This is a timeline of the development of independent radio in the UK.
1960s
1969
30 April –
University Radio York (URY) starts broadcasting and becomes the first licensed independent radio station in the UK.[1]
1970s
1970
Until the
1970 United Kingdom general election, despite the popularity of
Radio Luxembourg and, for a period in the mid-1960s, the off-shore "
pirate" broadcasters, it had remained the policy of both major political parties that radio was to remain under the BBC. Upon the election of
Edward Heath's government this policy changed. The new Minister of Post and Telecommunications and former
ITN newscaster,
Christopher Chataway, announces a bill to allow for the introduction of commercial radio in the United Kingdom. This service would be planned and regulated and would compete with
BBC Local Radio services.
16 October –
Capital Radio begins broadcasting a music-based general entertainment service to the
London area.[3][4]
31 December –
Radio Clyde, the first independent local radio station outside
London, and the first in
Scotland, begins broadcasting to the
Glasgow area.[3]
December –
Capital Radio launches the Capital Radio Helpline, and also in 1976
Capital Radio launches the Flying Eye, a traffic spotting light aircraft which reported on traffic congestion on the streets of Central London.
11 April –
CBC in
Cardiff becomes the first of the second tranche of
Independent Local Radio stations to start broadcasting. It is the first new ILR station since 1976.
7 November –
DevonAir Radio begins broadcasting to
Exeter and the surrounding mid-Devon area. On 12 December the station starts broadcasting to the
Torbay area.
6 November –
Saxon Radio begins broadcasting to the
Bury St. Edmunds area. This is the first station to network most of its output from another, in this case,
Radio Orwell in Ipswich.
6 October –
Centre Radio stops broadcasting after running into financial difficulties. A take-over bid was rejected by the
IBA and the station went off air at 5.30pm.[6][7]
Plans for a station in the
Derry region of Northern Ireland collapse.
9 September –
Radio West closes down after Wiltshire Radio buys struggling Radio West and on 1 October a merged station,
GWR, launches to
Bristol and
Swindon / West Wiltshire with shared (networked) and split local programming.
14 October –
CBC is relaunched as
Red Dragon Radio. The station also covers the Newport area, offering a replacement service to Gwent Broadcasting and provides separate breakfast shows for
Cardiff and
Newport until the early 1990s.[9]
October –
Plymouth Sound launches an opt-out service for
Tavistock. The service operates on weekday breakfast and drive time and weekend mid-mornings.
Unknown – Due to general difficulties within the commercial radio industry,
Hereward Radio withdraws from Northamptonshire and the
Independent Broadcasting Authority assigns the Independent Local Radio franchise to a new company, Northants Radio Ltd, owned by
Chiltern Radio Group.
A European-wide re-organisation of band 2 of the VHF band comes into effect in July 1987. In preparation for this, 1986 sees many local stations change their VHF/FM frequency.
28 June –
Portsmouth station
Radio Victory goes off air. It was the first commercial radio station to lose its licence.
12 October –
Ocean Sound begins broadcasting. Replacing
Radio Victory in East Hampshire, it introducing commercial radio to
Southampton,
Winchester and the
Isle of Wight. The station transmits with split frequencies; Ocean Sound West on 103.2FM and 1557AM and Ocean Sound East on 97.5FM (former 95FM transmitter for Radio Victory) and 1170AM, the former AM transmitter of the former
ILR station.
30 November – Following its purchase of
Northants 96,
Chiltern Radio launches a networked service called "The Hot FM". The service is broadcast on three ILR licenses including the newly launched
Northants 96. Only the mid-morning show is broadcast locally.
1987
1 January – A new transmitter for
Radio 210 is switched on, allowing the
Reading-based station to broadcast across
Berkshire and north
Hampshire.
3 March –
Radio Trent's broadcast area expands when it starts broadcasting to the
Derby area.
18 May – The
Yorkshire Radio Network launches. It is a networked service of evening and overnight programming, broadcast on three commercial radio stations in Yorkshire –
Pennine Radio in
Bradford,
Viking Radio in
Hull and
Radio Hallam in
Sheffield – providing programming every night between 8pm, starting slightly earlier at weekends, and 6am.
22 May –
GWR's broadcast area expands when it launches in
Bath.
6 December –
Ocean Sound launches a third station Ocean Sound North. It covers
Winchester and the north of its region. It shares much of its programming with Ocean Sound West, except for a local breakfast show.
1 July –
The Superstation launches an overnight sustaining service on a number of ILR stations around the country at 10pm. The service would run until 6am each morning, later expanding to start at 7pm.
2 July –
Capital Gold starts broadcasting, initially as a weekend only service on AM.
20 September – The
Radio Data System (RDS) launches, allowing car radios to automatically retune, display station identifiers and switch to local travel news.
4 December –
Ocean Sound creates three new radio stations as part of the relaxing of
ILR licensing rules.
Power FM launches in
Southampton and becomes the UK's first 24-hour non-stop chart hit music station, The Light FM launches in
Winchester and The Gold AM replaces
Ocean Sound on medium-wave.
Ocean Sound continues its full service operation on 97.5 FM in
Portsmouth.
