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Rebecca Frank, Head of Production, Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network, celebrates Radio 1 and 1Xtra's successful #1MillionHours campaign.

It feels like the given script that 2016 has been “quite the year”. Amongst political turmoil, a string of legends passing on, and Leicester winning the Premier League, it’s been no ordinary 12 months.

Alongside that backdrop of high-drama in the media, something else was quietly brewing amongst thousands of Radio 1 and 1Xtra listeners in 2016. We put the ultimate challenge to them last December, when we launched our #1MillionHours campaign. This was our most ambitious social action movement ever, all about motivating our audience to volunteer, giving their time to those in need. For the first time we partnered directly with four national charities (Age UK, Cancer Research UK, Barnardo’s and Oxfam), who have worked with us tirelessly to make this campaign alive and thriving in the real world. 

Two marketing campaigns, a cross promotional campaign with ‘’ on Â鶹ԼÅÄ TV, three documentaries, six weeks of priority air time and countless visits to organisations by our DJs later, we reached a grand total of 1,122,065 hours pledged to good causes by our listeners. That's over 15,000 8-hour shifts promised to help others. Now comes the real bit, when those organisations have to work with those pledgers to match them to an activity in the real world. 

We’re acutely aware of the trust our listeners put in us on a daily basis; from recommending music to being their source of news - and we never take that power for granted. By using our platform for a campaign like this, our intention was to channel that power as a force for good. 

Listeners could pledge 8, 16 or 24 hours of time to various volunteering opportunities with our partners, that they can complete over the next year. From working in shops, to helping in children's play centres and daycare centres for older people, cheerleading at fun runs and helping in festivals, the opportunities are as much about young people gaining skills, confidence and material for CVs that benefits them, as they are about helping others. A survey Radio 1 and 1Xtra conducted last year taught us that after the cause itself, personal benefit was the next biggest reason for young people wanting to volunteer. We also encouraged our audience to pledge to any organisation they wanted via social media. The hashtag has become a veritable pin board for smaller organisations up and down the country to recruit people, something we hope continues as a natural legacy. 

It's no accident that we didn't use the word ‘volunteering’ within the name of our campaign. Many organisations we worked with told us it could be hard to recruit young people to give their time, largely due to having to somehow cut through the noise on the social media feeds that they’re consuming every day. Committing to volunteer properly is just that - a commitment in the real world, with sometimes very direct consequences. It's a tough ask, and one that needed more than the existing army of superstar volunteers out there. Our campaign was also about motivating people who had never thought of giving their time before. It was about utilising that influence to stimulate the curiosity in the most unlikely of listeners, just because their favourite DJ encouraged them, or they saw a film that made them think. 

Last night on Radio 1, . There was a definite letting-of-hair-down activity hosted by Greg James, with a mulled wine rendition of Innuendo Bingo, and a rap battle between Alice Levine and Matt Edmondson. But in between the jokes the presenters were reflecting on #1MillionHours, reliving heart-stopping conversations between them and people affected by volunteering throughout the year. Perhaps most memorable was , who spoke about her loneliness and the impact a weekly visit had on her life. The audience was palpably moved, and responded in their droves. 

Now the #1MillionHours army is assembled, the real work begins. We'll stay in touch with our partners to track who took the next step, so that we can keep a better understanding of what motivates and excites our listeners. We're proud to have been a part of so many people's first exploration of volunteering. 

Rebecca Frank is Head of Production, Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network