UK Commercial Radio Timeline The 1970s

A visual history of the UK's commercial radio network told primarily through the logos and jingles of its stations. This video looks at the 1970s and the birth of legal, regulated and publicly available commercial radio in the United Kingdom.

[@dannyboyspain1]

70s and 80s when radio counted. Workshops garages shops hair dressers supermarkets it was everywhere. No internet to distract you just great tunes to work to and a few adverts not forgetting the news. Great times and i wish i was back there now...

[@tvradiotimelines]

Interesting!

[@paulrowley7502]

Congratulations on putting together a lovely piece as we approach the 50th anniversary of Independent Local Radio. I was a journalist at both Radio City and LBC/IRN. It’s worth noting that when LBC came on air on October 8, 1973 it was on a temporary medium wave frequency of 417 metres. You use the 261 logo, but it only moved to 261 metres in the Spring of 1975. You correctly have the right logo for Capital Radio’s opening eight days later of 539 metres before it moved to its more familiar frequency of 194 metres. Initially both had temporary transmitters from the two towers at the Lots Road Power Station in Chelsea (known as the radio “washing line) until they moved simultaneously to the permanent IBA transmitter at Saffron Green near Barnet 18 months later. Re Radio City. You rightly point out that it came on air on October 21, 1974 on medium wave only while work was being carried out on the VHF transmitter at Allerton Park. But it came on the air on 96.7 FM on Saturday January 11, 1975 and was announced in the bulletin that morning. I don’t know where the date of February 8 has come from (though I have seen it reported elsewhere). I’d been checking every day since the station came on air, and was told it would be some time in the New Year. I first heard something the night before (January 10, 1975) relaying the AM service but it was clearly still being worked on as you heard lots of noises and whistles. At the time I was a newspaper journalist just out of my teens who worked on their sports programmes at weekend. I particularly remember that day as I was covering the FA Trophy tie between Wigan Athletic and Altrincham for them and it was great to hear myself on the quality frequency. I understand Radio Tees which came on air on June 24, 1975 was also only on medium wave initially, later moving to VHF as well. I haven’t got the date of that switch.

[@nodrogd2000]

The two London stations LBC & Capital Radio, had to open with temporary Medium Wave frequencies, as the permanent directional transmitting array at Saffron Green near Borehamwood had not been completed. LBC opened on 719kHz (417 metres) & Capital Radio on 557kHz (539 metres) from an antenna slung between the chimneys of Lots Road power station in Central London. These then moved to their permanent transmitter site & frequencies of 1151kHz & 1546kHz (261 & 194 metres) in 1975. The opening music for this video is the 1970s LBC hourly news pre-roll music, which runs for one minute exactly. On air it was very rarely heard in its entirety as it was used to correct continuity.

[@laotian12innumberverse6]

The jingles sound so catchy!

[@oliverleonard7730]

Back before everything became Heart.

[@newforestpixie5297]

As a 13 year old bored of hearing Radio 1 play non stop ABBA & Bee Gees in 1977 , I scrolled along the MW dial from 247 in desperation & was amazed by hearing an advert for Asda in Havant then music I didn’t recognise . The signal wasn’t quite as powerful but still listenable & came from just 24 miles along the coast - although Portsmouth was 40 miles by road & it’s editorial didn’t cater for us across the Solent in the New Forest at least all the Presenters were authentic & the station Radio Victory played music by acts like Peter Gabriel & The Tubes in its Top 40 when BBC only played top 20. In 1979 they had a designated Heavy Metal Show - way before Metal was mainstream & even had Alex Lifeson from Rush in their Castle Way office in southampton the night before the band played The Gaumont in June 1980. With a bit of effort could even hear it in hissy stereo on 95- when bbc R1 wasn’t on fm for another 11 years , Victory had soul unlike Ocean Sound which wasn’t any good along with 2CR Generic shite in comparison. . 🙄👍

[@peterclifford7302]

Nice to hear the different jingles

[@martinwedge7732]

Love Metro’s take on Call Me Round by Pilot x

[@11carbuff19572011]

That is just great stuff, it really is, most deffo. I was once informed by my doctor that I was a radio buff, and I somehow agree with what he said that time in 1994. Love hearing those original ILR station jingles etcetera, and knowing the dates of first broadcast, which applied to #3, Radio Clyde in Glasgow, which ironically commenced broadcasting on the occasion of Hogmanay 1973, no less!

