I was listening when Beats 1 came on air, the song they played just prior to the start was Music For Airports by Brian Eno. That influenced me to include it in our Burning Man art this past year. [1]
I've subscribed to Apple Music since the start, but apart from a massive catalog, I can't help but feel that it is a neglected product.
Apple put Jimmy Iovine in charge of that business, presumably because the company needed industry legitimacy and the connections he had.
However, I do not think Iovine or his lieutenants were music "fans", which are people who for personal reasons intentionally seek out new artists, listen to them and share their picks with friends.
I think this lack of familiarity with the customer and how to connect with them through mobile software products led to the state it is in now.
What is strange to me is that Apple Music as an application has not improved. The views do not pre-cache, so they are the slowest loading of any app on my iPhone. Apple Music often fails to perform searches properly.
Despite the volume of data Apple had from my music preferences _before_ Apple Music existed, the recommendation engine is still no good, and the music curation lacks any semblance of personality.
When I ask Siri to play a song, it sometimes feels like Apple Music tries to play a version of the song that has a lower licensing fee than the one I'm actually after. This is total conjecture, but I would not be surprised.
That Spotify has done as well as it has is more a credit to the failure of Apple Music to materialize into something at all representing the vast beauty and detail of music.
I occasionally have tuned into Beats 1, especially if there was an artist interview I wanted to hear. But I really did not like the vibe of Zane Lowe. I felt like he was always fawning over the artists and he interrupts them while they're talking.
Hopefully, these minor radio changes are indicative of a larger changes coming to the Apple Music product as a whole.
[1] https://skylarkcollective.com/blog/