Armin van Buuren recently celebrated the completion of 850 episodes of the famed radio show – A State of Trance.
The radio show hosted by Armin van Buuren and Ruben De Ronde, has been running since 2001 and amassed a loyal fan following. The weekly radio show with a two-hour run time showcases the best of progressive and trance to all the listeners. All tracks are announced during the show. The show has its own website, which enables fans to converse in chat-rooms and forums, such as Digitally Imported while listening to the broadcast. The success of the show has also spawned to include several dance events around the world. The show is celebrated live each year in different locations around the globe with a line up consisting of many trance artists.
On this milestone occasion, we jog down memory lane and list down a few facts and anecdotes about the radio show along with recalling a few defining moments from the show.
- Armin was invited by Robin Albers from ID&T to host his own radio show. Prior to that Armin had a similar experience of hosting on local radio.
- The first ASOT show was aired on the 18th of May 2001 on ID&T Radio. It was Episode 000
- The first regular episode aired on 1st June 2001.
- The show was initially names “Into Trance” but was renamed after few episodes as Armin had compilation series named “A State Of Trance” before and did not want people to get confused.
- Episodes 000-016 were aired on Fridays. It’s only since episode 017 that the show shifted to Thursdays which it continues to hold.
- Armin’s colleagues and his manager thought it was crazy to host two hour show every week. Initially, Armin didn’t even have enough tracks to fill the two-hour slot. Now, he finds it extremely difficult to fit in all the tracks within two hours and still feels that sticking to the two-hour slot was the smartest decision he took.
- Once a month ASOT had additional hour (ASOT XXL) for a special guest mix. This was carried out till 2004, however ID&T cancelled this. Armin has now revived it, the first XXL episode being ASOT 850 part 1, which saw Above & Beyond, take over the decks for a guest mix.
- Back in 2005 ID&T removed ASOT from broadcast because of a change in policy. ASOT182 (6 January 2005) was the final episode to be broadcasted on ID&T (currently SLAM!FM)
- It took Armin almost a month to find a new streaming radio station or as he called it, a “home” for his radio show.
- ASOT183 was finally aired on 10 February 2005 via internet radio ETN.fm and switched from Dutch to English
- A few episodes later, ASOT moved to DI.fm and then many radio stations around the world started broadcasting the show.
- The 100th episode was a 5-hour special show, with guest mixes and the best tunes of the 100 episodes.
- The 200th episode was a 4-hour special show, with the most requested songs by listeners, Gabriel & Dresden guest mix, and one hour of live show from Amsterdam.
- Since 250th and every 50th episode of the show there are some celebrations with some trance DJs that plays live. Since 400th episode these celebrations have place in different countries.
- The concept of TUNE OF THE WEEK existed from the very beginning of the radio show.
- The first FUTURE FAVOURITE appeared on Episode 090. The first votes were counted from episode 089
- Since episode 800 part 2, ASOT airs on audio and video from the studio at the Armada office in Amsterdam.
- The ASOT radio CLASSIC tune was showcased in the first 16 episodes, but was discontinued. It then made its comeback again from episode 284 as the ASOT RADIO CLASSIC till episode 769, and a ARMIN’S OLDSKOOL CLASSIC from episodes 770 till 799.
- TRENDING TRACK was first showcased on episode 706 and PROGRESSIVE PICK was showcased on episode 717.
- SERVICE FOR DREAMERS, a special segment on the show where fans can pick a track that means the most to them and tell their story, made its debut on episode 800 Part 2
- Armin wanted to discontinue ASOT after episode 500.
- The A State Of Trance sublabel was created in 2003 on parent company, Armada Music.
- ASOT logo represents breaking the circle of routine with trance music
- Armin has been releasing yearly compilations A State Of Trance and the famed Year mix since 2004
- Armin decided to celebrate every 50th episode in three parts.
- ASOT festival at Den Bosch to celebrate the completion of 550 episodes had stage for female DJs and vocalists only.
- Ruben de Ronde has been assisting Armin Van Buuren with the radio show since 2007. He reads and sorts emails, writes captions amongst other work.
- ASOT episodes are available in Spotify and other streaming platforms.
- The current ASOT episodes are recorded on Tuesdays and are broadcasted on Thursdays, but special episodes are recorded live on Thursdays.
- Before having own ASOT studio, Armin used to record his voice for the show from his home studio or even in hotels while he travelled.
- The voice in for all the ASOT intro’s and announcements belongs to Jack Roberts, who made his first appearance at the 750-celebration event at Utrecht. He even was a part of a special celebration moment prior to Armin’s set.
- ASOT has hosted stages at Ultra Miami, EDC Las Vegas, EDC New York, Tomorrowland and Amsterdam Dance Event.
- ASOT shifted its yearly celebration event in the Netherlands to the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht from episode 650. Earlier celebrations used to take place at the Brabanthallen in Den Bosch.
- ASOT Festival in Utrecht is the biggest trance event in the world.
- The longest episode celebrated till date was episode 836, which was an ADE special. It saw a run time of 14 hours (836 minutes). It was also the first ASOT celebration to ever take place in Amsterdam.
- ASOT has Dutch version which airs on Fridays on Radio 538
- ASOT is the most popular radio show about electronic music and has 38 millions listeners worldwide (including YouTube, Facebook, DI.fm, streaming platforms and more than 100 radio stations)
These were a few special moments from the show that left an imprint on us. While it was not the first radio show to broadcast a two-hour mix from a recurring DJ, A State of Trance’s legacy has extended beyond the trance scene. Part of this may be due to the fact that for most parts of the world, A State of Trance was only accessible via Digitally Imported, an internet radio station. Since A State of Trance has gone on the air, numerous DJ’s have created their own radio programs out of the spirit of A State of Trance. Some of which include, Above and Beyond with Trance Around the World (now rebranded as Group Therapy), Aly & Fila with the Future Sound of Egypt, and Markus Schulz with the Global DJ Broadcast. Some radio shows that don’t even play trance music have spawned out of the spirit of A State of Trance (such as Carl Cox’s Global, Hardwell on Air, and Nicky Romero’s Protocol).
Currently, Armin celebrates the completion of 850 successful episodes and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. We can’t wait for him to hit at least 850 more episodes and beyond!
Click here for more information on ASOT 850.
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