Apple’s 24-hour global radio station is now live.
As well as a new streaming service, Apple launched its 24-hour global radio station Beats 1 today at 5pm BST, with a show hosted by Zane Lowe.
The show was heralded with an hour of hold music provided by Brian Eno’s classic Ambient 1: Music For Airports, while Lowe himself sent out occasional test messages over the microphone.
The excitable Lowe kicked off the station properly at 9am PDT (5pm BST) with a track called ‘City’ from little-known Manchester band Spring King. He followed that up with Beck’s ‘Dreams’ and Jamie xx’s ‘Gosh’, shouting out the “early adopters hungry for new music”.
Lowe also played Skepta’s ‘Shutdown’, Hudson Mohawke’s ‘Warriors’ and Pharrell’s new track, ‘Freedom’ in the show’s first 30 minutes. During ‘Warriors’ he took it upon himself to give up-and-coming electronic artists some advice, telling them they needed to “make their instruments sing”, like Aphex Twin and Hud Mo. Here’s how those very first moments shouted, via The Next Web:
https://soundcloud.com/thenextweb/zane-lowe-kicks-off-apples-new-beats-one-radio-station
Based in Los Angeles, Lowe’s show is on Monday to Thursday at 5am and 5pm BST. Ebro Darden’s show is broadcast Monday to Thursday 11am and 11pm BST from New York, while Julie Adenuga is in charge of London’s flagship show, on Monday to Thursday at 8am and 8pm BST. Shows will be repeated strategically throughout the day to account for different time zones.
According to Rolling Stone, future programming will include Gratitude, which features an artist talking about a musician that’s influenced them, starting with Nas on Eric B, and the obligatory chart show.
These join the previously reported big name artists drafted in to present shows. Lowe confirmed that Pharrell would have his own show called OTHERtone co-presented by Cara Delevingne – their first guest will be Justin Timberlake.
As Rolling Stone reports, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme is also on board to present the Alligator Hour, featuring music from artists like Grinderman and Roky Erickson, while St. Vincent’s Mixtape Delivery Service sees the artist create hour-long music selections for fans. In the first episode, she creates a playlist for an 11-year-old girl featuring Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy the Silence,’ New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ and Deee-Lite’s ‘Groove Is in the Heart’.
You can check out the upcoming schedule at the official Beats 1 website, which highlights a few more interesting shows. As well as a show from A-Trak, there’s One Mix, which looks like the station’s answer to BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix – it kicks off on July 4 with Eric Prydz at the helm.
There was no sign of Lowe’s interview with Eminem, but the host confirmed that would be broadcast tomorrow (July 1).
To listen to Beats 1 you’ll need to update to iOS 8.4 or download the new iTunes – more on that here.
