Zane Lowe leaving BBC Radio 1 for Apple

February 16, 2015

BBC Radio 1 has announced that popular DJ, Zane Lowe, will be leaving this March to join Apple. While Apple doesn't operate a BBC-style radio service, they do operate iTunes, including the iTunes Radio service in the US and Australia, recently acquired the Beats Music service as well, and have repeatedly said they value human curation when it comes to music. From the BBC:

During his time on the station, the New Zealand-born DJ has become well known for championing emerging talent and many acts have made their breakthrough after having one of their tracks named as "hottest record in the world" on Zane's show.

Zane also curated last October's Radio 1 Rescores project - in which artists including The 1975, Foals, Bastille and Laura Mvula wrote a new soundtrack for the 2011 movie Drive, with their new music broadcast alongside a special screening of the film on BBC Three.

Apple seemingly paused the international rollout of iTunes Radio last year following the Beats acquisition and rumors persist that a new service will take the place of both iTunes Radio and Beats Music sometime this year. Though neither Lowe nor Apple have commented on what he'll be doing at the company, given his background, the type of human curation and program building he excels at and Apple favors would seem like a natural fit.