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Why �� Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra are opening up to audiences this month for Access All Areas

2013-02-18T16:34:01+00:00

So far this month we've seen the editor of Newsbeat dance like a loon to the Harlem Shake, the controller of Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra being forced to choose which female DJ he'd like to kiss and Sara Cox wrestle her producer to the ground.

This isn't exactly what we envisaged when we proposed that February should be Access All Areas month on Radio 1.

The month had 2 clear objectives:

To be as open and transparent as possible for our young audience
To celebrate and continue the stations digital innovation

We know how much our listeners like to see behind the scenes and get exclusive backstage access, so we are aiming to open up what Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra do across the entire month. The relationship between us and our audience feels close than it ever has. They have access to the inner thoughts of our DJs via Twitter. They can often get to watch, as well as listen to, our regular output. So the challenge for the month is how to bring them even closer.

The centrepiece of our Access All Areas activity has rapidly become Radio 1's first ever intake of interns.

Chosen from close to 900 applicants, the four paid interns have the chance to spend 8 weeks as part of the Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra team. We were keen to recruit the best young creative minds we could find, regardless of their experience or education - so the application process was to submit 2 pieces of content that they had produced - in whatever medium. To find out more about Kae, Alice, Moses and Pete, check out their Tumblr. We've also set them up with bespoke Twitter accounts (have a look at @firstname_intern).

By being on air, on social media and embedded within our production teams the interns should bring an unmoderated account of what really goes on to the wider audience. We have also tasked them to produce their fantasy radio show - in consultation with the Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra listeners. With no constraints on the playlist, the format or the presenters, it will be fascinating to hear what they come up with. It’s from 7 till 9pm on Wednesday, 27 February.

The process hasn't been without its bumps. But if we are going to be brave, innovative and open then I think that is inevitable. We may have slightly irked some artists, but it was worth it to live tweet the entire Radio 1 playlist meeting.

No, we didn't manage to fly a blimp up the atrium of New Broadcasting House, but the month is only half done and there are many surprises still to come.

Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra are opening up to audiences throughout February as a part of Access All Areas. To find out more about Access All Areas visit the website.

Today is 1Xtra's 10th Birthday

2012-08-16T08:56:34+00:00

Check out 1Xtra's 10th Birthday celebration video!

Over on �� Radio 1Xtra they're celebrating the station's 10th Birthday with live sessions from many of the artists they've supported and featured over the years. Listen live or catch up over the next seven days.

Keep up with 1Xtra's birthday on Twitter.

Paul Murphy is the editor of the Radio Blog.

Musical round up - 1Xtra's 10th birthday; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mark Kermode's musical roots

2012-08-10T15:09:19+00:00

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

I wanted to share a selection of upcoming music programming across �� Radio that you might like. As well as listening live you'll be able to catch up on all the programmes online.

This Thursday, 16 August, �� Radio 1Xtra celebrates its 10th birthday with ten artists performing live sessions from the �� Maida Vale Studios.

Every hour from 10am, the station's showcasing the many musical genres the station has supported over the last 10 years. The sessions will open with Trevor Nelson’s show featuring performances from Jessie J and Professor Green [Update: Dizzee can't do it now as originally announced here].

1Xtra also wants listeners to share their favourite top three tunes heard on 1Xtra from the last ten years and why.

There's more programme information on the 12 days of partying with 1Xtra on the �� press site.

Film critic Mark Kermode is also an accomplished skiffle bass player and devotee of American roots, jug-band, bluegrass and rockabilly music. There's a one-hour Radio 2 special with Kermode as he makes a musical pilgrimage to Memphis, Tennessee. That's on Monday, Radio 2 at 10pm.

On Thursday 16 August �� Asian Network pays tribute to legendary Qawwali maestro, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his death. There's archive material exclusively recorded for the �� plus interviews from artists who worked with him.

The Proms continue with every concert live on Radio 3 and online in HD sound. There's a collection of Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven symphony cycle from the Proms available in its entirety that's available until 24 August.

