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In 2011, when I was news editor for Music Week, 1Xtra invited me along to its playlist meeting. It was at a time when the station – along with sister station Radio 1 – was trying to throw off some of the secrecy of how it put together the playlist and I was the second journalist to be invited along to the meeting.
Three years is a long time in music, of course: music fashions change and staff move on (and whatever did happen to The Bullitts?). But I think a lot of what is in this article remains valid – the relationship the station has with R1, the obsessions with stats, grime versus dubstep (which led to an almighty argument in the meeting, if I remember rightly) and the various concerns over commerciality and artist backgrounds.
So I’ve reposted it here for you enjoyment or otherwise.
Inside the 1Xtra playlist meeting
The 1Xtra playlist meeting took place at the station’s Yalding house HQ in central London last Tuesday afternoon. Unlike the playlist meetings at many radio stations, DJs are invited, as well as producers and the music team of music manager Austin Daboh, music assistant Ryan Newman and music producer Anna Nathanson. In this case, DJs MistaJam, Twin B, Cameo and Ronnie Herel were all present, while DJ Target, Sarah Jane Crawford and Seani B, who usually attend, were absent.
Over two and a half intense hours the group examined some 16 tracks, which came from artists as diverse as US superstar Katy Perry and UK dubstep newcomer Distance. It is a mark of how unique 1Xtra is that at the end of the meeting a global number one from Adele (Someone Like You) went up against an ode to the Birmingham phone code from underground MC Trilla (0121) for the final place on the C list – although they both lost out in the end to Amina Bryant’s Jimmy.
1Xtra history
1Xtra, set up in 2002 as a sister to Radio 1, has had a strong year, boosting its listener figures to 816,000 in the recent Rajar report, a 53.7% annual increase in reach. At the same time, the British urban talent that 1Xtra has championed since its creation has prospered, with Taio Cruz and Jay Sean even scoring number one hits in the US.
1Xtra and Radio 1
The playlist meeting laid bare the relationship between 1Xtra and sister station Radio 1.
1Xtra DJ MistaJam said that being seen to be first with music is key for 1Xtra to emerge from the shadow of Radio 1, which had 11.4m listeners in the latest Rajar figures, second to only Radio 2.
“1Xtra is a station that for a long time has been seen as this quiet sister station to Radio 1,” he said. “Now we are in a position that the artists we did support early are popular culture. When you read the press we are always forgotten as the station that supported these people.”
As such, 1Xtra’s relationship with its sister station can be a little strange: while there is no lack of respect between the two stations – many DJs work for both – you sense some resentment at, for example, Tinie Tempah thanking Radio 1 when he accepted his Brit Awards for best single, when 1Xtra was the first to play his music.
This ambiguity fed into the playlist discussion. As a rule of thumb, 1Xtra seems less keen to play music that is being supported elsewhere –one DJ said of Kanye West’s remix of Katy Perry’s E.T. “I personally don’t think we should roll with it; we don’t need to: it’s at Capital and Galaxy” – but it is a different matter when Radio 1 is considering a track.
Such was the case with Brookes Brothers feat Robert Owens’ Beautiful, a soulful drum and bass track that Radio 1 was set to consider for its playlist.
“If Radio 1 are looking to consider Brookes Brothers this week then we have got a choice of making sure we are ahead, because we were playing it before them,” said one DJ.
“I think, for political reasons, if Radio 1 are considering it this week and maybe adding it, we should add it,” said another.
Later, a discussion of Phetsta featuring Reija Lee’s Run You Down overflowed into a heated argument about dubstep – one that revealed a great deal about the difficult choices that 1Xtra has to make when Radio 1 is routinely playlisting Magnetic Man, James Blake and Katy B.
“Dubstep has avenues – Radio 1 is going to batter it. But why won’t they batter grime?” one DJ said.
“So therefore you’re saying we shouldn’t play anything that might get played on Radio 1?” another DJ countered.
“No, I’m saying we should be worried about the amount of dubstep we play. It’s not our music.”
“I think dubstep is as relevant to the station as drum and bass and grime,” argued a third DJ. “It is a credible music. The audience is slightly more a university crowd. I think it is something we should be supporting on the station, particularly if we are talking about the journeys from this station to Radio 1.”
“I think we should be reflecting across the station as a new genre gets played in other places,” another DJ argued. “It would be stupid just to disown it.”
“We are the trend setters,” came the response. “People are going to look and think, ‘If they think this is going to be big..?’ We have to be careful what tracks we do that with.”
“Dubstep isn’t street music so it doesn’t have a place at 1Xtra,” he continued. “There are certain things that Radio1 is going to jump on and some that Radio1 won’t touch.”
The ironic thing is, of course, that much of the urban music that Radio 1 is playing is as a direct result of 1Xtra’s influence, a fact that Radio 1 head of music George Ergatoudis readily acknowledged.
