Timeline of BBC Local Radio

This is a Timeline of BBC Local Radio

1960s

• 1962
  • 27 June – The Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting publishes its report and recommends that the BBC should extend its activities to the creation of local radio stations in order to prevent the introduction of commercial radio.
  • The BBC runs a series of closed circuit experiments in local radio from a variety of locations across England.^[1]

• 1966
  • A government White Paper paves the way for the launch of a small number (eight) of two-year experimental BBC Local Radio stations.^[2]

• 1967
  • 8 November – At 12.45pm, BBC Local Radio launches when the first station, BBC Radio Leicester, starts broadcasting.
  • 15 November – BBC Radio Sheffield launches.
  • 22 November – BBC Radio Merseyside launches.

• 1968
  • 31 January – BBC Radio Nottingham launches and four days later the station hosts the UK's first ever radio phone-in.^[3]
  • 14 February – BBC Radio Brighton launches.
  • 14 March – BBC Radio Stoke launches.
  • 24 June – BBC Radio Leeds launches.
  • 3 July – BBC Radio Durham launches.

• 1969
  • 10 July – The BBC publishes a report called "Broadcasting in the Seventies" proposing replacing regional broadcasting on BBC Radio 4 with BBC Local Radio.
  • BBC Local Radio is made permanent after the two-year experiment is judged to have been a success.

1970s

• 1970
  • 2 January – BBC Radio Newcastle launches.
  • 10 September – BBC Radio Manchester launches.
  • September – BBC Radio Bristol launches.
  • 6 October – BBC Radio London launches.
  • 29 October – BBC Radio Oxford launches.
  • 9 November – BBC Radio Birmingham launches.
  • 18 December –BBC Radio Medway launches.
  • 31 December – BBC Radio Solent and BBC Radio Teesside launch.

• 1971
  • 26 January – BBC Radio Blackburn launches.
  • 25 February – BBC Radio Humberside launches.
  • 29 April – BBC Radio Derby launches.

• 1972
  • 25 August – When the government restricted the BBC to twenty local radio stations, the corporation responds by closing BBC Radio Durham. Its resources are transferred to Carlisle where BBC Radio Carlisle, now BBC Radio Cumbria, is formed.

• 1973
  • 8 October – BBC Local Radio faces competition for the first time when the UK's first Independent Local Radio station, LBC, launches.
  • 24 November – BBC Radio Carlisle launches.

• 1974
  • 1 April – BBC Radio Teesside is renamed BBC Radio Cleveland.

• 1975
  • No events.

• 1976
  • No events.

• 1977
  • No events.

• 1978
  • No events.

• 1979
  • No events.

1980s

• 1980
  • 11 September – BBC Radio Norfolk launches.
  • 11 November – BBC Radio Lincolnshire launches.

• 1981
  • 4 July – BBC Radio Blackburn expands to cover all of Lancashire and is renamed accordingly. Also in 1981 BBC Radio Birmingham expands to cover the West Midlands, South Staffordshire, north Worcestershire and north Warwickshire and is relaunched as BBC WM.

• 1982
  • 15 and 16 March – BBC Local Radio starts broadcasting to the Channel islands when BBC Radio Guernsey and BBC Radio Jersey launch.
  • 1 May – BBC Radio Cambridgeshire launches.
  • 25 May – BBC Radio Carlisle expands to cover all of Cumbria and is renamed accordingly and as part of the expansion, BBC Radio Furness launches as an opt-out service.
  • 30–31 May – BBC Radio York is given permission to provide a temporary service to cover Pope John Paul II's visit to York. The service, which runs for just over 24 hours, operates on what will become BBC Radio York's MW frequency when the station launches next year, and is simulcast on BBC Radio Cleveland, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Humberside and BBC Radio Sheffield.
  • 31 December – The final BBC Radio 4 regional opt-out ends when the final edition of Morning Sou'West is broadcast, ahead of the launches of BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Cornwall.

• 1983
  • 17 January – BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Cornwall launch.
  • 2 July – BBC Radio Medway is expanded to cover all of the county of Kent and is renamed accordingly.
  • 4 July – BBC Radio York launches on a permanent basis.
  • 22 October – BBC Radio Brighton is expanded to cover all of the county of Sussex and is renamed accordingly.