1989
15 January –
Wolverhampton station Beacon Radio is replaced on FM by Beacon FM and on MW by
WABC.
4 April –
Xtra AM begins broadcasting on the MW frequencies of BRMB and Mercia Sound.
8 April –
Great North Radio begins broadcasting on MW to north east England.
1 May –
Classic Gold begins broadcasting on MW across west, south and east Yorkshire, replacing individual stations Pennine AM, Hallam AM and
Viking Gold.
4 July – A new transmitter for
DevonAir is switched on allowing the station to expand its transmission area to East Devon, West Dorset and South Somerset. The relay broadcasts under the name of South West 103.
16 July –
The Breeze begins broadcasting on MW across Essex and Surrey.
15 September –
Fox FM starts broadcasting to
Oxford and
Banbury. It becomes the first UK commercial station to be licensed to broadcast on a single waveband.
2 October – LBC ends and is replaced on FM by news and comment station
LBC Crown FM
Unknown –
Liverpool station
City Talk 1548 AM becomes the UK's first all-talk radio station outside of London.This was unusual as most stations launched 'golden oldie' stations on their AM frequencies.
Unknown –
Southern Sound's broadcast area is expanded when it begins broadcasting to East Sussex.
1 September – Official launch of dance music station
Kiss FM. The station had previously operated as a pirate broadcaster but now broadcasts legally across London..
6 October –
The Superstation closes after 2 years 3 months on air at 6am after going into liquidation.
7 October –
Mellow 1557 begins broadcasting to the Tendring area of Essex.
8 October –
Severn Sound splits into two services, with
Severn Sound continuing on FM with 3 Counties Radio launching on MW.
October –
Echo 96 begins broadcasting to South Cheshire and Staffordshire.
27 January –
Galaxy Radio replaces
FTP in Bristol. This station would be part of Chiltern Radio's Hot FM network, with separate programmes during the day and taking the main network output from Milton Keynes between 2200 and 0600 overnight.
10 March –
South Coast Radio launches on MW along the Sussex and Hampshire coast.
July –
The Radio Authority awards the first
Independent National Radio licence to Showtime Radio, which proposes a 'songs from the shows' format. The rules, as set out by the
Broadcasting Act 1990, stated that the authority had to give the licence to the highest cash bidder, providing that the applicant met criteria set down in the Broadcasting Act[13] and Showtime offered the highest amount out of the three applicants.
April –
The Radio Authority awards the second
Independent National Radio licence to Independent Music Radio, a consortium jointly owned by
TV-am and Virgin Communications Ltd. The Authority had hoped that the station would launch by the end of the year but it didn't launch until the following April.
4 July –
Minster FM begins broadcasting to
York and the surrounding areas of mid North Yorkshire.
July – As Classic FM prepares to launch, test transmissions are carried out using a recording of
birdsong originally made for a
Raymond Briggs play about nuclear war in 1991. The recording proves popular with listeners and is later launched as
Birdsong Radio.[15]
25 October –
Channel 103 begins broadcasting to the Channel Island of
Jersey.
22 November –
Delta Radio's new owners close the station after 2 years, and the transmitter is goes back to being a relay of
Radio Mercury. Meanwhile,
Wey Valley Radio launches in a different frequency.
18 January –
Signal Gold launches as a full-time station on Signal Radio's MW frequency although a limited split service had been operating for the past year in the form of a separate MW-only Golden Breakfast Show.
1 March –
The Bay begins broadcasting to southern Cumbria and north Lancashire.
30 April –
Virgin 1215, Britain's second national commercial radio station broadcasting on
Radio 3's old mediumwave frequency, is launched by owner
Richard Branson at 12.15pm.
27 August –
Marcher Coast begins broadcasting. The station covers the north Wales coastal area from Llandudno eastwards.
3 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.[16]
4 September –
Wessex FM begins broadcasting across central and western
Dorset.
30 October –
Radio Rovers launches, and therefore becomes the first dedicated football club radio station in the United Kingdom. The station provides matchday coverage for all of
Blackburn Rovers FC's home games.
Unknown –
London station WNK closes.[17] 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.
1–16 September – The UK's first five regional commercial stations start broadcasting. They are
100.4 Jazz FM (north west England),
100–102 Century Radio (north east England),
Galaxy 101 which launches a dance music service on the 4th to the Severn estuary area,
100.7 Heart FM which launches on the 6th and covers the West Midlands and
Scot FM which broadcasts music and speech to the Scottish central belt.
5 October –
News Direct 97.3FM and
London News Talk 1152AM begin broadcasting. They replace LBC Newstalk and London Talkback Radio. The change occurs following last year's decision by the
Radio Authority not to renew LBC's licence, instead giving it to London News Radio, a consortium led by former LBC staff and backed by
Guinness Mahon.[19]
16 October –
Kiss 102 begins broadcasting a dance music service to
Manchester.
14 February –
Talk Radio UK becomes the last of three national commercial radio stations to go on air. It broadcasts on the old
Radio 1 mediumwave frequency.
10 April –
Virgin Radio starts broadcasting on FM in London. The station is a full simulcast of the national service apart from a 45-minute weekday early evening programme.
30 May –
Radio XL begins broadcasting to the Asian community of the
West Midlands. The frequency was previously used by
BBC WM.
