Radio 1's Essential Mix @ 20: Pete Tong

"I can't believe we've been doing this show for twenty years! We've done over a thousand Essential Mixes in that time and created an unbelievably rich archive of dance music history. The idea behind the Essential Mix first came from me going to New York in the 1980's, discovering the mix show and being blown away by it. Then when I got my own show on Radio 1 in the early 1990's I told my bosses that we had to have a show like this in the UK. The Essential Mix was the perfect way to get DJs like Sasha, Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox onto Radio 1. Putting this first Essential Mix together was quite antiquated compared to the way its put together today. It was literally me standing in a room with two turntables and recording straight onto tape recorders!" Pete Tong, December 2013.