I had the great opportunity of hearing a talk from and then taking part in a small Q+A session with Andy Parfitt yesterday. He’s the head of Radio 1, 1 Xtra and the BBC’s fairly new teen offering, Switch, and was in Belfast for a speech to the Radio Academy here.

It was a really interesting hour and a half, listening to Andy talk about how Radio 1 manages to stay relevant to its audience and is trying to make the most of what new technology has to offer for listeners. He is extremely passionate about the Radio 1 listener, and seems to know them inside out. Which is presumably why Radio 1 does so well. He also told us why Radio 1’s news bulletins are on the half hour and not the hour, but I’m not going to reveal the reason sorry!