10 June –
Premier Christian Radio becomes the UK's first Christian radio station when it launches on AM across
London.
July –
The Radio Authority gives permission to
GWR Group to begin programme networking across many of its FM stations. This landmark ruling begins the move by commercial radio companies in the UK to replace locally produced shows with networking.[22]
3 June –
Asian Sound Radio begins broadcasting on MW across East Lancashire.
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.
15 July –
Oban FM begins broadcasting to the
Oban area of west Scotland.
2 September –
Supergold closes after eight years on air, replaced by
Classic Gold at 7am.
Classic Gold was based at Chiltern Radio studios in Dunstable from this point.
9 September – Following a change in ownership,
Manchester station
Fortune 1458 is renamed Lite AM.
September – The Radio Authority awards a full-time commercial licence to a student radio station for the first time when it awards the Oxford licence to
Oxygen FM.
January –
Leicester Sound moves frequency (from 103.2 to 105.4) and increases transmitter power to allow the station to cover the county of
Leicestershire.
6 January –
West FM begins broadcasting on FM to
Ayr and the surrounding areas. West Sound Radio continues on MW.
February – Emap launches a network of Magic stations on its MW frequencies across the north of England. The Yorkshire stations launch on 12 February, replacing and
Great Yorkshire Gold and a week later
Magic 1152 and
Magic 1170 replace
Great North Radio.
14 February – At 1.05pm,
Kiss 105 begins broadcasting a dance music service across East, West and South Yorkshire.
17 March –
The roll-out of the Magic brand concludes when the north west Magic stations –
Magic 1152 and Magic
Magic 1548 launch.
After broadcasting a one-month temporary service called 1278 and 1530 AM West Yorkshire,
Classic Gold launches in
Bradford and
Halifax/
Huddersfield. The station is a simulcast of the Classic Gold network heard on MW in central and southern England with a local breakfast show supplemented by local news and information throughout the day.
20 October –
European Klassik Rock begins broadcasting a classic rock service via satellite. The station also operates 28-day
RSLs in various cities and counties.
6 December –
Waves Radio begins broadcasting to the
Peterhead area of Aberdeenshire.
9 December – Chris Evans's media production company,
Ginger Media Group buys Virgin Radio from
Richard Branson for £85m. Branson had planned to sell the station to
Capital Radio, but Evans, who had not wanted to work for the station, launched a rival bid.
1998
17 January –
KMFM Thanet begins broadcasting to the Thanet area of Kent.
31 May –
Xtra AM closes after nine years on air and the station is replaced by a relay of
Capital Gold.[24] 1998 also saw capital Gold rolling out in Birmingham and Kent, replacing
Xtra AM and
Invicta Supergold respectively.
London's dance/urban station
Kiss 100 is rebranded by
EMAP Radio with a new logo and mainstream pop music is introduced to the playlist, this leads to criticism from some DJ's and listeners.
Britain's first national commercial
DAB digital radio multiplex,
Digital One, goes on air to England, and parts of Scotland and Wales. The stations carried at launch include the three national commercial AM/FM services –
Classic FM,
Virgin Radio (now Absolute) and
Talk Radio UK (now Talksport) – along with two new digital-first stations – fresh pop service
Core and adult classic rock station
Planet Rock, both then under the ownership of Classic FM's then parent (and Digital One shareholder)
GWR Group. Digital One would extend its station lineup and transmission area over subsequent years, and became available to Northern Ireland from 2013 (following the completion of digital television switchover in the UK and
Republic of Ireland the prior autumn).
11 September – Following a
terrorist attack on the
United States, and the collapse of the
Twin Towers in
New York City, live on television, most broadcasters abandon regular programming in order to provide up to date coverage of unfolding events.
16 October –
Saga 105.7 FM, the UK's first radio station dedicated to the over-50s, begins broadcasting in
Birmingham.
October – The
Sky News Radio service is expanded to provide hourly news bulletins, audio and scripts for a number of clients in the commercial radio sector.
December – The eight medium wave
Magic stations in northern England begin networking 10am – 2pm and 7pm – 6am with the London station
Magic 105.4 providing the programmes.
Unknown –
Garrison FM begins broadcasting. The station serves military bases across the UK.
28 February–1 March – The first three community radio stations –
Bradford Community Broadcasting,
Cross Rhythms in Stoke and
Angel Community Radio (
Havant) – start broadcasting as part of a trial of community radio which sees 15 stations go on air during 2002. The trial, under the title of "Access Radio", saw each station originally licensed for one year. All three stations are still on air today.
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.
3 January – Severn Estuary regional station
Galaxy 101 is renamed
Vibe 101.
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 News 1152 transfers to FM and is renamed LBC 97.3. The change takes place following the purchase of the two stations by
Chrysalis Radio.
January – Just over a year after EMAP decided to simulcast London station
Magic 105.4 on its eight medium wave
Magic stations in northern England, and following a sharp decline in listening, the station ends the networking of
Magic 105.4. It replaces the simulcast with a regional northern network.
1 February –
Mid 106 FM begins broadcasting across mid Ulster.
