Timeline of radio in London

This is a timeline of the development of radio in London.

1970s
  • 1970
    • 6 October – BBC Radio London launches, becoming the first legal radio station broadcasting to London.
  • 1971
    • No events.
  • 1972
    • No events.
  • 1974
    • 22 November – The first regular programme for the black community Black Londoners is broadcast on BBC Radio London.[2] The programme was initially launched as a trial run of six programmes before becoming a weekly fixture in the schedules.
  • 1975
    • Capital Radio and LBC change MW frequencies. This gives Capital a boost as its MW service had suffered from co-channel interference from Dutch station Radio Veronica.
  • 1976
    • 12 September – The first edition of London Sounds Eastern is broadcast on BBC Radio London.
    • December – Capital Radio launches the Flying Eye, a traffic spotting light aircraft which reported on traffic congestion on the streets of Central London.
  • 1977
    • No events.
  • 1978
    • No events.
  • 1979
    • No events.

1980s
  • 1980
    • No events.
  • 1981
    • 11 February – BBC Radio London begins broadcasting in stereo and the station relaunches, adopting an easy listening format ranging from softer contemporary pop to light classical music. Despite being unpopular with employed staff, who thought it very un-hip, and politicians who would question the need for a local radio station to sound like the two music-based BBC national networks, the relaunch led to improved audience figures and a string of awards and accolades.
  • 1982
    • September – Listeners in London are able to tune into the BBC World Service for the first time following the switching on of the Orfordness transmitting station. It is switched on to provide reception across Northern Europe of the English language service.
  • 1983
    • No events.
  • 1984
    • BBC Radio London is relaunched with the tagline The Heart and Soul of London, with more soul music being played during the day.
  • 1985
    • London Sounds Eastern ends after nine years on air.
    • 4 February – After broadcasting off and on since 1969, Radio Jackie's time as a pirate station ends. It returns 18 years later as a legal station, broadcasting to the same area of south west London that it had served as a pirate.
    • October – The first broadcasts of Kiss as a pirate station take place, initially broadcasting at the weekend across south London but is soon broadcasting across London on 94 FM.
  • 1986
    • 4 May – As part of an experiment in split broadcasting, Capital runs a Sunday service called CFM, broadcasting a more contemporary mix of music than normally broadcast by the station.
    • Kiss expands its broadcasting hours when it adds a Friday schedule.
  • 1987
    • Capital Radio’s new programming controller Richard Park oversees an overhaul of Capital's output from a full-service station to a music-intensive CHR format, which proves highly successful. The revamp is underlined by a new on-air imaging package, known as 'Music Power'.
    • 31 October – London is the first area of the UK to be able to receive BBC Radio 1 all day on VHF/FM.[3]
  • 1988
    • 2 July – At 7am, Tony Blackburn launches Capital Gold on Capital Radio's MW frequency. The station initially broadcasts only at the weekend. Other launch include David Hamilton, Paul Burnett, Pete Tong, Clive Warren, Paul Gambaccini, and Kenny Everett.
    • 7 October – At 7pm, Radio London stops broadcasting after 18 years on air and straight away test transmissions for its replacement, Greater London Radio (GLR), begin.
    • 25 October – At 6am, BBC GLR launches. Put together by new Managing Editor Matthew Bannister and Programme Director Trevor Dann, the station is aimed at 25- to 45-year-olds and is on air daily from 6.30am until 12midnight. Early promotions use the phrase "rock 'n' rolling news" with a music mix that was best described as Adult album alternative and travel news every 20 minutes . A number of specialist speech programmes launch, many of them broadcasting as a MW opt-out. They are aimed at London's communities: Asian, Afro-Caribbean, Jewish, Gay and Irish.
    • 1 November – 1548 AM Capital Gold begins full-time broadcasting. The FM service is renamed as 95.8 Capital FM.
    • 31 December – Kiss ends its time as a pirate, doing so in order to be able to apply to broadcast legally. It fails in its first attempt but is successful second time round.
  • 1989
    • 2 October – LBC ends and is replaced on FM by news and comment station LBC Crown FM and on MW by phone-in station London Talkback.
    • 5 November – Sunrise Radio begins broadcasting to west London’s Asian community on MW.
    • 13 November – London Greek Radio and WNK begin broadcasting. They share a frequency and alternate every four hours.
    • December – A second batch of London-wide incremental licenses are awarded and this time Kiss is successful.[4]

