Andy Parfitt
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Andy Parfitt (born 1959) is the current Controller of BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom. He has been in that role since 1998, taking over from Matthew Bannister.
Andy joined the BBC in 1980 working as a Studio Manager. He spent some time with BFBS in the Falkland Islands, before returning to the UK in 1984. He became a producer in BBC Education, then joined Radio 4 and produced Pick of the Week and Bookshelf. He helped set up Radio 5, and became the network's Assistant Editor. He joined Radio 1 as Chief Assistant to the Controller in 1993. A year later he was promoted first to Editor, Commissioning and Planning and soon after to Managing Editor. In 1997, he became the network's Deputy Controller when Matthew Bannister was appointed Director of BBC Radio.
In March 1998, Parfitt was appointed Controller of Radio 1. During his time as Controller he has refocused the station on a core target audience of 16 to 24 year old listeners. In 2002, Andy oversaw the conception and launch of BBC 1Xtra, a new digital radio service for fans of new black music.
More recently, Parfitt has been instrumental in changes to the Radio 1 daytime output including the successful appointment of Chris Moyles as the Radio 1 Breakfast Show host in January 2004. As well as the recent Late Night re-shuffle which saw Colin Murray move to 10pm. This has been coupled with a recent upsurge in RAJAR ratings- with the station topping the all important ten million mark in listership.
In January, 2006 Andy was appointed the BBC's Teen Czar. This makes him the head of all Teenage Entertainment- with a view of making sure the BBC offers a wider choice of the 11-25 age group, which recent whitepapers have told the BBC it's lacking in.
Despite this, he continues his role of Controller of BBC Radio 1.
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