Radio 1's Festival Coverage Goes Global

Radio 1 Executive producer Matt Priest chatted to Skrufff this week about significant changes in their outdoor dance event program next year and confirmed that Radio 1 will be changing the UK based festivals they cover and focusing on extra events overseas.

"We're not going to be back at Homelands, we're not going to be back at Creamfields, but we're adding Global Gathering instead," Matt told Skrufff. "It's one we've wanted to do for a while because it's a really well run dance festival that's hugely popular."

The highly influential UK station will be continuing to broadcast from Spain's Sonar and America's Miami Winter Conference though adding upcoming international events such as Skol Beats in Brazil and Serbia's annual Exit Festival.

"We still talking to Skol Beats so I'm not able to confirm that we're definitely doing it but that's exactly the kind of event we're looking at more, as is the Exit Festival," he explained.

"The changes are not so much a reflection on the events themselves, we just need to freshen up our summer and move things forward, to try working with some different people and try giving our audience a different type of event," he said.

Radio 1 will also be abandoning their Ibiza Weekends, though Matt stressed their Balearic coverage will remain high.

"There's no question of us pulling out on Ibiza, rather we'll be covering it in a different way," he stressed.

"Instead of taking the entire station there for a weekend we're going to cover it more throughout the summer, reflecting the club nights and events that already happen, week in, week out," said Matt

"I think the changes are healthy; it's important to change things to keep shows fresh for our audience," he added.
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• bbc
• radio 1