1990s
  • 1990
    • 4 March – Jazz FM launches on 102.2 FM, playing mainly soul and jazz music.[5]
    • 18 March – Radio Thamesmead begins broadcasting to the Thamesmead area of London.
    • 31 March – Choice FM begins broadcasting to the Brixton area of London.
    • 25 June –
      • Airport Information Radio begins broadcasting, providing a travel news service to Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
      • Spectrum Radio begins broadcasting. The station provides airtime to various ethnic communities across London.
    • 9 July – Melody Radio launches as an easy listening music service on 104.9 FM.
    • 1 September – Kiss 100 starts broadcasting as a legal, licensed station.
  • 1991
    • During 1991 GLR is given three years to prove itself or face closure. The threat is lifted after the BBC deemed it sufficiently patronised to remain on-air.
    • June – Airport Information Radio closes after just a year on air.
  • 1992
    • No events.
  • 1993
    • BBC GLR is forced to introduce all-speech programmes at breakfast and drivetime.
    • September – The Radio Authority announces that it will not be renewing LBC's licence. The new licensee is to be London News Radio, a consortium led by former LBC staff and backed by Guinness Mahon.[6]
    • Autumn – BBC GLR stops broadcasting on MW.[7]
    • Unknown – London station WNK closes.[8] WNK's closure allows London Greek Radio, with whom it had shared a frequency, to begin full time broadcasts.
    • Unknown – Sunrise Radio starts to broadcast across London when it begins transmission on the MW frequency previously occupied by BBC GLR.
  • 1996
    • May – Following a change in ownership, Viva 963 is relaunched as Liberty Radio.
    • London News Radio, buys London Radio Services which operates the two London news licenses - London News 97.3FM and London News Talk 1152AM.
    • 1 July – The LBC name returns to London's airwaves following a rebrand of London News Radio's MW station News Talk 1152.
    • July – The Radio Authority receives 25 bids for the final FM citywide London licence. XFM is chosen as the winner.
    • October – Capital’s flagship news programme The Way It Is ends.
    • 14 November – LBC relaunches its rolling news service as News Direct 97.3.
    • Melody Radio changes frequencies, moving from 104.9 to 105.4.
  • 1997
    • 1 September – XFM London begins broadcasting an indie music service across London. It becomes the final London-wide station on FM.
    • Capital leaves its Euston Tower studios and moves to new headquarters in Leicester Square.
    • Radio Thamesmead, (broadcasting as RTM), changes its name to Millennium 106.8.
  • 1998
    • 18 May – Active FM begins broadcasting to the Havering area of east London.
    • December – Melody Radio is renamed Magic 105.4 FM.
  • 1999
    • January – Controversial changes are made to Kiss 100 following Emap's decision to align the station with the rest of its operations. The on-air changes lead to criticisms from presenters and listeners who feel that the station is losing its musical direction.[14]
    • 8 February – FLR 107.3 begins broadcasting to the Lewisham area of south London.
    • 2 September – London’s first DAB multiplex, CE Digital, launches.[15]

