Pete Tong and Essential News

Earlier on in the year Pete promised that there would be some special Essential Mixes this year from Ibiza. Details of who will be doing them is still being kept quiet but it, according to the essentialselection.com website it could be held over a couple of weekends. Pete is due to be in Ibiza on 5th, 6th and 13th August and all slated as live Essential Mixes from the club Space. As usual more info will appear here as and when I know.

Pete has won the Music Broadcaster of The Year Award for 2000, he was presented the award by Kanya King at the plush Grosvenor Hotel in the heart of London. It was the second year running that he has won a Sony. The judges said: Pete Tong has redefined dance music radio making it the 'new pop' with his cool credible and alternative style. He is the market leader in his field, and is trusted by his audience whom he understands well." He beat fellow Radio 1 DJ's Tim Westwood and Jo Whiley to the prize.

It's that time to reach for the Club 18-30 holiday brochure and to get down to the travel agents because on Friday night Pete announced the dates that Radio 1 would be resident in Ibiza. This year the whole Radio 1 wagon will be pitching their tents on the white island from 4-6 August. We can look forward to a couple of very special mixes (that is the impression Pete gave) from some so far unannounced DJ's. As soon as I know more details I will let you know.

Following in the steps of Paul Oakenfold and Dave Pearce, Pete has launched his own website. Titled 'EssentialSelection.com' it offers a host of information, downloads and exclusive news. There is a mailing list to keep you upto date of what is happening and the opportunity to order albums online. It's very well laid out, the graphics are excellent and.... well why not check it out for yourself... http://essentialselection.com

For the forth year running Radio 1 is in Ibiza. 6-8th August are the dates and they will be broadcasting over 30 hours of programmes. For the first time Pete Tong & JUdge Jules will be hosting a daytime show and other DJ's who will be out there include Dave Pearce, Fabio & Grooverider, Danny Rampling, Annie Nightingale, Carl Cox and Gilles Peterson.

On her BBC chat show this week, Vanessa Feltz has revealed that her first kiss was with DJ Pete Tong. The pair exchanged fluids in a swimming pool whilst on hols in Majorca many years ago. Pete, obviously wanting to forget the episode in case it all goes a bit, er, Pete, had his memory jogged by Vanessa who revealed the saucy secret.

Pete explained: "I thought 'She's a bit off her head'. But I think I've worked it out - it might be true. I tell you something - she's not a natural blonde. I was 10. She was tiny then. My mum's probably got some photos somewhere. My wife thinks it is really funny."

The BBC has defended dance music DJ Pete Tong after it was alleged he was using his Radio 1 show to promote his own record label.

The Independent newspaper claims Tong, who has been with the station for eight years, is giving undue prominence to records on his own label, FFRR. Tong has run the label, an offshoot of London Records, since 1988. He has developed a reputation as one of Britain's top talent scouts, most notably signing All Saints to London, alongside being one of the UK's most respected club DJs.

The Independent claims he is using his show to promote the label, playing an average of four FFRR tracks on his Friday night Essential Selection show each week since the year began. Conservative culture and media spokesman Peter Ainsworth told the newspaper: "The BBC governors should order an immediate inquiry into this question of self-promotion and establish whether guidelines have been broken. "It is essential that the BBC is, and is seen to be, beyond reproach." But a BBC spokesman dismissed the calls, pointing out it was Tong's influence over the club scene that made the station take him on in the first place. He said: "We knew of his position when we employed him.

Most of our specialist DJs have outside interests like this, and as long as they declare them, we're happy. "Pete's running order is checked each week by our head of music, and if there was any bias, it would stick out like a sore thumb. Pete actually plays less music from FFrr than you'd expect to hear on his show. "It's a bit like saying Zoe Ball plays records by Fatboy Slim because she's engaged to Norman Cook - when in fact she plays them because they're good records."

fter Radio One DJs have been broadcasting records produced by companies in which they have a direct financial interest. Dance guru Pete Tong has come under fire as it emerged that he has played at least 240 tracks by 45 different artists from his own record label, ffrr - the London Records dance imprint.

Armand Van Helden's single 'You Don't Know Me' was played eight times on Tong's Essential Show and went on to sell 400,000 copies, reaching number one for ffrr. Similarly, Pete Heller's 'Big Love' was played on 12 of Tong's shows before entering the charts at number 12.

The Conservative culture and media spokesman, Peter Ainsworth said: "The BBC governors should order an immediate inquiry into this question of self-promotion and establish whether guidelines have been broken. It is essential that the BBC is, and is seen to be, beyond reproach."