7 September –
Saga 105.2 FM begins broadcasting, becoming the third station to broadcast to Scotland's central belt.
2005
17 January – Almost all of the UK's commercial stations join to broadcast
UK Radio Aid, a twelve-hour event to raise money for the victims of the
Asian tsunami.
18 December –
Radio Music Shop begins broadcasting. The station, which claims to be the world's first retail radio station, lasted less than a year, closing on 5 October 2007.
3 August – All stations in the
Classic Gold and
Capital Gold networks are replaced by a new network called simply Gold, the result of the merger of the Classic Gold and Capital Gold networks under one owner, GCap Media.
6 August –
Norwich-based community station
Future Radio begins broadcasting.
23 August – GMG Radio confirms that
Mark Goodier's mid-morning show on
102.2 Smooth Radio will be syndicated across other Smooth stations in the network from September.[44]
8 January –
97.5 Smooth Radio becomes north east England's third regional station when it begins broadcasting. The licence had been awarded to Saga Radio but Smooth's owners GMG Group took over Saga in 2007, replacing the saga stations with Smooth Radio.
Another of the original Digital One stations,
Core Radio, stops broadcasting.
12 January – The Forces Station
BFBS begins a trial period of broadcasting nationwide across the UK on
DAB from midnight. The trial ran until 23:59 on 31 March 2008, and audience research carried out during this time concluded that it was successful. BFBS subsequently returned to DAB Digital Radio on a permanent basis.[49]
31 March – Following its decision to exit digital broadcasting, GCap closes
theJazz and
Capital Life.[51] To compensate, two hours of jazz music are broadcast each night on
Classic FM.
28 April – The
Heart Network begins simulcasting some of its programmes from
Heart 106.2 in London. There are now only ten hours of local programming from
100.7 Heart FM in Birmingham and
Heart 106 in the
East Midlands during weekdays and four hours on Saturday and Sunday.
10 November – Thirteen stations owned by
GMG Radio take part in an eighteen-hour on-air appeal to raise money for the
Help for Heroes charity. The event raises almost £200,000.[60]
1 December –
Touch Radio is rebranded to Touch FM.
24 March – The five radio stations owned by YMC Ltd (
3TR FM,
Bath FM,
Brunel FM,
Quay West 102.4/100.8 and
Quay West 107.4) are closed by administrators after multiple refusals on the part of regulator
Ofcom to transfer the licenses, following a number of financial issues at the stations after TLRC's sale.[61]
6 April –
Sunshine 1530 closes after three years on air.
15 April – Under new guidelines from
Ofcom, from May commercial radio rivals will be allowed to co-locate to cut costs, and to slash local programming. The guidelines are a result of the recently passed
Digital Economy Act.[62]
29 April – Lanarkshire station
L107 closes after five years on air.
3 June –
Kestral FM's broadcast area expands when it subsumes
Delta FM. However, a split breakfast show continues for a short while, prior to all output being merged in 2011.[63]
21 June –
Global Radio announces plans to reduce the number of its local
Heart stations from 33 to 15 "super stations" in a reorganisation. The stations will have their own breakfast and drivetime shows, and local news bulletins, but all other output will come from London. A further two stations owned by Global will also be subsumed into the Heart network.[64]
29 June –
Smooth Radio announces plans to merge its five stations based in England, creating a national network. The new station will be based in
Manchester and will see the loss of 60 jobs at Smooth's other bases. A phased launch will begin on 4 October.[65]
3 January –
95.8 Capital FM London launches nationally and becomes a part of
The Capital FM Network following the merger of Global Radio's
Hit Music and
Galaxy networks to form the nine-station 'Capital Network'.[66] Other than daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows, the majority of Capital's London-based output is now networked.[67]
11 January –
KMFM West Kent and
KMFM Maidstone merge their breakfast shows, meaning all programming is shared across both stations.[68]
1 November –
GMG Radio launches a dedicated station playing nothing but
Christmas music, under the brand "Smooth Christmas". The station had no news or advertisements but did promote Smooth Radio and broadcast until 27 December 2011.[71]
23 December – GMG Radio confirms plans to launch a station dedicated to music from the 1970s on trial basis and four days later
Smooth 70s replaces Smooth Christmas on the
Digital One platform.[72]
2012
6 January – Following its sale to
UKRD,
Fresh Radio which broadcast on MW across the
Yorkshire Dales, closes after fifteen years on air.[73] The more populous parts of the area are later served by
Stray FM which is expanded to cover areas such as
Skipton and Wharfedale and the
Richmond area is served to
Star Radio North East.
21 January – Under new guidelines to come into force from 30 April clinics which charge for pregnancy services including abortions will be able to advertise on radio and television after the
Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice ruled there was no justification for barring such clinics from advertising their services.[74]
23 January – GMG Radio announces it is conducting a "full review" of its news staff. Currently the broadcaster employs 39 journalists, nine of whom are based in Scotland.[75]
7 February –
UTV Media unveils plans to merge
The Wolf, The Wyre and The Sever and rebrand them as
Signal 107.[79] The rebrand happens on 26 March.
