BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra Interns

Find out what goes on behind the scenes at Radio 1 & 1Xtra - as told by our interns.

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★★★ THE FIRST CITY ON THE 1XTRA OUTREACH TOUR ★★★

Friday was the first ever stop on the 1Xtra Outreach Summer Tour in Nottingham - and it was one of my favourite days of the internship yet!

The Summer Outreach Tours take a bit of 1Xtra into different cities around the country, where kids can see what it’s like to DJ and hear from a panel of people in the music industry.

AND there was a surprise appearance from rapper Mist! 

We got to watch young people from Nottingham and Derby perform their own music in front of rapper Mist, who then gave feedback - which was the most amazing thing to see. 

They also got to meet Jamz Supernova who hosted the Q&A with the panel, and later did a fantastic, raw and in-depth interview with Mist. 

My favourite moment of the day happened when I was voxpopping kids who were requesting songs for Yasmin Evans’ show - and one group of choir singers from Derby SUNG their request (One Dance). 

WE CAN’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT OUTREACH TOUR! 

[r11xinterns]

Playlist Previews...

Hey! Josie here, one of the other interns on the ‘Where It Begins’ scheme.

We’ve only just started our placements so we haven’t been given too much responsibility yet. But one thing we have done that felt like a massive privilege (and responsibility) is sit in on the Radio 1 & 1Xtra Playlist meetings!

If you don’t know what the Playlist meetings are, basically the top music team from Radio 1 and 1Xtra get together once a week, listen to a selection of new songs and decide whether or not they should be played regularly on Radio 1 and 1Xtra respectively. From this they create a ‘playlist’ of songs which make up the majority of what you hear on daytime R1 and 1Xtra - so obviously the playlist is a pretty prestigious thing to get a song on.

It was only my second day when I went to the R1 Playlist meeting so I was pretty awestruck. It was amazing to sit in the room where such huge decisions are made and watch tracks get the ‘make or break’ criticism from everyone round the table. At the end I was even asked which my favourite song of the selection was! I said the Liz Uzi Vert song, which did end up making the playlist (I must have great taste).

One of the things that really struck me in the meeting was how many different factors go into the decision of whether or not to put a song on the playlist. It’s not just about the sound of the song - they also think about the artists’ upcoming albums, how popular the song is already, plus what the daytime DJs will think about the song, as well as loads of other factors. Like most things on the radio, the complexity of these decisions is hidden from the audience - but what I’m learning is that it has all been thought about really carefully.

Then on our third day, all three of us interns went to the 1Xtra Playlist meeting, where we were actually asked to give our own opinions on some of the tracks! That was pretty scary as the people we were speaking to were obviously music experts at the top of their game - but then again, we are all in the target audience for 1Xtra, so hopefully what we said wasn’t completely useless!

Going to these meetings was a huge privilege - some people who’ve worked here for years have still never seen what it’s like to sit in on one - and just another example of the amazing opportunities we’re being given as part of the scheme.

[r11xinterns]

Bugzy puts Manny on The Map

Hey I’m Afia Kufuor, 1 of 3 of the new interns on the ‘Where it Begins Scheme’! Here’s my first blog:

Mancunian born and bred Bugzy Malone held a listening party for his new EP ‘King of the North’ at Relentless on Denmark Street.

On Day 2 of our internship Miriam and I were lucky enough to attend the launch party as we were added to the very exclusive guestlist by the absolute legend that is Hermeet Chadha.

On entry guests were able to choose from a variety of Caribbean dishes provided by Dub Plates Kitchen. This included curry goat, stewed chicken or salmon with rice, plantain and coleslaw. Thumbs up to whoever’s idea that was.

It was love at first sight when I was served boneless curry goat within just 10 minutes of arriving... and from that moment I just knew it was going to be an excellent night.

The next eye catching feature was the impressive cake made by AB cakes. It was literally a life sized version of Bugzy’s upper body, replicating the ‘King of the North’ EP cover.

The night itself was hosted by Rude Kid and guests were able to hear the album for the first time and gain an insight about the production process of each song. I can confidently say that you guys are in for a treat when the EP is made available on Friday 14th July.

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Goodbye from Travis, Oriana, Reece and Lucy...

We've all definitely been putting this post off for some time now because it’s time to say so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!

We’ve officially finished our internship, but we finished at Radio 1′s Big Weekend which were the most amazing 2 days.