Paul Murphy is the editor of the �� Radio Blog

Shining a spotlight on Hackney - �� Radio 1's Hackney Weekend 2012

2012-07-09T11:17:32+00:00

Audience at Hackney Weekend 2012

So as the dust settles on the ��'s first major music moment celebrating the Olympics and London Festival 2012 - Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend 2012 - we can now reflect on the success of the two days and feel more than satisfied with the outcome, particularly given the challenges that we faced.

The project had been two years in the planning, with a number of the early ambitions being to reflect positively on Hackney, East London and the young people from the area. Not all young people are bad as is often the perception, in fact quite the contrary.

We wanted to celebrate the fantastic multi-cultural youth talent that seems to seep out of East London, and inspire other young people, perhaps dis-engaged for a number of social and economic reasons. And, of course, to celebrate the arrival of the Olympics.

We also wanted to deliver a major music event, one more ambitious than Radio 1, in its illustrious history, had ever put on; a concert that celebrated youth culture and popular music, both UK- wide and globally.

The plan was a bold one: for 100,000 young people across the two days to attend the concert of a lifetime - for free - and moreover, giving the largest allocation of tickets to the young people of East London, who simply may not be able to afford a show of this calibre.

Following extensive research in the local community - talking to young people across schools, youth centres, and local youth focussed organisations, we set upon a plan. This was to deliver Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, on the 23rd and 24th June on Hackney Marshes, and to open the Radio 1 & 1Xtra Academy (more here and here) for three weeks, in the heart of Hackney, on Mare Street - free and open to any young person in the local community to attend.

With both propositions the challenges were huge. Surely the concert would not be safe, we were told. Isn’t it a given that with gang issues locally and then the very public riot coverage last year, it simply can't work? Would young disenfranchised people behave, or really be interested in learning and starting on a road to planning their futures?

Of course the concert had higher risks than perhaps others of such scale in a different area might - but we the �� felt, with the right planning we could deliver a safe show, and thus not deprive the majority of good, honest, young people in the area.

Working closely with our partners, Hackney Council and the Metropolitan Police, we set upon a plan. The security planning was like no other for the main event; two security fences (one the Fortress Fence used at Glastonbury), metal detectors, photo tickets for all attendees, and rigorous security checks. Our hope was that the procedure would prevent and dissuade the trouble makers - giving rise to a relaxed celebratory atmosphere.

The Academy had similar security risks.

Due to gang rivalry, how would we get young people from across postcodes on to Mare Street, crossing boundaries many often never pass? How could we reach the unreachable youth - those living locally and disillusioned? From our early research and building of insights, it was clear that the hook was talent - the talent that both Radio 1 & 1Xtra and indeed the �� come into contact with every day. Let's bring in some role models, people young people look up to - and use those names to draw them in and inspire them.

So, in came a myriad of amazing people to support the project, not just our official ambassadors - Trevor Nelson, Philips Idowu, Leona Lewis and Plan B, but other names across the worlds of music, media, fashion, gaming, and across the ��.

We wanted to engage as many young people as we could, encouraging schools and youth groups to chaperone young people through the doors, if that protection helped to draw the unreachable in.

Reflecting now, we are delighted to have seen thousands of visits to the Academy over the three weeks it was open, with so many feeding back on what they took away from it all - and many contributing through workshops produced by �� Learning, to the look and feel of the Hackney Marshes Concert site itself.

You only needed to read the messages of inspiration left by those that attended the academy at the main concert site, to see how inspired they became.

Most of all it pleases me and everyone involved that the �� shone a positive spotlight on East London, celebrated it's fantastic talent, delivered world class UK and International artists such as Jay-Z, Rihanna, Plan B, Florence & The Machine and Labrinth alongside new local talent, and had the lowest recorded crime in the area for some time, over the weekend of the concert.

It is too early to tell what the legacy of our time in Hackney will be but with so many people having had the time of their lives across the weekend and with so many young people coming through the doors of the Academy we are hopeful that the impact will be long lasting.

Putting Radio 1's Hackney Weekend online

2012-06-23T15:30:11+00:00

Emeli Sande performing at Hackney Weekend

In my last blogpost, I promised to try to update the blog from backstage at Hackney Weekend. Well, it's finally here. And, I keep having to pinch myself a bit, as this event has been so long in the planning. Roughly nine months of my time, and much more for some other people.

