[ACTV]

I'm particularly gutted to hear the end of Radio 1 Relax. It's my go to station, and Capital Chill is too dance focussed - R1Relax feels like something that doesn't exist elsewhere. Whereas the proposed R1 extension of 00s and 10s sounds like something commercial stations are already covering in parts.

I certainly think R1 Relax serves more of a purpose and is more distinctive than R1 Dance. I imagine this new “Radio 3 Relax” station will spiritually succeed it, but I can see that being aimed much older. In terms of competitors, there really aren't any serious ones. Capital Chill is practically a dance station and Global did have Chill from 2005 as an ambient station for an 18-35 audience until they rebranded it as Smooth Chill in 2019 bringing it under the 35+ Smooth brand in the process.

Dance music is all but inescapable, Global have two (Capital Dance/Heart Dance) plus Bauer has the Kiss network. Therefore I feel the plans to expand Radio 1 Dance will likely end up causing a massive stink and probably be rejected like BBC Three was back in 2001. Expanding R1 Relax instead would be much better use of funding (it's mental health content could be seen as public service) and be more distinctive to commercial offerings, there is really nothing else like it.