BBC Radio 1 today unveils its live music and events programme for 2009 – and it features a sizzling summer of UK-based events. Kicking off the UK festival season is Radio 1’s Big Weekend. The station’s flagship event returns on 9 and 10 May and this time the UK’s biggest free ticketed music festival comes from Lydiard Park in Swindon.

The station will once again be at all the major UK festivals including Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds, T in the Park and Creamfields.

Throughout the summer BBC Introducing will be hosting stages alongside Radio 1 at the major festivals – including T in the Park for the first time – giving unsigned, undiscovered and under-the-radar music artists and DJs discovered across the BBC a chance to play.

Alongside the festival mayhem, Radio 1 is setting off on a Young UK Summer Tour with presenter Greg James and the Switch team visiting towns and cities across the UK.

On top of that, Scott Mills heads to Scotland as Radio 1 makes its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Radio 1 will also be broadcasting from some of the biggest UK dates in 2009 including stadium shows from Take That and Coldplay.

And the station also returns to specialist music events including the Underage Festival, the Warehouse Project, Eurosonic and Sonar.

Jason Carter, Editor, BBC Live Music & Events, says: “It’s a packed year again for Radio 1 – with Big Weekend, a presence at all the major festivals and lots of activity aimed at the younger end of our audience. We’re also delighted to be visiting the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time.

“Throughout the year we’ll continue to support a range of new music and emerging artists as well providing a platform for live music.”

Already this year Radio 1 has demonstrated its continued commitment to live music at every level with Franz Ferdinand at Maida Vale; U2 at the Radio Theatre; through to supporting the Hard Dance and Drum & Bass Awards and events such as Bloc Weekender.