I've attached a few photos from the �� Interactive compound, to show what we're up to. The main thing we're focussed on from here, is live streaming. We have five stages, and a backstage feed, available to watch live on computer and on mobile.

It's not just a case of plugging a wire into a laptop. Before we even encode the streams for the web, we go through a process called Compliance. While we can't always prevent artists from using strong language in their performances, we work hard to warn the audience that it might happen, and to apologise if it does.

On site editing and compliance

The team on the right of this picture are complying, and the team on the left are then editing the performances into packages to publish as on-demand videos, which will be up for 30 days after the event. This video packages are sent back to a team working overnight shifts at Broadcasting House, uploading the videos so they are up as quickly as possible.

In previous years, we've encoded our live streams on site. This year, we're actually beaming the video signals back to �� Television Centre, and our colleagues in �� Sport in Salford are encoding them using the live streaming infrastructure that's all poised ready for the Olympics. Like all good boy scouts though, we are prepared for all eventualities, and have our backup laptops here, just in case.

Back up encoding laptops

There's loads of other experimental bits going on alongside our core offer. We have a 'best of' live stream going out on the Radio 1 YouTube channel and on Radio 1's Facebook page. We have a group of young Hackney journalists running a special Tumblr feed from out in the arena on their mobile phones. And Radio 1 TV is providing a backstage view, following the Radio 1 DJs around wherever they go.

I hope you're enjoying the coverage. I better crack on. I'll do another blog post next week, when the dust has settled.

Updating the Radio 1 and 1Xtra homepages

2012-05-30T12:03:36+00:00

Radio 1 homepage

My team updated the Radio 1 and 1Xtra homepages at the end of last week.

This was the first major iteration since the relaunch of Radio 1 and 1Xtra in September 2011 as described in detail here.

The September launch was a hugely significant step for us. Not only were they a technical first for the �� in many areas but they were also a game changing moment for what radio could be on the internet - allowing the interactive team at Radio 1 to create a completely synchronous online experience which can mirror what is broadcast on the analogue airwaves.

In order to get the original product live on to bbc.co.uk there were ideas for site elements and functions that had to be put aside in order to deliver most of the ambition to our online audience. The September 2011 launch was complemented by a month of gathering user feedback, most of which arrives in the opening week as our regulars get used to the change.

Audience Feedback

In addition to the feedback received via the website we ran in depth analysis with several groups of 18-24 year olds who were fans of either Radio 1, 1Xtra or similar radio stations and knew their way around the main social and entertainment websites such as You Tube, iTunes, Spotify, Facebook, Twitter and so on.

Users loved the page updating in front of them without them having to refresh it, they liked being able to scroll back through the day to see what had been played and they liked the visual impact of the image grid.

That said, there were common questions and criticisms:

Users had trouble identifying artists and guests in the promos in the lower half of the page and didn’t want to spend effort running their mouse over them all to find out.
Each group we spoke with told us they’d like a view that showed all the videos in one place and a separate one for audio items too.
They thought that the grey placeholder graphics we displayed when a track was playing and had no artwork for was an error on the page.
Furthermore, they had some suggestions around the use of the Love button - the main one being 'it would be good if I could see all the things I’ve loved in one place'.

Last week’s update addressed these concerns. The list changes look like this:

• The addition of a new Love History tab on the timeline. Logged in users now have a place where they can see all the tracks, videos and photos they’ve loved going back in time.

• Filters on the lower half. We’ve got five:

Highlights – the radio station priorities have three large promo across the top
Video – the most recent 23 video clips
Audio – the most recent 23 video clips
Most Loved view shows you the favourite items from ALL our users in the last 72 hours and is refreshed continuously.
Recommendations view is populated when you love stuff

• The grey packshot boxes replaced with a range of more colourful graphics

• The text labels in our promos are always on so users can see at a glance what we’ve got

• The Message The Studio function will be back after some back end updates are complete

We’re excited about the new Love History tab. Users can now click the heart icon on a song/track they like and know that it will be saved somewhere they can access anytime.

Favouriting stuff on websites isn’t new. But the combination of the Love button and now playing information is incredibly powerful when used across the volume of new music Radio 1 and 1Xtra play every week.