BBC producer guidelines state: "The BBC is responsible for the choice of commercially recorded music played on its programmes. The reasonable viewer or listener should not be given any reason to believe that the choice has been improperly influenced by any record company or music influenced by any record company or music promoter."

Tong comes out as the number one target as his Radio Dance show, the Essential Selection on Fridays at 6.00pm, is highly influential on the dance scene. He also plays records from companies owned by his business associates. It is commonly accepted that for a dance tune to make it big it has to feature first in Tong's playlist (see Tong's playlist ). Other Radio One DJs with interests in record companies include Gilles Peterson who owns Talkin' Loud.

Radio 1 has announced what it's going to do on 31st December 1999 and it looks like quite a party!

10.00: Zoe Ball’s Millennium Breakfast Show featuring Carl Cox in Sydney
15:00: Chart of the Century with Mark Goodier counting dowm some of Radio 1's biggest anthems
17:00: Millennium Dance Party UK. Emma B and Scott Mills host Radio 1’s non-stop party as we chase Midnight around the globe and celebrate throughout the UK.
17:00: UK Prize Winners Party with Judge Jules (17:00 - 18:00)
18:00: Pete Tong’s special Millennium Selection live from Liverpool Docks (18.00-21:00)
21:00: Danny Rampling in Cape Town, South Africa, seeing in the Millennium (21:00-22:30)
22:30: Collin Hamilton in Port Rush, Northern Ireland at Kellys (22:30-23:30)
23:30: Dave Pearce counts down the UK’s new millennium live in Glasgow (23.30-00:30)
00:30: Pete Tong switches to Cream in Liverpool (00.30-02.00)
02:00: Fatboy Slim takes the celebrations to Trentham Gardens, Stoke on Trent (02.00-03.30)
03:30: Judge Jules jets to Gatecrasher at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield (03.30-04.45)
04:45: Junior Vasquez catches our 4th midnight from New York, USA at Twilo’s (04.45-06.00)
06:00: Paul Oakenfold DJs our final UK party at Home, Leicester Sq.’s, London (06.00-08.00)
08:00: Chris Moyles' New Millennium Show. An extended breakfast show featuring our final Midnight with Carl Cox jetting from Sydney to Honolulu, Hawaii (09:30 - 10:30).

Pete Tong will announce Radio One's plans for the millennium during a special edition of his show broadcast from the London Planetarium this Friday (April 30).

It's expected the dance guru will unveil a 24-hour event called One World which will take place in New York and will be beamed to UK listeners via satellite. On the eve of the new millennium, Tong will be joined by Carl Cox, Danny Rampling, Judge Jules, Dave Pearce, Junior Vasquez, Sasha and Norman Cook. One World is the first millennium event to be officially launched by the station. A Radio One spokeswoman assured us that, "the great and the good of the dance community are going to be there."

Pete Tong presents a unique sonic clash between the British DJ Norman Cook and American DJ Armand Van Helden. With warm-up sets from Jon Carter and the Lo Fidelity All Stars. Broadcast on Radio 1 starting Friday 16 April 99 at 23:00.

The Essential Mix will have it's own arena this year at the homelands dance festival. The festival which is organised by the same promotors as the Reading Festival and The Phoenix has a capacity for 40,000 people and is due to take part during 29-30 May 99. The venue is the same as last years Creamfield event, The Bowl, Matterley Bowl near Winchester. In total there are 9 different arenas, each run by a different organiser. This should be one of the biggest outdoor club events this year.

Essential Mix Arena	Radio 1 Sound Stage
Pete Tong Paul Oakenfold John Digweed Nick Warren Steve Lawler Guy Ornadel Jimmy Van Mailegham Dave Ralf Parks & Wilson Craig Richards	Judge Jules Danny Rampling Annie Nightingale Dave Pearce Steve Lawler Dan Baile

Simon Mayo will make broadcasting history on March 12th when he completes his continuous 36 hour show. Starting at 9am on Thursday March 11th and ending with co-host Pete Tong on Friday March 12th at 10pm.

According to staff at Muzik magazine, Pete Tong is the most powerful man in dance music. He came top of the list of 50 people in dance music who have the most influence.

Muzik editor Ben Turner says: "This list is not about money, it is about who wields the most power - whether it is being the voice for a generation or being able to get records on the Radio One playlist."

This is because of his roles as a radio presenter at Radio One and as A&R director at record company ffrr. His annual earnings are estimated at £450,000 with an overall wealth of £2m.

He says: It's quite embarrassing, especially with Puffy at number two. I've been dodging his calls all week.