Week of thoughts: small talk about Annie' retirement

Why is the Radio 1 DJ leaving BBC and who is replacing her? All you need to know as she does her last show after 17 years.

Annie MacManus – better known as Annie Mac – is a Dublin dance scene queen who cemented the power prime-time hours of BBC Radio 1's dance-music programming, delivering cutting-edge tracks to a legion of devoted followers all around the world on her eponymous Friday-night Dance Party show (running from 7pm to 9pm to over a million people in the iconic role of ‘officially starting the weekend’). Since hitting the air a decade ago, she's extended her influence as both a musical curator and DJ in her own right, dropping sought-after compilations, headlining top clubs and festivals, and building her "Annie Mac Presents" showcases into a global-events brand noted for fresh, diverse lineups (at SXSW 2014, she spotlighted Kelis, electronic producer Tourist, and rapper Le1f). Mac's AMP DJ tour expanded to the U.S. in March, bringing her current slate of faves to clubs across the country.

Towards the end of her English Literature degree Annie decided to get into the radiosphere and she signed up for a post-graduate Master at a college in Farnborough, Hampshire.  

She spent a depressing year working part time in a supermarket in the sleepy town finishing her studies. With her Masters behind her she moved to London into a house with brother Davey and other members of his band The Crimea, who were flying high in the charts.  ‘I had a mad few years of living in Camden and being a proper indie girl. I worked for the student radio network SBN and, had my own residency at The Underworld in Camden. That club was a ‘walk in’ club. You’d get every type of person in there from little skater boys, indie kids, punks, loads of tourists. Literally every walk of life was represented so it was a real lesson in keeping the dance floor full. It was only a year or two later I was doing The Mash Up so I brought that to my Radio 1 show.’

Her debut at 26 on Radio 1 was an ident for Mike Davies show as they liked the way ‘ponk’ sounded in her Dublin accent. After doing a demo she was filling in for, then her inspirational BBC 6's former host DJ and TEDxtalker Mary Anne Hobbs. Then in July 2004 she was given her broadcasting The Annie Mac Show. I was properly grateful for that time behind the scenes. It gave me a real appreciation of how a radio show works.’  In tandem her repute as a club DJ had been growing. For fun she started DJing at after and house parties when living in Belfast. After a year on Radio 1 she started her ‘Annie Mac Presents’ showcases at a single room in Fabric (inaugural artists Mylo and Justice). From humble beginnings it has grown into what Mixmag have called ‘one of the biggest brands in clubland providing a platform for a generation of youthful, bass-driven, live-dance acts and making Annie herself one of the most in-demand club/festival DJs on the planet.’  Annie is characteristically down to Earth about her achievements.

 ‘I don’t set out to represent a new generation. It was good timing for me. When I started club DJing I’d never played in a club. But the people that booked me at the beginning where very much the people that were coming up and not part of the Super Clubs thing. The world of DJing and club culture was kind of shutting me out because the way I was changing as a person but then I kind of opened a door and made it worked and for me and other people said to me: hey thanks! I'm 52 and  feel like I belong to here. Then were producers and DJs that were booking me... and embroiled in their scenes.’

 

She's been called the next successor to Zane Lowe and John Peel and this are BIG words. She DJed along the man with the whitest legs on the desert aka Duke Dumont and SBTRKT

Personally I've found this chilling being Mac one of the most solid faces in its format and her last show was a tiny if not a groan of relief for her family. I can't imagine how is to hand the headphones after hosting a distingished seventeen-years run program. High-quality electronic digital content, clubgoers trendies with great connoisseur and latest music releases. In addition to hosting a number of other specialty programs Annie has become a Mother and she has no more time for broadcasting anymore.