It provides inspiration for new online searches and onwards journeys to a wealth of music content on bbc.co.uk.

Thanks for reading. Please use the comments box below if you have any feedback for the Interactive team at Radio 1/1Xtra.

1Xtra Live: The 1Xtra family goes on tour

2011-11-30T12:55:00+00:00

Manchester headliner Wretch 32

1Xtra Live is a stand-out event in the 1Xtra Calendar. A free event for more than 12,000 young music fans, in four cities. It's an opportunity for the station to get out on the road and showcase what 1Xtra is all about. It's also a chance for us to get out and meet our existing audience and enable them to interact with the station they love, this is a great way of bringing the network to the audience.

In the past 1Xtra Live has been single distinctive shows and since 2008 we've taken it to Coventry, Sheffield & London. This year the decision was taken to expand this into a tour, allowing 1Xtra to really highlight the breadth of 1Xtra, showcasing Xtra RnB, Xtra Hip Hop, Xtra Drum and Bass and Xtra Dub Step and bringing unique content both to audience at the live shows and for those listening or watching at home.

The tour kicked off in Manchester and headliner Wretch 32 blew our amazing 1Xtra crowd away. We're moved to Birmingham with dubstep duo, Nero, then to Bristol with Chase and Status and culminating with a finale in London's Brixton Academy with Kelly Rowland and Jessie J.

In addition to the main show, each day Tim Westwood is broadcasting his 4pm-7pm 1xtra show live from a student union in each city. We're also showing our commitment to discovering new UK talent with our "Time to Shine" section at each event. In each city a local act gets 4 minutes on stage on front of the crowd and those listening or watching from home in a potentially career-changing moment.

Obviously doing four shows in four different cities back to back with one team brings its own challenges in terms of production, as each venue has its own capabilities and restrictions. A key consideration in the planning of the tour has been the look and feel of each live show as we wanted some form of continuity to tie the four events together. This has been achieved by working closely with the visualisation team and the marketing team through key lighting, video elements and set pieces.

A huge challenge has been to try to deliver the slick and glossy look that we have developed in previous years at bigger venues, and transfer this into smaller venues so that the event feels like more than just a live music gig. We really want to make it stand out. We've been working really closely with the artists and their creative teams to enhance their performances with pyro effects, dancers and some really exciting collaborations with special guests.

What's been great with this project is the cumulative group approach across the 1Xtra family, in the extensive planning and pulling together of this tour. 1Xtra now reaches just under a million people, and each year we do this event, the awareness of the station just keeps on growing - I really hope we continue that tradition this year. And who knows....maybe through us getting out and meeting more young music fans and introducing them to the station, we'll soon be reaching over a million listeners...

1Xtra Live 2011 will be simulcast on both �� Radio 1Xtra and �� Radio 1 as well streamed live online and broadcast live on Red Button.

Rob Spring is executive producer, Live Events �� Radio 1 & 1Xtra

Details of 1Xtra Live on �� Red Button: What's on when
Details of 1Xtra Live on the �� website

New homepages for Radio 1 and 1Xtra

2011-09-28T15:22:00+00:00

The redesigned Radio 1 homepage

There are three posts you might be interested in on the �� Internet blog covering the recent redesign of the Radio 1 and 1Xtra homepages.

Senior producer Chris Johnson introduces the ideas and principles behind the new design in Building the Radio 1 and 1Xtra �� Pages; senior software engineer Patrick Sinclair goes Under the Hood of the Radio 1 ��page: the technical low-down and last but not least senior creative director Yasser Rashid tells the design and user experience side of things in Redesigning the Radio 1 and 1Xtra User Experience online.

Paul Murphy is the editor of the Radio blog

Leave your comments about the new homepages on the �� Internet blog

Sex on the radio

2011-07-28T07:17:43+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/surgery/sexnight/

Editor's note: Aled Haydn Jones produces Chris Moyles' breakfast show on Radio 1 and also presents the station's Sunday evening advice programme The Surgery, helping young people to understand and come to terms with everything from exam stress to depression and divorce since 1999. There's a special three-hour edition - on Radio 1 and 1Xtra - this Sunday - PM.

Of all the questions that we receive via phone and texts to The Surgery - the subject that our teen audience ask about the most is undoubtedly sex.