Our role was to be #1MillionHours ambassadors which meant we were handing out leaflets about the campaign which encourages people to volunteer throughout 2016. Find out more about it here.

Although we were working we got to see some of the artists too. Coldplay are basically our faves after their headline set! ‘Fix You’ was a bit much for a bunch of soon to be ex-interns. (ALL THE EMOTIONS)

We were working with the Youth Council too who are all absolutely amazing and we miss them a lot :( 

That's just a few of us there, group pictures are next to impossible to get honestly...

We also got to meet the man himself Stormzy! He was such a babe and completely owned the In New Music We Trust stage  💚 💚 💚 💚

Last words... If you’re thinking about applying for the Where It Begins Scheme - Just do it! Many of us had applied multiple times before we got places this year. It can definitely be you next time around. It’s been a dream so GO FOR IT! Head to the Careers site for more info

So it’s goodbye from the 4 musketeers (that works right?)... But we’ll be back... At some point...We hope!

Much love,

Travis, Oriana, Reece and Lucy xxx

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Lucy’s Week 8 (Pre Big Weekend) - Monki & Huw Stephens

Holla!

Hope you’re all well. Thought I would string out my last few posts on this blog by telling you about my adventures pre Big Weekend.

I got to sit in on two amazing shows - Monki and King of Introducing Huw Stephens. 

We all got set research projects at the start of the internship so it was time to present them to Big Boss Ben, Rhys Hughes etc. I WAS SO SCARED BUT AM STILL ALIVE SO IT’S ALL GOOD. Mine was about specialist music output so got to geek out massively.

Then topped off the day by sitting in on one of my favourite shows across the network - Monki! It was an extended Simmer Down Selection so chilled vibes all round.

🚨🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨🚨 - MONKI WEARS GLASSES... OCCASIONALLY. Can confirm this is the first official photograph with specs. A rare sighting. 🐵👓

Another favourite show of mine is Huw Stephens so what a dream week this was. I got to give Huw some of my music recommendations so more geeking out happened. Huw played ‘The Gardener’ by Tiny Deaths as his final song on 25th May which was amazing! I love their music and to have Huw play one of my recommendations was epic. He also gave me a shout out for putting together some of his DJ track list for Big Weekend. 

Can confirm that there will be a last emotional post from us coming up soon. There might be tears involved....

Lucy x

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Lucy & Oriana’s Week 7: Radio 1 Academy

Hey guys,

We got let out of the office last week and took a trip to the Radio 1 Academy in Exeter!

The week consists of workshops, talks, live music and generally cool things for 16-19s to get involved with. 

We were working with Online and Interactive to write some of the articles for the Academy website - we’re particularly proud of this number: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/gVcCYLrCfqBtf3Q5LqQygL/can-i-really-get-a-job-at-radio-1-1xtra

Can you really get a job at Radio 1 & 1Xtra? The answer is of course yes so take a read of our article for some tips and advice about pursuing the radio dream. We also look well pritz in the pic, basically models these days.

We also got to meet some amazing people like Laura Mvula and the actress Jodie Comer 💖💖💖💖💖

We also got to play on Virtual Reality... THE FUTURE OF GAMING IS COMING PEOPLE. 

We’re nearly at the end of our internship 😢😢😢 But Big Weekend is nearly here so more updates to follow!

Lucy & Oriana x

[r11xinterns]

Lucy's Week 6: Annie Mac, Dance Anthems and Phil Taggart

This week has been the one I’ve been waiting for..... It’s ANNIEEEEEEEEEEEE.

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

AND Dance Anthems with Danny Howard and Phil Taggart  - not bad really at all.

I’ve been able to practice my editing skills by clipping up important songs and turning them into beds for Annie to talk over.

I also put together a coming up package for Danny and wrote scripts for all three shows. Phil Taggart interviewed SBTRKT for the Bedtime Mix so that was awesome to sit in on.

So was raving Friday through to Saturday then behaving with Phil Taggart's Sunday Support Club. My dream mix of music.

Danny also said Kinghorn is an epic surname so no complaints really.

My Craig David article for the Radio 1 Academy is also live - go check it out 🔥🔥🔥

http://bbc.in/1YuOE3y

BIG posts coming your way from the Radio 1 Academy in Exeter soon, stay locked.

Lucy.