[@tvradiotimelines]

That sounds like a pretty shrewd business move to me! 🙂

[@martinwedge7732]

Just listen to those Beacon 303 jingles. They blew everything else out of the water. Maverick Beacon was the best with their slick AOR playlist and American sounding DJs no matter what the IBA said x

[@robertcomer2767]

Absolutely brilliant as ever.

[@tvradiotimelines]

That is really kind! Thank you!

[@rtc9063]

@@tvradiotimelines The effort you put into these. I can’t even use my iMac properly!

[@tvradiotimelines]

@@rtc9063 🤣

[@rockrollcake]

it feels so weird knowing that most of these stations are gone completely or owned by big radio corps like bauer and global :/

[@eps0m1066]

Think you mean Bauer and Global. Anyway its total s...t and I never ever listen to radio now. Unlike when I was a young adult when it never came off.

[@Agnethatheredhairkid]

My local station was Beacon Radio. The presenter Leslie Ross later abbreviated his name to Les Ross.

[@tvradiotimelines]

...and he is now on Boom Radio on DAB - still as bonkers as ever!

[@Agnethatheredhairkid]

@@tvradiotimelines Great to hear!

[@NelvanaFan1971]

THX

[@danielvojtik6331]

Interesting that AM frequencies used in Metres f.e.261m....and FM used VHF

[@davidcolley1630]

The wonderful Beacon 303, the last ILR to open in the 70s but one of the very best. For me only Pirate FM in Cornwall came anywhere near to it in the early 90s

[@tvradiotimelines]

I lived in Wolverhampton when Beacon launched and it really was a breath of fresh air!

[@martinwedge7732]

Beacon was the best between 1976 and 1979. I was there in the Black Country as a teenager and it was brilliant x

[@krikrikrikri9568]

This vidéo about radio history is very interesting. Let me say you how lucky were the UK listeners compared to frenche ones , we had to endure a drastic state monopoly until 1981. bypassed by so called "peripheral radios" whose transmitters where installed out of France and broadcast on Long waves (Europe1, RTL , Radio Monte-Carlo ,Sud Radio)

[@kevinmothers904]

It's a shame that Hereward Radio 225 missed out in this list as it first started broadcasting from studios in Bridge Street, Peterborough on the 10th July 1980.

[@tvradiotimelines]

That's because this video focuses on the 1970s. There is a companion video entitled "UK Commercial Radio Timeline 1980 1984" where you can find it!

[@kevinmothers904]

@@tvradiotimelines 👍Thank you.

[@tompickeringsradioandtvcap287]

Viking Radio Launched on 17 April 1984 Radio Aire Launched on 1 September 1981 Red Rose Radio launched on 5 October 1982

[@tvradiotimelines]

The next chapter - including all of these station launches - will be on KZbin very soon!

[@richardsharpe2966]

Sheffield had local radio before Leeds BBC Radio Sheffield started in November 1967 Leeds a year later. Radio Hallam October 1974 and Leeds had to wait till September 1981 Radio Aire

[@tvradiotimelines]

That is interesting! The video only, of course, shows commercial stations but I might give some thought to doing one on the rollout of BBC Local Radio at some point.

[@richiehoyt8487]

Is it my imagination or did they nearly all seem to cluster down at the '190' (ie high frequency or shorter wave) end of the dial, and if so what was the reason... Something to do with shorter wavelengths resonating better on shorter - ie cheaper - transmission masts? Or was it more a case of " - and you're gonna be on _this_ wavelength, you can _like_ it, or you can _lump_ it!" ?

[@tvradiotimelines]

I honestly don't know the answer to that, although I do know that other sections of the radio spectrum were allocated to BBC stations so I assume that the ILR stations were similarly grouped or had a specific part of the spectrum allocated to them.

[@SOSOwner]

Which, rather ironically, doesn't explain how the first 2 stations got their frequencies... ...at least until 1975. From launch until then, those stations were actually at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from where the other stations were (most being at 194/257/261 (which they later moved to), with some in the 300s). This was, ironically, because the MW transmitter (at Saffron Green) wasn't finished when they went to air (FM at Croydon, however, was). Also seems ironic that those transmissions went down after a fire in the Summer of '85.