This could be because it's the subject our young teens want to talk about the most, or it could simply be the one subject they feel most embarrassed talking to their friends, teachers or parents about. But what is clear is that, when we offer them the opportunity to get straight-talking advice about any subject, they text in their thousands and call in their hundreds to ask questions about the ins-and-outs (no pun intended!) of sex.

We get all sorts of questions - how to do it, what to do; their fears about getting it wrong and worries about their bodies ("should it look like that"? "should I be thinner/taller?"). And, importantly, they are asking questions about the consequences of sex such as "what's an STI?" "Do I have it?" And "how do I cope with being a parent?"

On The Surgery we often touch on these subjects during the show but we rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to go into a complete A-Z of Sex and the issues around it. We think that ensuring that we address every myth our audience has, discounting every fear and addressing every question that they otherwise do not feel confident to seek answers for is really important. And it's for that reason that �� Radio 1 and �� Radio 1Xtra are devoting an entire Sunday evening to the subject.

The night kicks off at 7pm, preparing our younger listeners with an hour of songs that are about getting people in the mood and ends with an hour-long documentary examining the use of sex in music at 11pm.

The centrepiece of the evening is a special 3 hour-long Surgery show, live with a young studio audience who will help discuss the topic and provide opinions about some of the subjects that will come up.

We will have some celebrities dropping in to share their thoughts on the matter, as well as sex and relationship experts and the usual Surgery doctors to ensure the advice and support we give is as helpful and informed as possible.

But of course, the main ingredient for the show and the people who will decide what we talk about will be our listeners. Whether they are already sexually active or not, it's their questions we receive through calls and texts that will set the agenda. It will be a interesting night, and many will undoubtedly cringe at the thought of having such an open and frank discussion but for every occasional embarrassed listener there'll be a handful of teenagers who will be that little bit more informed - and at the end of the day whatever your thoughts are on the UK's youth sex rates - having as many of our listeners as informed as possible can only help.

Take a listen, because believe me, you'll be surprised how much you'll learn on the subject.Â I still pick up new insights and I've been hosting The Surgery for 3 years!

Aled Haydn Jones presents The Surgery

Sex Night is on �� Radio 1 and �� Radio 1Xtra on Sunday 31st July, 7pm-12am
Picture by shawdm. Some rights reserved.

Andy Parfitt says goodbye to Radio 1

2011-07-21T08:10:00+00:00

After 13 years I'm setting down the Controllership of �� Radio 1 (and 1Xtra and The Asian Network and �� Popular Music). I've clearly believed passionately in really sticking at a strategy for the long-term, based on the understanding that real change only happens with sustained effort over long periods - but 13 years (a record period at the helm in Radio 1's 44 year history) is enough for any one leader!

Having said that, leaving has been a long thought out and tough decision to make but I walk away immensely proud to have held this position and knowing I'm leaving with all three stations in great shape - with their listening figures at record highs.

In Radio 1's case we've come a long long way from staring at a declining reach of 9.5 million - now we've a buoyant 11.5 plus million, with nearly half the UK's 15-24s listening every week - as importantly we've a station set up for success in a mobile/visual web world.

I also leave Radio 1 better "understood' as a �� service with clear public value aims for the young UK population, and that's not always been the case. I'm most proud of the teams I'm leaving behind, I've taken some of my greatest satisfaction of helping individuals develop and fulfill their potential.

Our stations are full of focused, open minded, optimistic and creative people that are not only a credit to the ��, but also I hope an inspiration to the �� of a flexible, multi-skilled modern workforce - I include all our DJs and presenters in this of course - it's one big (appropriately sized - I should say) happy family - "As One" as our marketing strap-line goes.

Looking to the future, I am about to embark on the next chapter of my life with a feeling of great excitement at what lies ahead. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am fascinated by the way organisations work (or don't work) and delivering practical change for the better. I'm also inspired by the idea of making audiences (or customers) truly the central creative focus of activity - it's much harder than it sounds, but many of the embedded "ways of life" at Radio 1 are based on these principles.

