DJ Fonti. Career Bus ...

Weekday evening shows began with MistaJam helming a three-hour multi-genre show, followed by six hours of specialist output tailored to a particular genre (e.g. UK Garage, dancehall, etc.) Between October 2009 and spring 2010, the 4am6am slot housed a replay of selected weekend specialist programming; this and the one-hour Morning Mix programme were dropped in spring 2010 and a new six-days-a-week 'early breakfast' show (4am7am) hosted by Nick Bright was introduced. (The Saturday 4am replay of Target's Friday night show was also axed, to make room for Bright's sixth show) This has now itself been replaced by a rerun of the previous week's overnight mix show from 4am to 6am, giving nine hours of specialist output. Weekday overnights (1am3am), Saturday overnights (1am4am) and Saturday evenings (7pm1am) are now simulcast entirely with Radio 1 - this allows Radio 1's flagship urban content to air on 1Xtra.

Former notable presenters

* A. Dot * Clara Amfo * Adele Roberts *

Sarah-Jane Crawford Sarah-Jane Crawford is an English television and radio presenter, actress, voice-over artist, and DJ best known for her radio work with Hits Radio and formerly with BBC Radio 1Xtra, and television work with E! Network (which she is currentl ...

* Gemma Cairney * Reggie Yates * Ronnie Herel *

DJ Cameo DJ Cameo is an English DJ and former host of "Pirate Sessions", a now-defunct Sunday afternoon grime show on the digital UK radio station BBC 1Xtra. He later hosted the Tuesday night UKG show, but on 4 November 2015 it was announced that he ...

* Devin Griffin *

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. During the g ...

Ms. Dynamite Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley (born 26 April 1981), better known as Ms. Dynamite, is a British singer and rapper. She is the recipient of the Mercury Music Prize, two Brit Awards and three MOBO Awards. Early years She was born Niomi Arleen Mc ...

* Djsky * Zena McNally * Tim Westwood * Crissy Criss * DJ Blakey * Matthew Xia *

DJ Q Shollen Quarshie (born 1985), known by his stage name DJ Q, is a DJ and record producer from Huddersfield, England. He forms part of the group TQD alongside Flava D and Royal-T. Early life DJ Q’s musical journey started from a young age at ...

* Ras Kwame * Robbo Ranx *

Friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of ...

Panjabi Hit Squad Panjabi Hit Squad are British DJs, producers and radio broadcasters for BBC Asian Network and formerly BBC 1Xtra. The group recorded several albums, including ''Desi Beats Vol 1'' with Def Jam. They have won the UK Asian Music Awards three times, ...

Semtex Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, originally under the name B ...

* Charlie Sloth * MistaJam * Toddla T *

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD wit ...

* René LaVice *

Annie Nightingale Annie Avril Nightingale (born 1 April 1940) is an English radio and television broadcaster. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 in 1970, and is its longest-serving presenter. Early life and career Nightingale was born in Osterle ...

* Yasmin Evans * Cuppy

Logo history

File:BBC Radio 1Xtra launch logo.svg, BBC Radio 1Xtra logo from its 2002 launch until 2007, known as "BBC 1Xtra". File:BBC Radio 1Xtra.svg, BBC Radio 1Xtra logo from 2007 to 2010. File:BBC Radio 1Xtra Logo (2010-present).png, BBC Radio 1Xtra logo from 2010 to 2022. File:BBC Radio 1Xtra 2021.svg, BBC Radio 1Xtra logo since 2022.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Radio 1xtra

1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been code ...

Urban contemporary radio stations Black British music Radio stations established in 2002 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom Radio stations in the United Kingdom Digital-only radio stations