[@nodrogd2000]

@@SOSOwner Both LBC & Capital had to be used at high power (Capital using nearly 100kW), therefore they required internationally cleared frequencies. 261 & 194 were actually wrestled from the BBC, as they were being used for the Home Service & Third programme infill. The IBA re-used them as much as they possibly could across the country using directional arrays like the one at Saffron Green.

[@swiftplays5993]

Excuse me, but do you remember what song you used at the beginning of this video?

[@tvradiotimelines]

It is the theme tune/jingle used by the original LBC when it launched in 1973. You xan find it here (and many other places): kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWLZgJ-peKaZh80

[@swiftplays5993]

@@tvradiotimelines This was actually what I was looking for. Thank you very much :)

[@04nbod]

So weird not to hear Radio City not being 96.7

[@Insert-thing-here-Fan]

Probably not but Will you make one on portugal

[@tvradiotimelines]

It's a thought - but part of the pleasure for me in doing these is reliving my own youth. Hence the focus the UK!

[@danielvojtik6331]

Do those stations broadcast nowdays?

[@tvradiotimelines]

Sadly, whilst some are still around, most have been swallowed up by larger conglomerates and rebranded with nationwide names. They mostly network their shows from London. All that will feature in future videos - as and when I get the time to do them!

[@THEACTUALLDL123]

does beacon still here?i never watching full one

[@tvradiotimelines]

Beacon became part of the "Free Radio" group of stations operating in the Midlands in 2012

[@NelvanaFan1971]

can you do the next wave

[@tvradiotimelines]

Already working on 1980-1984 - it takes far longer than you might imagine!!! 😊

[@NelvanaFan1971]

OK

[@gerrynicol3951]

Classic jingle from radio Clyde in Glasgow I remember it so well.

[@dvidclapperton]

Capital (now owned by Global) were best when they were restricted to the London area only and not UK wide. People thinking "I wonder what Capital Radio is like" were not very careful what they wished for now they have been allowed along with Bauer to almost completely destroy local radio by a very weak regulators Ofcom. The big Scottish local radio stations when they were all owned by themselves had they,still been owned by ather than by SRH who bought them all over they would all have still thrived today. Sadly SRH sold all the stations to EMAP who then sold them all fatally to Bauer has almost completely destroyed most of Scottish local radio with a universal schedule on all AM ststions including some simcasts from Manchester or Leeds from Bauer's northern England owned stations. The old pre split formats of the big Scottish ilrs (indeed also in the rest of the UK) were the best, speech output included as was before 1990 included. Reports West from Westsound in Ayr anyone?

[@tvradiotimelines]

Capital in the early days was also a much different proposition aimed at a much wider demographic. I get confused when you hear radio execs bewailing the fact that audiences have shrunk for their stations when they are now NARROWcasting to a section of the community rather than BROADcasting to a wider range of musical tastes and ages.

[@dvidclapperton]

@@tvradiotimelines That was the enforced station splits. It would have been better had stations closed their AM frequencies and the stations remained the same on FM. As much as I liked Max AM, the old Radio Forth was still a better station.

[@tonybatley6101]

@@tvradiotimelines Hit the nail on the head, only stations i listen to now, besides dedicated Elvis ones are Boom Radio, Solid Gold GEM and Love 80s Liverpool, that's about it, 2 are online and 1 is on DAB, screw Global and Bauer who've systematically destroyed the industry under the watchful gaze of successive governments and the not fit for purpose regulatory body, they're all an utter disgrace.

[@christopherhulse8385]

Beacon Radio 303 was way ahead of it's time.

[@tvradiotimelines]

I lived in Wolverhampton when it was launched and it was SUCH a breath of fresh air!

[@batmandestroys1978]

Beacon 303 great station! Well a head! I hated BRMB!

[@henryjrboybandola3475]

All jingles from JAM Creative Production????

[@michaelbolton-a]

@@tvradiotimelines sorry but you are incorrect

[@michaelbolton-a]

Until the late 80s UK commercial radio was banned from using American jingle companies such as JAM & TM. Radio 1&2 were the only stations allowd to use JAM.- UK ILR had to use UK produced material hence none of the jingles in this video are from JAM.