With this in mind, I'm going to work part-time for �� Radio, focussing on leadership development and I am taking on a part-time advisory role with Comic Relief - working with Chief Executive Kevin Cahill and his very able team of Directors on their next goals - and will be looking to broaden my experience and use my skills in other businesses and organisations outside of the ��.

But I care passionately for the �� and its values, and in particular how they are expressed through its awesome set of national radio services, I've been involved with them all in one capacity or another across my long radio career - and over the next years or so I hope to make a final and lasting contribution to their long term health.

If you are reading this as one of the many many people who've served the mighty Radio 1; the sharp and cool 1Xtra and the passionate people at the Asian Network over the years - I'd like to say a heart felt thank you - all audiences need to get something they love and value from the �� - the young people of the UK are no exception - so thank you again for serving them.

Andy Parfitt is Controller Radio 1, 1Xtra, Popular Music and Asian Network

Read the press release Andy Parfitt leaves Radio 1 after 13 years as Controller

John Myers' review of the ��'s popular music stations

2011-06-14T08:42:00+00:00

Today we are making public a report which looks at potential synergies and savings within Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music and 1Xtra.

Last year, I asked John Myers - CEO of the Radio Academy and one of the most respected figures in the radio industry - to review how our popular music stations are run and how they work together. The key challenge was to identify possible ways of sensibly reducing costs while protecting the quality of our programmes.

The findings of the report will help us with our current planning as we look to save costs. John's extensive experience in commercial radio meant he could take an informed and objective view of our operations.

He spent six weeks in the networks: interviewing, observing and generally digging around. He was given unrestricted access and met people at all levels of the organisation.

We welcome John's broadly positive report and its acknowledgement of the distinctive, high quality services we offer. It is very good to read John's praise of the outstanding people who work at the radio stations.

Importantly, the report recognises that �� stations have to deliver against detailed service licences which require significant resources and lead to distinct challenges to those producing commercial radio. In John's words, attempting to simply compare the demands on �� and Commercial Radio is meaningless: "akin to comparing apples and oranges".

However, this doesn't mean that we can't and shouldn't learn from external best practice - this is the very reason that I commissioned the review. The report has some valuable insights and recommendations which have been fed into our discussions around Delivering Quality First (DQF) - the �� name for the work that is underway to develop a plan for the period of the next Licence Fee settlement.

While it is too early to speculate on specific outcomes (which would all require �� Trust approval), our commitment to principles such as simplifying the organisation, reducing unnecessary compliance processes and finding new ways of working has already been stated in public.

Helpfully, John has identified some clear areas where we can look to do things more efficiently, such as improving co-ordination and reducing unnecessary duplication where appropriate.

Just like any big organisation, there are always ways of doing things better and �� radio should continue to demonstrate that it is brilliant value for money. I want to achieve this while ensuring that we do not see a dilution in quality or a reduction in clear station leadership which is at the heart of our editorial success. This will mean better value for Licence Fee payers while not threatening the programmes that listeners love.

Tim Davie is Director of Audio & Music

Download John Myers' report as a PDF: john_myers_report_june_2011.pdf
Read The Telegraph story: �� enlists commercial sector help to shake up radio from 28th November 2010.

�� Radio 1 and 1Xtra live from Camp Bastion: The Big Dawg goes to Afghanistan

2011-06-03T11:12:00+00:00

�� Radio 1 and 1Xtra decided to bring Tim Westwood to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, because the story of the troops out here is primarily a 19-year-old's story, which is perfect for our audience.

We wanted to hear the troops' stories and give them the opportunity to send messages to family and friends back in the UK.

The 10 hour takeover British Forces Special on Bank Holiday Monday was the set piece of this trip with messages of support coming from the UK and messages going back home.

Radio 1 and 1Xtra worked very closely with BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) as well as the MOD to make this trip possible.

We have been broadcasting 22 hours of live radio from the BFBS studios here in the middle of the Helmand Province desert and the help and support of the BFBS here in Camp Bastion has been amazing.

There have been a few technical headaches as we are simulcasting on BFBS across Afghanistan and 1Xtra, and triple casting the last hour of each programme on Radio 1 as well. Back timing a go-go.