• 1984
  • The BBC conducts five trials of citywide community stations in Greater Manchester. Each trial lasts for a few weeks and was on air for a few hours each day, opting out of BBC Radio Manchester. The experiment has not been repeated.

• 1985
  • 23 April – BBC Radio Shropshire launches.
  • 24 June – BBC Radio Bedfordshire launches.

• 1986
  • 25 August – An early evening service of specialist music programmes launches on the BBC's four local radio stations in Yorkshire. The programmes are broadcast on weeknights between 6pm and 7.30pm.
  • 5 November – BBC Essex launches.

• 1987
  • September – The service of specialist music programmes broadcast on the BBC’s four local stations in Yorkshire is expanded. Programmes are broadcast on six nights a week (Wednesday to Monday) and the length of each programme is increased by 30 minutes. Consequently, the four stations now stay on air into the mid evening as the programmes are transmitted between 7pm and 9pm.

• 1988
  • 11 April – BBC Somerset Sound launches as an opt-out station from BBC Radio Bristol.
  • 20 September – The Radio Data System (RDS) launches, allowing car radios to automatically retune, display station identifiers and switch to local travel news.
  • 3 October – BBC Radio Gloucestershire launches.
  • 7 October – BBC Radio London stops broadcasting.
  • 25 October – BBC GLR launches.
  • 30 October – The Asian Network launches as a 70 hours-a-week service on the MW transmitters of BBC Radio Leicester and BBC WM.
  • October – BBC GMR replaces BBC Radio Manchester.
  • Regular late evening weeknight programming starts to appear on various stations. The programming tends to be regional rather than local with the same programme networked on several local stations. Consequently, stations are now starting to provide local/regional programming on weeknights until midnight. Previously all stations had ended local programming by mid-evening, handing over to BBC Radio 2 until the following morning.

• 1989
  • 14 February – BBC Hereford and Worcester launches.
  • 4 March – BBC Wiltshire Sound launches.
  • May – The BBC Night Network is launched on the BBC's six local radio stations in Yorkshire and north east England. The service broadcasts seven nights a week from 6.05pm (6pm at the weekend) until 12midnight.

1990s

• 1990
  • 17 January – BBC CWR launches.
  • 12 April – BBC Radio Suffolk launches.

• 1991
  • Spring – The BBC Night Network is expanded to incorporate the BBC's four north west stations. Programmes now start an hour later, at 7.05pm (7pm at the weekend).
  • 14 November – BBC Radio Surrey launches.
  • BBC Radio Shropshire stops broadcasting on MW.

• 1992
  • 21 February – BBC Radio Berkshire launches.
  • 17 April – BBC Radio Nottingham ends transmissions on one of its MW transmitters. BBC Radio Cleveland, BBC Radio Northampton and BBC Radio Oxford also stop broadcasting on MW.^[4]
  • The BBC World Service is now broadcast when stations are not on the air. Previously, BBC Radio 2 had been heard during station downtime.

• 1993
  • 5 April – BBC Radio Bedfordshire expands to cover the counties of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and is renamed BBC Three Counties Radio.
  • 26 April – BBC Dorset FM launches as an opt-out service from BBC Radio Devon.
  • Autumn – BBC GLR stops broadcasting on MW.^[5]
  • BBC GMR stops broadcasting on MW.

• 1994
  • 7 January – BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey are merged. The new station is temporarily named BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey, prior to a full relaunch as BBC Southern Counties Radio.
  • 1 August – BBC Southern Counties Radio launches as the first BBC Local Radio station to adopt an all-speech format.

• 1995
  • BBC CWR closes as a stand-alone station and becomes an opt-out of BBC Radio WM.
• 1996
  • 9 April – BBC Radio Oxford and BBC Radio Berkshire merge to form BBC Thames Valley FM. Also in early 1996 BBC Dorset FM closes and its frequency is used to relay BBC Radio Solent.
  • 4 November – The Asian Network expands into a full-time station when it increases the number of hours on air from 80 hours a week to 126 hours a week (18 hours a day). The station, which broadcasts on the MW frequencies of BBC Radio Leicester and BBC WM, is renamed BBC Asian Network. Consequently, Radios Leicester and WM become FM only stations.