14 February –
Poole community radio station
The Bay 102.8 is re-branded as Hot Radio.[80]
16 February – Ofcom gives the
KMFMnetwork permission to network the breakfast show, meaning programming will be identical across all seven stations at all times.[81]
5 March – Community station
Rossendale Radio closes after just two years on air.[82]
7 March –
Guildford based
County Sound is given approval by
Ofcom to change its classic hits format to a community-based information station under the name Eagle Extra.[83]
14 March – The owners of
Jack FM announce the launch of a new consultancy firm, OXIS Media, which will represent the brand throughout the UK and Europe.[84]
16 March – Quidem, owners of the Touch FM brand agrees a deal with the
Lincs FM Group to buy
Oak FM in Loughborough and Hinckley, thus increasing its number of stations to eight.[85]
2 April – From today,
Talksport dedicates its entire programming schedule to sport output, having previously offered a variety of sport and general news-related topics.[87]
The weekend breakfast show on the north of England
Magic stops being a local show in favour of a networked programme. Only the weekday breakfast show remains locally produced.
1 May – Ofcom approves a co-location request from
Touch Radio Staffordshire to move from
Tamworth to
Oak FM's headquarters in
Coalville. Touch will share some of Oak's programming, but must retain its local Staffordshire-based breakfast show.[89]
12 June – It is reported that
GMG has received multiple offers for its
radio business which value it at £50 million, as the company seeks to reshape itself to stem losses being made by The Guardian and The Observer.[93]
25 June –
GMG Radio is sold to
Global Radio for an undisclosed amount, thought to be around £50m. However, no structural changes will be made to either organisations until the deal has been investigated by Ofcom.[94] Several rival radio groups express their concerns over the takeover and the effect it could have on commercial radio in the UK.[95]
KMFM Extra closes and is replaced on DAB by the new-countywide KMFM.
3 July – Global Radio announces plans to branch into television with the launch of two non-stop music channels;
Heart TV and
Capital TV, which will go on air from September.[96]
24 August – An Ofcom survey of radio listeners reveals many believe there are too many adverts on commercial radio.[97]
30 August – West Midlands based
Sanjhi Awaz Radio ceases broadcasting after two years on air due to financial problems.[98]
4 September –
Gold is replaced by
Free Radio 80s in the West Midlands on MW and DAB.[99]
8 August –
Southport station
Dune FM closes after fifteen years on air.
11 October – The Office of Fair Trading agrees to fast-track the investigation into Global Radio's purchase of GMG Radio after Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Maria Miller says the deal will not be investigated for media plurality. The matter is also forwarded onto the
Competition Commission, which oversees business mergers and takeovers.[100] The Competition Commission later announces 27 March 2013 as the date on which it will publish its findings into the takeover.[101]
30 October – Smooth Radio confirms that Smooth Christmas will return, airing on the Digital One multiplex in the lead up to the festive season, giving the brand three stations on the platform.[102] It launches two days later.
Solid Gold Gem launches. The internet station is based on 1990s Midlands oldies station
GEM-AM.[104]
15 December – Celador rebrands its recently acquired
Kestrel FM stations as The Breeze.[105]
2013
3 January – It is reported that
Gaydar Radio owner QSoft Consulting will leave the radio business and hand its DAB licences to Manchester community station
Gaydio.[106]
11 January – Radio Today reports that Ofcom is inviting applications for community radio licences to operate on
medium wave, a move that will keep the waveband in use until at least 2020.[108]
21 January – Radio Today reports the name change of Nation 80s to
Nation Hits, a move allowing the station to air a broader range of music. It is the station's third rebranding since 2009.[109]
6 February –
Bauer Media buys the digital station
Planet Rock for a sum estimated to be between £1m and £2m.[110]
14 February – The
Competition Commission publish their preliminary findings into the
Global Radio takeover of
GMG Radio, recommending a full or partial sale of the now renamed Real and Smooth Radio Ltd.[111]
25 March –
NME Radio closes after five years on air.[112]
31 March –
Garrison FM is merged with
BFBS, resulting in BFBS taking over the six Garrison stations currently on air.
23 April – The Radio Today website reports that
Absolute Radio 60s and
Absolute Classic Rock have been removed from several DAB platforms in England and Wales, but the stations continue to broadcast in London and online.[113]
7 May –
Kisstory and
KissFresh begin broadcasting and sister station
Q Radio closes down after five years on air.
14 June –
Kerrang! 105.2's final day of broadcasting on FM in the West Midlands. The 105.2 frequency is taken over by
Planet Rock simulcasting from London. Kerrang! continues on DAB, but with content aired from London from 17 June.[115]
27 August – The MXR regional digital radio multiplex for the West Midlands is switched off after 12 years on air.[117]
3 October – Global Radio announces that Smooth 70s will close in three days time after 21 months on air.[118]
6 October –
Smooth 70s stops broadcasting to make way for the launch on Digital One of
Capital Xtra.