The production team of two, in addition to Tim, have been sleeping in bunks in a tent in the Media Ops area. Thankfully the tents are air conditioned as the daily temperature reaches 45Â°C. But it's the dust that is the nightmare, it gets everywhere. We've already experienced one dust storm, where you couldn't see two feet in front of your face and it left a centimetre of dust in our sleeping bags inside the tent.

The first thing that strikes you about Camp Bastion is the sheer scale of the place. We managed to get up in the Air Traffic Control Tower and the camp stretches to the horizon in every direction. The perimeter fence is 26 miles long and the camp is roughly the size of Aldershot.

The strangest thing about being in the camp is sitting down to eat dinner, with US Marines on the next table with M16s and pistols.

It's been an amazing experience, as we've seen a great deal of the camp: the flight line with all the helicopter crews, the hospital, the dog compound, the logistics support groups who supply the FOBs (Forward Operating Bases), the Marines, the Firemen, meeting troops from all three services - the RAF, the Navy and the Army.

I have nothing but admiration for all the people we've met out here working in such tough conditions. I certainly couldn't do it. There is much more to be told from here and I already want to organise coming back with Tim to get out to the FOBs - the real sharp end of operations in Afghanistan (wife and Radio 1 permitting).

Rhys Hughes is executive producer, �� Radio 1

The image ("Westwood gets swept off his feet by the boys from Fire and Rescue!") is from Westwood live in Afghanistan on the Radio 1Xtra website. You can also see videos including Tim taking on one of the camp's patrol dogs.

Using Twitter to control a slot-car race - MistaJam vs Scott Mills

2011-02-15T15:02:23+00:00

Editor's note: engineers in radio used to concern themselves with balancing audio and locating transmission towers but they now have a whole set of rather more pressing concerns - like how to stop slot cars spinning off the track when too many people tweet Scott Mills. Patrick Sinclair - a software engineer in the Radio 1 Interactive team - explains how connecting social networks with physical things (Using the volume of tweets from listeners to control a slot car race, to be specific) makes for good drivetime entertainment - SB.

Behind the scenes, we used:

The Twitter Streaming API.
A Ruby script using the TweetStream gem to fetch tweets in realtime.
The Ruby script posted to an HTTP -> USB server written in C.
The Velleman K8055 USB board connected to a K8056 relay board.

We built a computer-controlled 'fake controller' that plugged into the track, just like a normal manual controller. Slot car controllers are basically just variable resistors. We varied the resistance by connecting relays across resistive load. As we turned the relays on and off, it enabled and disabled the resistors, varying the speed of the cars. Each of the resistors were potentiometers, which allowed us to calibrate the speed of the cars ahead of the race.

The relay board was connected to a USB interface board, which was then plugged into a laptop. We wrote a custom HTTP-to-USB server to make it easy for the Ruby script to turn the relays on and off.

The hardware allowed for a range of seven speeds: from 'slowest' through to 'fastest' and then 'eleven' where the car would spin off the track and finally 'out of this world' where the car would literally spin off into orbit!

We timed how long the car would take to track for each of the speeds so in theory each tweet would make the car go around the track once. Each car would have a queue of outstanding laps based on the number of tweets received, and the size of this queue would affect the speed the car ran at.

Compared to our previous efforts, using SMS messages, Twitter's API was amazing because we could get real-time feedback - within seconds of users tweeting, the car would respond. With the SMS feed, there was a delay of a couple of minutes between a message being sent and us receiving it.

The lessons were:

It was incredibly difficult to calibrate the system. There were too many variables - from variations between the cars, how the brushes on the cars were set up and how the resistors performed. It also performed very differently once the cars and resistors had warmed up.
It's hard to anticipate the volume of tweets. We received 82 tweets in one second at the start of the race while we were anticipating a few hundred during the course of the race. So we had to tweak how the system was set up a couple of times during the race, causing the cars to stop whilst the system rebooted.

For next time:

We'll allow the configuration to be changed without having to restart the system.
Be more accurate by measuring when the cars actually cross the finish line as opposed to guessing how long it took the cars to go around the track.

Patrick Sinclair is a software engineer at �� Radio1

Watch the Twitter race or listen to the whole programme on the Scott Mills homepage.
More pictures from the race on the Radio 1 web site.
The ��'s staff magazine Arial ran a feature about Radio 1's recent social media experiments.

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