2000s
  • 2000
    • 25 March – BBC London Live 94.9 replaces GLR. Promising even more speech and less music, the station launches with new on-air personalities and new shows, including a speech-heavy breakfast show and a mid-morning phone-in and debate. Only drivetime and the specialist shows would remain, albeit refreshed.
    • 3 May – Choice 107.1 begins broadcasting to north London.
    • 26 June – London’s second DAB multiplex, Switch London, launches.
    • July – BBC London Live 94.9 starts broadcasting via DAB.
    • News Direct 97.3 is renamed with the ITN brand and is now called ITN News Direct 97.3FM.
    • 4 December – FLR 107.3 changes its name to Fusion 107.3FM.
  • 2002
    • 25 February – London’s third DAB multiplex, DRG London, launches.
    • 8 November – The Radio Authority relieves London station Liberty Radio of its licence to broadcast. The station had repeatedly only obtained a 0.1% share of listening. The Authority awarded the licence to Club Asia, which had previously been broadcasting for several hours each day on Spectrum Radio. This had been the first time in several years that the incumbent broadcaster's licence had not been renewed.
    • Late 2002 – London Radio Services is sold to Chrysalis Radio. The new owner drops the ITN prefix and the station returns to its previous name of News Direct 97.3.
  • 2003
    • 6 January – The LBC services swap wavebands. The rolling news service News Direct 97.3 moves to AM and is renamed LBC News 1152 and LBC transfers to FM and is renamed LBC 97.3. The change takes place following the purchase of the two stations by Chrysalis Radio.
    • January – Millennium 106.8 is rebranded as Time 106.8.
    • A number of specialist shows are axed from BBC London Live .[16]
    • 3 July – Having lost its licence, Liberty Radio closes down after eight years on air. It is immediately replaced by Club Asia.
    • September – Live evening programmes on Magic 105.4 are replaced by automated output.
    • 19 October – More than three decades after it first began broadcasting as a pirate station, and 18 years since its last broadcast, Radio Jackie goes on air as a legal station.[17] It broadcasts to south west London, replacing Thames Radio which had fallen into financial difficulty.
  • 2004
  • 2006
    • 9 January – Capital is relaunched under its original name Capital Radio, with a modified line-up of presenters and a slightly tweaked music format.
    • 6 September – Due to falling listener figures, Kiss 100 is relaunched with a renewed focus on dance music.[21]
  • 2007
    • March – Capital Radio is rebranded once again as Capital 95.8 – together with a new slogan, The Sound of London.
    • 16 April – Life FM begins broadcasting to the Harlesden area of London.
    • 20 May – Time 107.3 is relaunched as South London Radio. The change sees alterations to the station's coverage area. It no longer serves Southwark, and instead, thanks to approved transmitter adjustments, moving westwards to focus on the boroughs of Lewisham, Bromley, Croydon.
    • 3 August – Capital Gold is replaced by a new network called simply Gold following the merger of the Classic Gold and Capital Gold networks under one owner, GCap Media.
  • 2008
    • Summer – LBC News 1152 is substantially cut back. The automated overnight service is abandoned in favour of a simulcast of LBC 97.3 and even daytime is semi-automated.
  • 2009
    • 3 April – London stations Time 107.3 and Time 106.8 close. The latter station had originally launched as Radio Thamesmead in 1990.
    • August – Club Asia goes into administration and is taken over by the Litt Corporation, owners of rival station Sunrise Radio. The station is relaunched as Buzz Asia.[22]

2010s
  • 2010
    • No events.
  • 2011
    • 3 January – 95.8 Capital FM London launches nationally and becomes a part of The Capital FM Network as part of a merger of Global Radio's Hit Music and Galaxy networks to form the nine-station 'Capital Network'.[23] Other than daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows, the majority of Capital's London-based output is now networked.[24]
    • 27 March – Due to budget cuts, transmission of the BBC World Service on 648 kHz MW ends. The transmissions, from the Orfordness transmitting station in Suffolk, had been on air since 1982 and had provided English-language coverage of the World Service to much of northern Europe resulting in the World Service being available on MW across London.
  • 2013
    • 7 January – BBC Radio London no longer broadcasts its own evening programming, instead it broadcasts the BBC's networked evening programme.[25]
    • 7 October – Choice FM is rebranded as Capital Xtra.[26]
  • 2015
    • January – LBC London News is relaunched as LBC London News. It broadcasts a 20-minute wheel of news and airs during the day with evening and overnight programming being a simulcast of LBC 97.3.
    • 5 January – Magic 105.4 becomes a national DAB station but continues to air on its FM frequency in London.[28]
    • 21 September – Xfm is relaunched as Radio X and begins broadcasting nationally via DAB but continues to be available across London on FM.[29]
    • 6 October – After 27 years, the name BBC Radio London returns to the airwaves.[30]
    • 29 October – As part of a trial of small-scale digital multiplexes, a small-scale multiplex in London, operated by U.DAB, goes on air. Initially a nine-month trial, the multiplexes are now licensed until March 2020.[31]
  • 2016
    • No events.
  • 2017
    • No events.
  • 2018
    • 19 March – Love Sport Radio launches on MW across London. It uses the frequency previously occupied by Spectrum Radio.[32]
    • 26 November – Following the decision to reinstate local programmes on BBC Local Radio on weeknights, BBC Radio London launches The Scene, which is described as "a platform for London’s community arts, entertainment and cultural activities, featuring new talent and emerging artists, performers and creators."[33]
  • 2019
    • 8 April – Capital London's breakfast show goes national, replacing most of the network's local breakfast shows, except for Capital Cymru, which also retains local programming at weekends. All Capital stations continue to air weekday Drivetime shows, local news bulletins and traffic updates.[34]
    • 1 August – Love Sport Radio and Panjab Radio swap MW frequencies.

