the "essential mix" is a weekly radio show broadcast on bbc radio 1 and features many styles of electronic dance music. it was originally the brainchild of eddie gordon, the producer of the show from the first broadcast in 1993 to 2001. in 1993, after months of receiving weekly mix shows on tape-cassette, featuring new york djs tony humphries wrks 98.7 kiss fm and frankie knuckles wqht hot 97 fm, and recorded and mailed religiously by u.s. "billboard"s dance editor brian chin, eddie advised bbc radio 1 that a weekly dance-mix show with djs of different genres of music would offer more variety and the chance for the ever-burgeoning uk dance music scene to flourish with both notable and upcoming djs. eddie further encouraged the djs he scheduled to flex their musical knowledge; a high number of listeners were recording the show on cassette to listen to later, so a straight out "4 to the floor" mix was not necessarily required, allowing the djs to include more eclectic music or offer something different from their normal selections. dj paul oakenfold particularly grasped the concept, and after sitting with eddie to blueprint his december 1994 "essential mix", he produced the now world-famous goa mix, which won a silver award in the specialist music programme category at the 1998 sony radio awards and in 2000 was voted the best ever essential mix by the bbc radio 1 listeners. then dj david holmes in june 1997 created another two legendary hours in the history of the "essential mix"; his set, a surprising journey from nancy wilson to jimi hendrix, redefined the dj as a collector of musical history. in may 1998, dj ashley beedle, known for his house music style, completed a two-hour reggae mix to reveal his extensive knowledge of that genre of music and it is blogged as the best reggae mix ever broadcast (see link best foot forward).