Twitter - @LucyKinghorn

Instagram - @LucyyElena

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Oriana’s weeks 4-6- David Rodigan, Target & 1Xtra breakfast!

When the interns met the youth council ^^^

Hey!

I’ve got a lot to talk about from the past 3 weeks so I’ll start with my 2 weeks on 1Xtra breakfast, this is my favourite show which I listen to every day so I had so much fun sitting in on the shows! Yasmin Evans and Twin B are hilarious and make the early mornings go by so fast, their impressions and accents are just so funny it’s hard not to laugh too loud whilst they’re on air!

I helped do a lot of things for the show like creating  interview notes and editing music montages together which is fun when you hear it go out!  During my time with the team Will.I.Am came in which was really cool as I have so much love for the Black Eyed peas and he confirmed that a new song will be coming from this year! (Cue me screaming inside) 

Watch that here:

I also spent a week working with the producer of David Rodigan’s and DJ Target’s show, I absolutely love both of these shows so sitting on them was great! The legend himself David Rodigan gave me and my Dad a shout out on his show which was amazing! My Dad has listened to Rodigan for so many years and really respects him so I definitely got major daughter points for that.

Listen to the show here. (The shout outs at 19:07)

Target’s show on Friday night was a totally different experience as he live mixes the whole show which was so interesting as I got to watch him basically do a whole DJ set in the studio. 

Lastly, I just wanted to say how fun it is to be working here when new big albums come out. Being on the breakfast show when Drake’s ‘Views’ & Skepta’s ‘Konnichiwa’ came out was so fun and unforgettable to be part of live radio bringing totally fresh music to peoples ears.My favourite thing ever is to introduce new music to people so yeah that was great :)

[r11xinterns]

We are young people.

It’s Reece! Another one (DJ Khaled voice), a few weeks back we had to speak in front of some very important BBC staff and visitors about our time so far as interns. 

In a nutshell, I spoke about how fun it’s been working on Carnival preparations for 1xtra, Hot 97 preparations, working on Charlie Sloths show as well as MistaJams!

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My BBC mum.

It’s Reece and I’m really making up for lost time here. Now for hopeful interns who want to work on the 8th floor (Radio 1 & 1xtra floor) this woman will so quickly become your mum.

Meet Clare, she’s been working at the BBC for forever and she is just great and so deserves a selfie on the Tumblr. I’m shocked i’m the first to do so to be honest!

A door doesn’t open? Clare will fix it.

P Diddy/Puff Daddy/ Whatever he’s called now. Needs to be collected from reception? Clare will make it happen.

Someone has left the phone sitting around? Clare will make sure it get’s back to the right person. 

The female Liam Neeson. 

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Tory Lanez on Charlie Slothhhh!

Hey Reece here. Back again the blog post. So I was working on Charlie Sloth’s show two weeks back. It was really fun and I've only just recovered from being bantered (if that’s a word, 24/7). 

However, Canadian Tory Lanez came in as a guest so I thought i’d get a snap for the gram and Tumblr too! 

P.S definitely go to a Tory Lanez show, insane.

[r11xinterns]

Lucy’s Weeks 4 +5: R1 Academy & 1/1Xtra Stories

Oh, just me and Dev hanging out, you know how it is....

Hey team, are we really over half way through already...? Gulp. 

Last week I got the chance to go back to Devon to be part of the Radio 1 Academy. Not only was I helping out, I got to be part of the panel for ‘A Day in the Life of Radio 1′ hosted by Dev, talking about my role and answering questions from the the audience. I also got to interview my mate Craig David. WHAT- HOW - WHY who knows but it was a blast. My article for the Academy on Craig David will be up on the website soon. 

I’ve also been working on Radio 1 and 1Xtra Stories - I’ve been sitting in on meetings about upcoming projects, learning a bit about filming and been thinking of potential ideas for documentaries.

I also had time to pop in to Toddla T’s show and got to meet Jillionaire of Major Lazer fame. Safe to say there was a party in the studio - BIG carnival vibes.

The interns have got some exciting things in the pipe line so keep your eyes peeled! (That is such a weird saying isn’t it?)

Over and out for now,

Lucy

Twitter - @LucyKinghorn

Instagram - @LucyyElena

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Travis’ experience of #BalloonWatch & more!

 This is all going so fast, I’m now into my 5th week at Radio 1 and 1xtra! The last 2 weeks I’ve spent working on the Matt Edmondson Show while he covered for Scott Mills. What a weird fortnight.

