Essential Selection

Last updated

Essential Selection
Genre Electronic dance music, house
Running time2 hours
Country of origin United Kingdom
Home station BBC Radio 1
Digitally Imported
Radio syndication
Starring Pete Tong & various artists
Created by Eddie Gordon
Original release11 January 1991 –
present
No. of episodes1223

The Essential Selection is a radio show on Friday evenings on BBC Radio 1, originally conceived by producer Eddie Gordon and hosted by Pete Tong. [1]

Contents

History

"The Essential Mix programme was originally produced by Radio 1 producer Eddie Gordon, who held the post from 1993 to 2001. After receiving weekly mix shows from DJs Tony Humphries [2] [3] [4] and Frankie Knuckles on two-hour cassettes from New York's Hot 97 and KISS [5] [6] 100 respectively [7] in the early Nineties Eddie felt that a Radio 1 weekly show with DJs of different styles of music would offer more variety and the chance for the ever burgeoning UK dance music scene to flourish." [1]

Gordon pitched the idea of a UK-based dance music show, with an emphasis on house, that show-cased different DJs and styles of music and offer an outlet for UK dance music. [1]

The first show, fronted by Gordon's protege Tong, was broadcast on 11 January 1991, produced by Gordon and aired from 7.30pm to 10.00pm. [8] The show was subject to scheduling adjustments over the subsequent fifteen years, varying in duration from 2 hours to 3.5 hours, broadcast within the time frame from 6.00pm to 10.00pm. The show was the first BBC production to broadcast live from Ibiza, Spain. [1] Gordon left the show in 2003, when it changed to a three-hour length. In addition, a one-hour Sunday edition of the programme was broadcast at 7.00pm from April 1992 to April 1993, [9] called "The Essential Selection - Part 2".

From 29 September 2006 to at least 2013, the show was entitled simply Pete Tong [10] (although the feature "Essential New Tune" remains), and is currently broadcast from 10.00pm to 1.00am. The 500th show was broadcast on 23/24 April 2010, featuring Tong on the Friday night, and Tong plus DJs Sasha and Richie Hawtin live from Circus nightclub in Liverpool. [1]

In September 2020, the show changed time slot to 10:00pm each Friday night. It is usually pre-recorded by Pete Tong from his Los Angeles studio where he currently resides.

From October 2020, the show acts as the drivetime show on BBC Radio 1 Dance, airing 4pm–6pm Monday to Thursday.

Format

A regular feature of the show is Tong's designation of one track as the Essential New Tune of the week. Often, the track in question may be only available in white label releases at the time. This is a significant accolade within the dance music community. [11] [12]

International versions

Versions of the show are exported outside of the UK. In Vancouver, Canada, the show, under its original name aired Saturday evenings from 8:00pm–10:00pm on The Beat 94.5FM, but was taken off air from Summer of 2008. [13] In China, the show is aired Saturday evenings from 10:00pm–12:00pm (2:00pm – 4:00pm UTC) on CRI Hit FM under its original name from 5 May 2012. So it can be listened to at Beijing (FM 88.7 MHz) and Shanghai (FM 87.9 MHz) [14] Evolution with Pete Tong on Evolution (radio network) was distributed by Premiere Networks in a 2 hour format, from June 2013 to December 2016. [15]

Discography

List of Essential Selection albums, the chart numbers written next to the titles are their entry in the UK Compilation Chart [16] The limited editions of the albums had to chart separately from the standard editions due to chart regulations. The limited editions are distinguished from the standard editions by a different cover and a third disc (standard editions have two discs).

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Radio 1 celebrates 500th DJ to take part in Essential Mix with special live broadcast". BBC Radio 1. 2 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "Tony Humphries · About · Artist ⟋ RA". Resident Advisor . Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "Tony Humphries". Discogs.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "Biography | Tony Humphries". Tonyhumphries.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  5. ↑ Zakarin, Jordan (30 April 2012). "Kiss FM, Legendary NYC Urban Radio Station, Goes Off the Air". Hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Hughes, C. J. (30 April 2012). "Final Farewells at a Legendary Radio Station". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  7. ↑ residentadvisor.net, discogs.com . and tonyhumphries.com all claim Humphries worked at KISS-FM New York
  8. ↑ "Frequency Finder" Archived 12 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine Classic Radio 1 Schedules 1991
  9. ↑ "Frequency Finder" Archived 12 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine Classic Radio 1 Schedules 1992
  10. ↑ "BBC - Press Office - Special night to celebrate Pete Tong's 20 years at BBC Radio 1". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  11. ↑ Hannan, Rachael. "DJ Interviews: Yousef". Urban Planet. Archived from the original on 23 August 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2006.
  12. ↑ [ dead link ]
  13. ↑ "Essential Selection" Archived 14 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Beat 94.5FM, Vancouver, Canada. Retrieved 4 January 2008.
  14. ↑ "Essential Selection" Archived 16 January 2013 at archive.today CRI Hit FM, China. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  15. ↑ "Listen to Pete Tong Evolution Beatport Radio Live | Stream Online Free | iHeartRadio". 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  16. ↑ The Complete Book of the British Charts Singles and Albums Third Edition p. 1275 (2003)

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