7 October –
Choice FM is rebranded as Capital Xtra.[119]
2014
1 January –
Jazz FM stops broadcasting on the national
Digital One multiplex, but continues to be available on DAB in London, online and through satellite television.[120] Its Digital One slot is temporarily taken over by the return of
Birdsong Radio, with plans for a permanent replacement in February.[121]
6 January – It had been reported on 30 December 2013 that
Hot Radio would close at 18:00,[122] but the station remains on air after the deadline had passed.[123]
20 January –
Global Radio is found to be in breach of their license remit for
Heart Cornwall after a listener complained to
Ofcom that there was not enough local news and speech to make it a fully local station.[124]
4 February – The Radio Today website reports that
Ofcom have given
Global Radio permission to remove
Smooth Radio from the
Digital One platform, and replace it with a new national station. Under the agreement, Smooth will continue to air on its regional FM frequencies, but with a greater local output.[125]
6 February – Global Radio sells eight of its regional stations to Irish media holdings firm
Communicorp.[126]
11 February –
LBC 97.3 launches nationally on the
Digital One platform, taking over the slot formerly occupied by Jazz FM. The station also secures a sponsorship deal with the Financial Times.[127][128]
14 March – Global Radio announces that Gold will become a non-stop music service, with the exception of the breakfast show and Saturday's Vinyl Heaven.[129]
24 March –
Smooth Radio returns to airing local output on its regional frequencies, with local programming for Breakfast and Drivetime, and a raft of
new presenters joining the network.[130]
Smooth Radio replaces
Gold on MW across southern England.[131]
11 February – Welsh station
Radio Hafren closes after 22 years on air.[148]
27 March – The Sound Digital consortium, which includes
UTV Media, wins the licence to launch the
Digital Two network in 2016. UTV Media will launch four new stations on the platform.[149]
13 September – Ahead of the relaunch of XFM as
Radio X, Global hands back the Paisley licence, on which it had broadcast
XFM Scotland, to
Ofcom when the regulator refused Global's request to network 24/7 from London.
6 May –
Orion Media announces that they have been bought by
Bauer for an undisclosed fee, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.[157][158] This gives Bauer the West Midlands network of
Free Radio stations and East Midlands regional station
Gem 106.
17 January – Cross Counties Radio announce plans to launch an online radio station for the 9,000 workers based at the
Magna Park distribution centre in
Lutterworth,
Leicestershire.[160]
19 January – The Armed Forces radio station
BFBS announces it will cease broadcasting on the
Digital One platform from March because of the cost of transmitting content through DAB.[162]
29 March –
UKRD Group announces that it is to hand back the licenses which are used to provide
Star Radio North East to
Ofcom apart from the
Northallerton licence which it proposes to transfer back to
Minster FM.[163] Ofcom confirmed the transfer of the Northallerton licence to Minster on 4 April 2017.[164]
31 March – Star Radio is reprieved when UKRD announces that it has sold the station to View TV Group.[165]
5 July –
Jazz FM confirms its presenter Peter Young has stepped down from his presenting role after 27 years at the station due to ill health.[166]
Aberdeen station
Northsound 2 stops broadcasting on MW. The station continues to broadcast on DAB and online. It becomes the first commercial radio station in Scotland – and the first of Bauer's local stations – to cease analogue broadcasting.[174]
15 May –
Sound Digital announces that it will add 19 transmitters to its network. They will launch in the South West, East Anglia, Wales and North of Scotland and will increase Sound Digital's coverage by nearly 4 million new listeners in more than 1.6m new households.[175]
12 June – For the first time since its inception in 2004,
Ofcom does not award a re-adversided licence to the incumbent licensee when it awards the
Ipswich licence to
Ipswich 102.[178] It will replace
Town 102 on 18 October.
1 August – Ahead of its launch on FM in October,
Ipswich 102 goes on air on DAB.[179]
15 August – Scottish station
NECR closes after 28 years on air.[180]
23 October – The first radio station to have a playlist made up entirely of female artists,
JACK Radio, launches on DAB. Jack will also feature female sports and material from female stand-up comedians.[181]
22 December –
Virgin Radio launches two spin-off stations – Virgin Radio Anthems and Virgin Radio Chilled. Both stations launch on the
Sound Digital multiplex.[183]
2019
7 January –
Greatest Hits Radio launches, replacing the Bauer City 2 branding. Individual station identities in Northern England are dropped and are rebranded to GHR with Scotland unaffected. The new network extends to the West Midlands although
GHR West Midlands continues to air a weekday three-hour local show.[184][185]
26 February –
Global Radio announces plans to replace the regional breakfast shows on
Capital,
Heart and
Smooth with a single national breakfast show for each network. Also, the number of drivetime shows will be reduced with local shows replaced by regional programmes.[186]
Lancashire station
2BR stops broadcasting and is replaced by a relay of
Capital Manchester.[188] This comes nine months after Global had bought 2BR from UKRD.[189]
Capital London's
breakfast show goes national, resulting in the scrapping of all other local breakfast shows apart from on
Capital Cymru. The only 'local' output is at drivetime and the new regulations mean that Global is able to replace local shows with 10 regional programmes which will be networked across all stations in that region.[190]
3 June – The local
Heart breakfast shows are axed to make way for a single Heart breakfast show from London. Also, the number of drivetime shows are reduced with regional shows replacing local programmes.[193]
21 June – Global launches another Heart spin-off station,
Heart Dance.