• 1997
  • 1 September – BBC Southern Counties Radio is relaunched. The all-speech format is dropped and the station reverts to a more traditional mix of music and speech.
  • For a brief period in 1997, BBC GMR is renamed GMR Talk.

• 1998
  • BBC Radio 5 Live replaces the BBC World Service as BBC Local Radio's overnight downtime filler.

• 1999
  • No events.

2000s

• 2000
  • 14 February – BBC Thames Valley FM closes and BBC Radio Oxford and BBC Radio Berkshire relaunch as separate stations although Radio Berkshire operates as an opt-out service of Radio Oxford.
  • 25 March – BBC GLR closes and is relaunched as BBC London Live 94.9.

• 2001
  • 1 October – BBC London Live changes its name to BBC London 94.9.
  • October – BBC Three Counties Radio launches opt-out programming for the county of Buckinghamshire.

• 2002
  • 11 November – BBC Radio Swindon launches as an opt-out service from Wiltshire Sound which is renamed BBC Radio Wiltshire.

• 2003
  • No events.

• 2004
  • No events.

• 2005
  • 3 September – BBC Coventry & Warwickshire returns as a stand-alone station.

• 2006
  • 3 April – BBC GMR changes its name back to BBC Radio Manchester.

• 2007
  • 11 August – BBC Radio Cleveland is rebranded as BBC Tees due to its broadcasting area no longer being associated with the name Cleveland.

• 2008
  • No events.

• 2009
  • 30 March – BBC Southern Counties Radio closes resulting in the return of BBC Surrey and BBC Sussex as stand-alone separate stations.
  • 4 April – BBC Radio Swindon, which had opted out of BBC Radio Wiltshire, is closed. The two stations are merged as BBC Wiltshire.

2010s

• 2010
  • No events.

• 2011
  • No events.

• 2012
  • May – BBC Somerset launches as a full-time station.
  • 17 August – A five-week trial to find out if listeners will miss or complain about the lack of AM services begins when BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, BBC Radio Merseyside and BBC Radio Nottingham stop broadcasting regular programmes on medium wave.^[6]
  • 2 October – The BBC decides that BBC Radio Nottingham’s MW transmitter and Radio Kent’s relay at Rusthall near Tunbridge Wells, will remain off-air after the BBC says that the trial switch-off attracted very few complaints from listeners.^[7]

• 2013
  • 5 January – The BBC Local Radio stations begin a new Saturday evening show titled BBC Introducing. Hosted by a local presenter on each station, the programme's aim is to promote musicians from the area.^[8]
  • 7 January – The debut of the BBC's networked evening programme takes place, hosted by former Classic FM presenter Mark Forrest.^[9] The show replaces all local programming, apart from local sport coverage.
  • 8 July – After eight years, BBC Local Radio returns to Dorset when a breakfast show for the county, as an opt-out from BBC Radio Solent, is launched.

• 2014
  • No events.

• 2015
  • 3 March – Several BBC local radio stations are launched on Freeview, with ten of the 40 local stations in England now broadcasting on the platform. They can be found on channels 719 to 722.^[10]
  • 6 October – After 27 years, the name BBC Radio London returns to the airwaves following a name change from BBC London 94.9.

• 2016
  • 19 February – BBC Radio Bristol stops broadcasting on MW following the sale of the land, on which the transmitter was located, to developers.
  • 21 June – The BBC completes its roll-out of BBC Local Radio on Freeview.^[11]

• 2017
  • 8 October – In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of local radio, The Director-General of the BBC, Tony Hall, announces that the national evening show will be axed, resulting in local programming returning to weeknight evenings.^[12]

• 2018
  • 15 January – The MW transmissions of BBC Radios Sussex, Surrey, Humberside, Wiltshire, Nottingham, Kent and Lincolnshire end and MW coverage for BBC Devon, Lancashire and Essex is reduced. Altogether a total of 13 MW transmitters are switched off.^[13][14][15]
  • 16 January – The death is announced of Midlands-based broadcaster Ed Doolan, who presented for BBC WM and BRMB in Birmingham, and who in 2004 became the first local presenter to be inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.^[16]
  • Summer – The BBC local stations start reintroducing local weekday evening programmes with all stations broadcasting their own evening output by the end of September.

References