As a big fan of the show I was a bit nervous about working with the team for a couple of weeks, I needn’t have worried. Matt, Chris and Jack were amazing and really open to new ideas and making sure I was fully involved. I got to rack Matt’s brain about all the games he comes up with, his brain works like no-one else’s. As a budding producer getting to work with Chris, who I really respect, was great. He’s so in control and always thinking a million things at once but never too busy to take questions from an enthusiastic intern, plus he’s lol. Assistant Producer Jack was great to learn from, he’s so organised and has things done before even being asked, I learnt a lot from his work rate and just being around the team as a whole was brilliant.

Some of the many highlights from the past fortnight; helping film the hilarious 73 Questions with Matt Edmondson video which you can see here, wheeling Charlie Sloth out of the studio because he was being as outrageous as ever, ACTUAL Pusha T complimenting my T-shirt and having the absolute honour of editing the Matt Edmondson show free download (download it for free) which is available everywhere. Then we come to the pinnacle of my time on the show… #BalloonWatch.

If you didn’t see any of this, where were you?! We spent days doing all of the health and safety and all of the risk assessments to blow up a 6ft balloon in the Live Lounge while streaming live on Facebook. What resulted was one of the weirdest days of my life. We booked some guests to come and pump the balloon throughout the day. Jeremy Vine kicked off proceedings and then a whole host of R1 & 1X personalities popped through to help or in some cases scream and wince (I’m looking at you Yasmin Evans & Greg James).  More and more guests started to arrive, the welsh bloke off of the Apprentice with the eyebrows, Christopher Maloney (wearing a turtle neck jumper), Danny from First Dates, a very energetic Stevi Ritchie and the legend… Fatman Scoop. At one point I was interviewed on Scoop’s periscope and then in charge of it while he and Maloney did some very odd pumping (go see the video on Radio 1′s Facebook to see what I mean). Then finally a few minutes before Greg’s show, the balloon that had grown to around 7 foot, burst and one of the most absurd parties I’ve ever witnessed started - here. The sense of relief and achievement I felt, may never be replicated.

Me and Fatman Scoop are now best mates too.

Who knows what’s gonna happen over the next few weeks but I’ll update you soon!

Catch you in a bit,

Travis! @Radio_Travis

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Hey Oriana here! (Yes that is Craig David and me, no we aren't married.. yet)

So I’ve been working on very different things the past two weeks. I spent last week with Newsbeat, who are the news providers for Radio 1 and 1Xtra. As I’ve just finished a journalism degree (literally just submitted my last assignment!) I was really excited to work full time with a news organisation and see what they do!

I spent the first day getting to know everybody and what their job is. Newsbeats audience is a much younger audience to other news outlets like BBC News, it was interesting to see how they made big national stories relevant to a younger audience. As I’m the age of their audience, I was asked my opinion on a lot of stories and future ideas which was fun because it meant I got to help shape ideas!

The next few days I spent on the online team and got to write my own stories, I found a graphic designer from Sweden who was trying to change the diversity of Google image search results so I interviewed her and wrote up the story. This was really fun because it was my own idea that I got to research and write! I also got my first official byline so this was pretty big for me. Check the story out here.

I  also wrote a story about Skepta's album Konnichiwa as he'd just announced the release date. Writing about music is one of my favourite things to do so that was cool. Check it out here.

This week I spent with Clara Amfo's team, sitting in on her show has been one of the best parts of my time here. As her show has a big focus on music, I’ve been introduced to so many new artists and it's just really fun to sit in on a show whilst it's on air.

I also got to make some music notes and edit some music montages together which will be used on the show so that’s been fun and learning how to do this was important as it's an essential thing done behind the scenes for the shows.

Oh and how can I forget Joe Jonas hugged me!! My 14 year old self died inside at this point, he was in with his new band DNCE for a live lounge which was awesome. They covered their single 'Cake by the ocean' and Selena Gomez's 'hand's to myself’ and we're just really cool!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03n1dfz/live-lounge-dnce

So yeah that's been my first two weeks on the 8th floor, next week I'm with the 1Xtra breakfast team which is my favourite show so I can't wait!

[r11xinterns]

Lucy’s First Few Weeks in Radio 1/1Xtra Land

Life is pretty mental right now so I thought I would keep you all posted with what I’ve been up to!

I’ve got a few highlights so far to say the least...