Bauer begins to network its
Hits Radio Manchester weekday Drivetime show on all but one of its
Hits Radio stations in England, leaving only the weekday breakfast show as a local show[200] following the removal in July of the one remaining local weekend programme.[201]
Smooth Radio's networked Drivetime show launches.[202] At the same time, the number of breakfast shows drops to seven.
28 October – Global relaunches LBC London News as a national 24-hour rolling news channel called
LBC News.[203]
2 December – Quidem's six local stations in the south east Midlands become part of the
Capital network. They operate as
Capital Mid-Counties, sharing all programmes with the
Capital network apart from a local weekday drivetime show.[204]
2020s
2020
1 April –
Your Radio closes and the frequency begins transmitting Nation Radio Scotland.
April – Jack 3, branded as Jack 3 & Chill, replaces Jack 2 on 107.9 MHz in Oxfordshire.[205] an easy listening station which launched on
DAB in Oxfordshire in May 2017.
30 June – Bauer switches off the MW transmitters which had been carrying
Absolute Classic Rock since the start of 2019. Consequently, Bauer is no longer broadcasting on MW in the West Midlands.
28 August – Bauer launches
Hits Radio Pride, aimed at the LGBTQ+ community.[209] This is the first time that a major radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom has launched a station that is targeted to the LGBTQ+ community.
31 August –
Bauer closes
Leeds station
Radio Aire after 39 years on air. Its frequency is transferred to Greatest Hits Radio.[210]
Hits Radio South Coast launches, thereby becoming the second FM station to be known on air as Hits Radio. The station had previously broadcast as The Breeze South Coast and the change is made following the purchase in 2019 of The Breeze network from Celador Radio.
16 October – Global switches off its mediumwave frequencies in Cardiff and Newport [217] and on 3 November Global switches off its MW frequencies in
Luton and
Bedford.[218] Both sets of frequencies had been used to broadcast Smooth Radio and in both areas Smooth is available on DAB.
25 December –
Radio Caroline broadcasts the
Queen's Christmas Message for the first time, 66 years after its request to air the address was turned down by the BBC for being an unauthorised broadcaster.[221]
12 March –
Boom Radio becomes available nationally on the
Sound Digital multiplex, having initially launched on some local DAB platforms and online.[223]
26 April – Bauer switches off its mediumwave frequencies in Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Leeds and Humberside. They are being switched off following the launch of Greatest Hits Radio on FM in those areas.[224]
9 August –
Global Radio confirms its purchase of Quidem Media, allowing it to take full control of six Midlands stations that are running under the Capital brand.[228]
1 September – Imagine FM rebrands as Greatest Hits Radio.[230]
6 September – Bournemouth's Fire Radio and Bristol's Sam FM rebrand as
Hits Radio.[231]
1 November –
Argyll FM launches its Internet radio service, the last radio station operating on a commercial licence in the UK to do so. Consequently, all commercial radio stations in the country are now available online.[232]
21 April –
Nation Broadcasting launches
Breezy Radio, a station replacing
Swansea Bay Radio on 102.1FM in Swansea, and available throughout Wales on DAB.[234] Later in 2022, the station is relaunched as Easy Radio.
3 May –
Fix Radio begins broadcasting nationwide after launching on the SDL Mutliplex.[235]
1 September – Launch of
Virgin Radio 80s Plus on DAB in London and Central Scotland, as well as online.[236]
2 September –
University Radio York is awarded a five-year licence by Ofcom to broadcast on 88.3FM to the
University of York after taking part in a one-year broadcasting trial on FM of stations broadcasting on FM with a maximum radius of 1 kilometre. It was the only student radio station to do so.[237]
4 October –
Radio Wyvern is relaunched in Worcester on 106.7FM, replacing Youthcomm Radio, which has used the frequency since 2008. This incarnation of Wyvern is a joint venture between Muff Muffin, Sammy Southall and former Wyvern presenter Paul Ellery.[238]
13 and 16 February – Global launches to more spin-off stations –
Capital Chill[243] and
Radio X Classic Rock.[244] Both stations are carried on the Sound Digital multiplex.
25 June –
University Radio York switches off its AM frequency after 55 years on air, having made the decision to move to FM.[246]
30 June –
Global Radio switches off more of its AM frequencies. It turns off all but two of the AM transmitters which carry
Gold network, leaving the station as a digital only service apart from in London and Manchester,[247] and Global switched off
Smooth Radio's AM frequencies in Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Wiltshire and Plymouth.[248]
4 September –
BRMB is relaunched in Birmingham when community station
Big City Radio rebrands its DAB output. Big City Radio continues online.[249]
29 September – Global switches off of its 1548KHz London frequency used by
Gold.[250]
2024
19 January –
Sunshine 855 switches off its mediumwave frequency on 855KHz, having been granted permission to do so by Ofcom due to the expensive cost of maintaining the transmitters and the small number of listeners who listen on mediumwave.[251]
This is a timeline of the development of independent radio in the UK.
1960s
1969
30 April –
University Radio York (URY) starts broadcasting and becomes the first licensed independent radio station in the UK.[1]
1970s
1970
Until the
1970 United Kingdom general election, despite the popularity of
Radio Luxembourg and, for a period in the mid-1960s, the off-shore "
pirate" broadcasters, it had remained the policy of both major political parties that radio was to remain under the BBC. Upon the election of
Edward Heath's government this policy changed. The new Minister of Post and Telecommunications and former
ITN newscaster,
Christopher Chataway, announces a bill to allow for the introduction of commercial radio in the United Kingdom. This service would be planned and regulated and would compete with
BBC Local Radio services.