“The knowledge and specialism going on there is awesome,” he told Music Week. “They are definitely an ‘on ramp’ for Radio 1. We are looking at 1Xtra to develop and nurture the best black music. They have got a remit to strongly support UK urban music talent. It would be the exception that something comes from that world that they [1Xtra] haven’t done a lot of work with.”
He cites Tinchy Stryder as a good example of this co-ordination between the two stations: Radio 1 started playing Stryder with the 2008 release of Stryderman, by which point 1Xtra had been supporting his records for year.
How songs are chosen for the 1Xtra playlist
There are many different factors beyond how early 1Xtra is with a record that come into consideration when a record is considered for the playlist.
For a start, do the DJs and production staff like it? The DJs themselves bring 25% of all the record to be considered each week, a very high number for any station. Each song under consideration for the playlist is played in full during the meeting, at a window-rattling volume.
Would the song fit into the schedules? This frequently is a question of genre – 1Xtra has to balance a wide range of black music, from dancehall to soul, and still sound coherent to the day-time listener. The question of how mainstream or obscure a song is also comes into play, while labels are frequently encouraged to re-edit songs to make them fit better onto the 1Xtra playlist. One song discussed last Tuesday had been re-edited three times by the label after feedback from the station.
Whether the song is released by an indie or a major is another factor. This seems particularly important to many DJs: one said – slightly unfairly – that 1Xtra should pay particular attention to releases on indie labels as “Radio 1 won’t a touch them because they’re not from the majors. That is what we should be playing.”
The act’s background also counts. Trilla was particularly well received because of his strong Birmingham accent. “It’s really great to see,” one DJ said. “We’ve spent a lot of years trying to bring people through outside of London.”
“Outside of London he is an important artist,” said another DJ. “That is one of the few gaps in the spectrum: we still need female and outside of London MCs.”
The teams also considers if there a release plot behind the track. The fact that Gappy Ranks featuring Russian’s Tun Up had a “kind of structured release”, for example, was considered important at the meeting, as this can be rare for a dancehall artist. As a result, the record ended up on the B list.
Statistics and listener feedback also play their role. Music assistant Ryan Newman is specifically charged with investigating the stats behind all of the songs to be considered, which can be everything from where it sits on the Shazam chart to views on YouTube. We were told, for example, that Loadstar’s Space Between has racked up 60,000 views on UKF’s YouTube channel in just a few days.
The meeting itself lasts around two and a half hours and it is then down to the three-strong music team to make the final decisions as to what the next week’s playlist will be.
Songs are divided into “T tracks” – top of the hour tracks that will dominate the music output; A list tracks – which will receive between three and four plays a day; B list – between two and three daily plays; and C list, which receive around one play a day. These lists are then subdivided into A1 and A2, B1 and B2 and C1 and C2 lists, with a number of additional songs to be added for spot play.
With all the considerations of nationality, genre and DJ reaction to consider, making the final list is like a game of 3D chess. But in the end the decisions are made: of the 16 tracks examined, Jessie J’s Nobody’s Perfect is added to the A list, Gappy Ranks’ Tun Up and The Bullitts’ Close Your Eyes make the B list, while Adele’s Someone Like You, Sbtrkt’s Living Like I Do, Distance’s Falling and Durrty Goodz’ Oi What You Looking At will all receive spot plays.
“Putting something on the playlist is the highest accolade that a radio station can give to a record,” said MistaJam. “So we have to make sure we are doing the right thing.”
This can be a long – and often argumentative – process but getting it right and therefore playing the right music is one of the key reasons 1Xtra is prospering at the moment.
“1Xtra has a very unique perspective in British national radio,” MistaJam said. “We are the only station that can playlist a mix tape track from an up and coming rapper and play it next to a Flo-Rida track.”
“If we don’t take credit for that you are stupid,” he concluded. “When these artists needed national airplay to go to the next level, we were the only people doing it.”
Reactions from the playlist meeting
Distance – Falling
“This is one of those tracks that has had a strong response from the scene. It is definitely playlist worthy.”
“I like it but for me there is something still a bit specialist about it. I don’t think the song is strong enough.”
Katy Perry – E.T. (Kanye West remix)
“It doesn’t feel like it would sit right on the air, even with Kanye on it.”
“Something about it doesn’t carry through.”
“It is literally the vocal – if it had been Rihanna the voice would be different.”
T-Pain featuring Chris Brown – Best Love Song
“That is purely generic 1Xtra R&B, a top record that would sit so comfortably with what we do.”
“It is the 1Xtra sound – people expect it.”
SBTRKT – Living Like I Do
“His journey started at this station.”
“If there is a story and support from the label and Rinse FM then maybe spot [play] it.”