On my third day I got to help out on R1 Breakfast and sit in on Clara Amfo’s Show - her pearl joggers by the way are pretty awesome.

I got to sit in on B.Traits’ show which was live from 1-4am. It’s safe to say New Broadcasting House feels a bit creepy when no one else is around. Spooky underground dance vibezzzzz. Was a lot of fun helping the team out and getting to watch B.traits in the mix with Francesca Lombardo was pretty epic.

I’ve also been working on Toddla T, Friction and Mim Shaikh - I got to help film ‘Mission Mimpossible’ around Oxford Street which was a lot of fun! I’ve also been helping to edit interviews, montages AND write show notes.

Oh and in case you didn’t know... I also met Craig David. No, I didn’t ask what his flava was but he was so lovely and even told us about his manager starting out as an intern for a record label.

The next chapter of Lucy’s Life as an Intern will be about the R1 Academy and R1/1Xtra Stories so keep your eyes peeled for that!

See ya in a bit!

Lucy

Twitter - @LucyKinghorn

Instagram - @LucyyElena

[r11xinterns]

Meet The Interns 2016: Reece!

Last but not least.

HELLO ALL!

My name is Reece Parkinson and believe it or not I’m one of the new interns. I’m still in the “Am I really here?” phase but so far it’s been great. So we all got given our schedules yesterday and I can’t wait to get started with what’s to come.

So currently I work as a studio assistant at a community station based in south London, I also have two shows that I present and produce as well as my own website that I post new music and my own podcast. (reeceparkinson.com)

So my schedule is looking super, super great. So next week I get to work on the 1Xtra carnival build-up as well as SummerJam preparations. Then I’m off to work with the 1Xtra music team , Charlie Sloths (The best looking fat guy in the universes) show, MistaJams show, R1 Breakfast with Grimmy, then finally pitch a research project to BBC Rasio 1/1Xtra controller Ben Cooper. *Breathes out*

If you want to keep up to date with things then be sure to follow me and this Tumblr!

Twitter: @reece_parkinson

Instagram:  reeceparkinson

[r11xinterns]

Travis’ first 2 weeks on the 8th floor

Y’know when I said my life was going to get weird? It did.

So our first week entailed a lot of training on the different systems and introducing myself to many important people. Everyone is so lovely; I’ve not met anyone at all that I’ve not got on with. I got to shadow a team assistant from 1Xtra Weekends and I learnt what they do day to day, including making the montages that go out every hour (those clips that have 3 bits of songs and lots of sound effects) and I even made 8 myself that went out over Ace’s breakfast show on Saturday and Sunday (insert ‘Cheers Kev’ here). We went to lots of meetings including my personal favourite, the ‘Tea and Cake Meeting’ it’s pretty self-explanatory! Plus the Interns went on a very special ‘Cheese Run’ for Greg James’ podcast.

Now onto the fun bit, working on the different shows! I was so excited when I looked at my schedule and saw that on my 2nd week I’d be working on the Scott Mills show, I’ve been such a massive fan of the show for so long and to be able to peek behind the curtain was incredible. The team is amazing and they’ve let me do so much early on; I’ve been finding ‘Real or No Reals’, editing clips for Innuendo Bingo and compiling research packs on guests.

On to the weird parts of my time here, now so many people had told me that “no day is the same”. They were not wrong. In my first 2 weeks I literally bumped into Ricky Gervais, saw Caroline Flack and Zoe Ball get spat on (during Bingo), watched Greg James ride Matt Edmondson’s scooter round the office and heard members of Fifth Harmony doing vocal warm ups in the toilet. On top of that,  my research packs that I mentioned earlier, have been noticed by the right people. When researching Iggy Azalea I mentioned her pet horses in the notes, and then during the interview she proceeded to do an incredible impression of a “Swedish horse”. Even better, during my research of Ryan Tedder off of One Republic, I stumbled on the fact he had recently purchased a Drake colouring book. When Scott mentioned this in the interview, Ryan said “wow, you must have really good researchers, how did you find that?!” at which point everyone in the studio turned to look at me. I immediately blushed.

Finally, saving best ‘til last… I met the one and only Craiiiiiiig Daaaaavid. What a lovely bloke. He stood and talked to me and my fellow interns for a good 5 minutes after his live lounge with Blonde.

So crazy and it’s only the end of my second week, catch you in a bit!

Travis!