[@tvradiotimelines]

@@michaelbolton-a That's really interesting. I did not know that! Thanks for the feedback.

[@laotian12innumberverse6]

Emison and Yamco made a majority of the jingles in this video.

[@laotian12innumberverse6]

But luckily a few stations found solutions to this problem, Metro and Orwell used syndicated resings of the PAMS package “Philadelphia Story”, while Beacon wanted a resing of TM’s “You” package, so they had to have the tracks re-orchestrated by British musicians and used British singers.

[@JohnSmith-wl8cv]

When radio was radio and local not like today .all djs knew their music, today Z list dj and corporate run 📻

[@tvradiotimelines]

Fully agree. Whatever happened to the original concept of "Independent LOCAL Radio"???

[@dvidclapperton]

It was certainly much better then. A shame that ilr stations that came into being before 1990 decided not to ditch their AM frequencies and maintain the same formats on FM apart from less speech output when the Radio Act came into force. Ilr's did the now community radio stuff at the time. Community radio of today would have been best complementing the commercial ilr instead of being the new local radio in msny parts of the UK because they've lost most of what ilr once was. Community radio by the nature of it can't realistically be what ilr used to be and so can't ever be as good as ilr once was, they're not allowed to be due to the rules set by ofcom. A pity the locals decided to sell their stakes to big conglomorates instead of continue to all be owned by themselves. The SRH who bought all the big Scottish ilr's appeared to be good for Scottish ilr at the time but even they sold out to EMAP which left the Scottish ilr's at the mercy of the radio regulators potentially (and fatally Ofcom combined with EMAP selling out to Bauer) exposing them to the gradual erosion of localness. SRH failed to ensure they sold to an organisation that ensured continuous localness in Scotland.

[@markjorencvelasco3255]

R A D I O TIME

[@mrarkansasman]

There was BBC Radio 1 2 3 & 4

[@tvradiotimelines]

The BBC was/is not a commercial radio network. The stations in the video were established to provide competition for the BBC.

[@JohnSmith-wl8cv]

What have we today Fart Fm and Crapital radio

[@tvradiotimelines]

I wonder what the logo for Fart FM would look like??? 😂

[@BenPanced]

@@tvradiotimelines "Fart FM! A Breath of Fresh Air™!"

[@tvradiotimelines]

@@BenPanced 😂

[@arthurvasey]

Not forgetting Greatest Shits Radio!

[@neilforbes416]

When an AM radio dial is calibrated from 535 Khz up to 1605 Khz, showing the number of metres is *UTTERLY MEANINGLESS* to end users of radio sets.

[@GryphLane]

They're not though. Not in civilised countries.

[@nodrogd2000]

It's also utterly meaningless to have frequencies given out when most radios at the time were British made & marked only in Metres. It's only when the UK radio manufacturing industry collapsed was this changed, as all the imported radios were marked in Khz.

[@Jakelemon875]

Where was BBC radio ulster

[@tvradiotimelines]

The BBC was not a commercial radio provider.

[@neilforbes416]

If I lived in Britain, I *WOULD NOT WASTE MY TIME* with commercial radio, with these *STUPID, GIMMICKY* station ident jingles.... They're *GHASTLY!* And often, they're *FAR TOO LONG!*

[@tvradiotimelines]

You enjoyed it, then????

[@neilforbes416]

@@tvradiotimelines Not really! those stupid gimmicky station ID jingles drag on far too long. In Australia they're short and sharp, lasting barely 3 seconds. The *ONLY* thing the British stations had going for them was their on-air identifications but instead of showing what "metre" band they're on, they should've listed their *ACTUAL* frequency in Kilohertz(AM) or Megahertz(FM). I'm a former community radio presenter here in Australia and even our Station ID never went anywhere near as long as those gosh-awful jingles in Britain!

[@SOSOwner]

Those were most likely the first start-up of the station. Hence why they were long.

[@tvradiotimelines]

@@SOSOwner Yes - I deliberately chose those that mentioned places in the station's coverage area where I could. And, in fact, Australian jingles were not ALWAYS "short and sharp. Here's the proof: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHOkmXpme7OkhZI

[@GryphLane]

Just as well you don't then. Nobody needs your negativity. I bet your local stations are much worse.