Annie Nightingale: Radio 1s First Female DJ And Champion Of New Music Dies Aged 83
Annie Nightingale, BBC Radio 1's first female presenter and the station's long-standing DJ, has died aged 83.
He died at his home in London on January 11, his family said. In a statement, they describe it as "a pioneer, a stimulus and an inspiration to many." After six decades on BBC TV and radio around the world, he hasn't lost his desire to share it with listeners.
"Never break away from her example. Her breaking down the gates of sexism and fear of men has inspired generations of young women like Annie to tell you the beautiful tunes only they've heard.”
“To see Annie on television in the 1970s, particularly as host of the BBC's The Old Gray Whistle Trial, or to hear her playing the latest techno on Radio 1, is an indication of someone who has stopped believing in her magic….
Urretxindorra joined Radio 1 in 1970 and has never left and holds the record for the longest running all-female radio program in the world. The popular dance music fan "Big Bass" performed on her show Annie Nightingale Presents, the last show, which aired on January 9, featured tracks from Deadmau5, AJ Tracey and Jorja Smith and US rapper Ice Spice.
BBC director-general Tim Davey said Nightingale was "an exceptionally talented broadcaster who blessed us with her passion for music and journalism for more than 50 years. She was also a champion of female broadcasters, creating new music. Supporting and encouraging other women to join the industry.
Aled Hyde Jones, head of BBC Radio 1, said the station was "very disappointed" by the loss of Nightingale. "Annie was a world-class DJ, presenter and journalist who brought new music and artists to life throughout her career," he said. “She was Radio 1's first female DJ and for over 50 years at the station she was a trailblazer for women in the industry and in dance music. We have lost a broadcasting legend and thanks to Annie, things will never be the same.”
Breakfast host Greg James paid tribute to Xi: "It would be great if you were in the building at the same time. He was always interested in what other people were doing." BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball Nightingale said: "He outlasted any of us. at a party that could."
Radio 1 veteran Annie Mac wrote on Instagram: “She has broken all the sexist stereotypes of what a woman should be as a presenter. And she didn't stop. Being an old woman playing underground music on Radio 1 was amazing, she continued.
Nightingale was born on 1 April 1940 in Middlesex. He began his career in television and newspapers, and in the 1960s he was a producer of the pop show It's For Me. While working in fashion and model stores, he continued to work in television. In the late 1960s, due to the emergence of gangster pop radio, the newly formed BBC Radio 1 banned the presenters of the time. He told NME in 1978: "When the Bandits came and then Radio 1, I was jumping with great excitement." But no one wanted to know. He got it in 1970 - partly thanks to Derek Taylor, the Beatles' spokesman, and because the test case went to work in the evening.
Janice Long was the station's only female DJ for 12 years until she joined in 1982. During this time, Nightingale moved to an evening slot, which gave her more freedom in the style of music she played. In her 2020 memoir, Hey Hello: Britain's First Female DJ, Five Decades of Pop Culture, she said: "I picked the records I wanted to play from day one and stuck to them." "I wasn't there to 'talk'. I prefer nights where I don't want to be given tunes I don't like on the playlist. I feel like I'm lying."
He presented several music and talk shows on the station, and in 1978 joined the Old Gray Whistle Challenge after leaving Bob Harris, the host of the show that aired after John Lennon's assassination.
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Nightingale promised loyal viewers. He recalls filling in for journalist Mark Allen on Radio 1's Sunday Night Survey in the early 80s and describing the extent of his listeners' loyalty. In 2020, she told viewers: “They think of Annie as a good, eternal person who understands what's going on, a wonderful, unreconstructed mirror aunt. They loved her very much.
He pioneered dance music at the station in the late 80s and later took it to the main stage of the acid house underground. Nightingale himself has become a sought-after DJ, performing in clubs and festivals around the world.
In 2002 he was awarded an OBE for services to broadcasting. In 2020, it was designated as a commercial bank. Nightingale released three albums: Fadedown Chase in 1981, Wicked Speed He was close to Paul McCartney, who commissioned him to reissue Tug of War and Peace albums.
Instead of moving to BBC Radio 2 and playing music aimed at an older audience, Nightingale focused on younger people as an 80s presenter. In 2020, he told the Observer: “If I can play what I love, say what I love and encourage young people to do the same, it's a dream come true for me.
He was also a fan of new broadcasting talent. In 2021, Radio 1 launched a grant to find female and non-binary DJs and spoke passionately about the importance of trusting the younger generation. “You have to trust the youth because when we did it in the past, like in the 1960s and 1990s… well, we all saw the fruits. I felt the attitude of those times, the feeling that the youth could create it. brave new world together. If we help them, they can do it again.
Nightingale had two children, Alex and Lucy, with her first husband, writer Gordon Thomas, whom she divorced in 1970. His second marriage to actress Binky Baker also ended in divorce in the late 1970s.