References
  1. "Isn't it good to know…. Capital Radio". Radio Today. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  2. "Alex Pascal MBE – Writer, broadcaster and musician" Archived 18 January 2013 at Archive.today, Black in Britain.
  3. "Radio 1 History – Transmitters". Radio Rewind. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  4. Hebditch, Stephen (1991). "AM/FM – Spring 1990". TQM Communications. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008.
  5. "Entertainment | Jazz FM goes for new smooth title". BBC News. 15 February 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  6. LBC To Appeal Over Licence Decision, AM/FM News, September 1993
  7. "AM/FM Online Edition #17: November 1993".
  8. WNK – London pirate radio history – AM/FM
  9. LBC To Appeal Over Licence Decision, AM/FM News, September 1993.
  10. Williams, Rhys (8 October 1994). "Virgin wins one of six new slots on London's airwaves". The Independent. London. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  11. Bowie, Adam (26 September 2008). "A Brief History of Virgin Radio". Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  12. Culf, Andrew (10 April 1995). "Wave of restricted radio hits peak". The Guardian. London. p. 7. Retrieved 24 May 2009.
  13. Williams, Rhys (28 September 1995). "BBC switches on CD-quality radio". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  14. "News | The Big Kiss-Off". Nme.Com. 24 January 1999. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  15. "Greater London appraisal of winning applicants". Radio Authority. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  16. Jessica Hodgson. "DJs slam 'dumb' BBC radio". Evening Standard.
  17. Aircheck UK – Surrey
  18. "London's 102.2 smooth fm set for smoother start". Radio Today. 13 April 2005. Archived from the original on 3 February 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  19. "Goodbye 102.2 JAZZ FM". Radio Today. 27 May 2005. Archived from the original on 22 December 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  20. "102.2 smooth fm is born". Radio Today. 7 June 2005. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  21. Day, Julia (4 September 2006). "Kiss and shake up". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  22. "Ofcom change of control review" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  23. Global Radio takes Capital national, Brand Republic, 13 September 2010
  24. Capital FM to replace Galaxy Archived November 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, RadioToday, 13 September 2010
  25. "Mark Forrest to host BBC networked show". Radio Today. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  26. "Capital XTRA launches, replaces Choice FM". Radio Today. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  27. "Global Radio to take LBC national on D1". Radio Today. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  28. "Major brand swap for Bauer's local stations". RadioToday. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  29. "Full line-up for Global's Radio X confirmed". RadioToday. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  30. John Plunkett. "BBC Radio London name to return after 27 years of rebrands". the Guardian.
  31. https://www.commedia.org.uk/news/2018/03/ssdab-trial-extension/
  32. Love Sport launches on MW and DAB in London
  33. A fresh new sound to BBC Radio London’s evening shows – The Scene… from Monday 26 November, 8-10pm
  34. Roman Kemp Vick Hope and Sonny Jay to go national on Capital
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