16 October –
Capital Radio begins broadcasting a music-based general entertainment service to the
London area.[3][4]
31 December –
Radio Clyde, the first independent local radio station outside
London, and the first in
Scotland, begins broadcasting to the
Glasgow area.[3]
December –
Capital Radio launches the Capital Radio Helpline, and also in 1976
Capital Radio launches the Flying Eye, a traffic spotting light aircraft which reported on traffic congestion on the streets of Central London.
11 April –
CBC in
Cardiff becomes the first of the second tranche of
Independent Local Radio stations to start broadcasting. It is the first new ILR station since 1976.
7 November –
DevonAir Radio begins broadcasting to
Exeter and the surrounding mid-Devon area. On 12 December the station starts broadcasting to the
Torbay area.
6 November –
Saxon Radio begins broadcasting to the
Bury St. Edmunds area. This is the first station to network most of its output from another, in this case,
Radio Orwell in Ipswich.
6 October –
Centre Radio stops broadcasting after running into financial difficulties. A take-over bid was rejected by the
IBA and the station went off air at 5.30pm.[6][7]
Plans for a station in the
Derry region of Northern Ireland collapse.
9 September –
Radio West closes down after Wiltshire Radio buys struggling Radio West and on 1 October a merged station,
GWR, launches to
Bristol and
Swindon / West Wiltshire with shared (networked) and split local programming.
14 October –
CBC is relaunched as
Red Dragon Radio. The station also covers the Newport area, offering a replacement service to Gwent Broadcasting and provides separate breakfast shows for
Cardiff and
Newport until the early 1990s.[9]
October –
Plymouth Sound launches an opt-out service for
Tavistock. The service operates on weekday breakfast and drive time and weekend mid-mornings.
Unknown – Due to general difficulties within the commercial radio industry,
Hereward Radio withdraws from Northamptonshire and the
Independent Broadcasting Authority assigns the Independent Local Radio franchise to a new company, Northants Radio Ltd, owned by
Chiltern Radio Group.
A European-wide re-organisation of band 2 of the VHF band comes into effect in July 1987. In preparation for this, 1986 sees many local stations change their VHF/FM frequency.
28 June –
Portsmouth station
Radio Victory goes off air. It was the first commercial radio station to lose its licence.
12 October –
Ocean Sound begins broadcasting. Replacing
Radio Victory in East Hampshire, it introducing commercial radio to
Southampton,
Winchester and the
Isle of Wight. The station transmits with split frequencies; Ocean Sound West on 103.2FM and 1557AM and Ocean Sound East on 97.5FM (former 95FM transmitter for Radio Victory) and 1170AM, the former AM transmitter of the former
ILR station.
30 November – Following its purchase of
Northants 96,
Chiltern Radio launches a networked service called "The Hot FM". The service is broadcast on three ILR licenses including the newly launched
Northants 96. Only the mid-morning show is broadcast locally.
1987
1 January – A new transmitter for
Radio 210 is switched on, allowing the
Reading-based station to broadcast across
Berkshire and north
Hampshire.
3 March –
Radio Trent's broadcast area expands when it starts broadcasting to the
Derby area.
18 May – The
Yorkshire Radio Network launches. It is a networked service of evening and overnight programming, broadcast on three commercial radio stations in Yorkshire –
Pennine Radio in
Bradford,
Viking Radio in
Hull and
Radio Hallam in
Sheffield – providing programming every night between 8pm, starting slightly earlier at weekends, and 6am.
22 May –
GWR's broadcast area expands when it launches in
Bath.
6 December –
Ocean Sound launches a third station Ocean Sound North. It covers
Winchester and the north of its region. It shares much of its programming with Ocean Sound West, except for a local breakfast show.
1 July –
The Superstation launches an overnight sustaining service on a number of ILR stations around the country at 10pm. The service would run until 6am each morning, later expanding to start at 7pm.
2 July –
Capital Gold starts broadcasting, initially as a weekend only service on AM.
20 September – The
Radio Data System (RDS) launches, allowing car radios to automatically retune, display station identifiers and switch to local travel news.
4 December –
Ocean Sound creates three new radio stations as part of the relaxing of
ILR licensing rules.
Power FM launches in
Southampton and becomes the UK's first 24-hour non-stop chart hit music station, The Light FM launches in
Winchester and The Gold AM replaces
Ocean Sound on medium-wave.
Ocean Sound continues its full service operation on 97.5 FM in
Portsmouth.
1989
15 January –
Wolverhampton station Beacon Radio is replaced on FM by Beacon FM and on MW by
WABC.
4 April –
Xtra AM begins broadcasting on the MW frequencies of BRMB and Mercia Sound.
8 April –
Great North Radio begins broadcasting on MW to north east England.
1 May –
Classic Gold begins broadcasting on MW across west, south and east Yorkshire, replacing individual stations Pennine AM, Hallam AM and
Viking Gold.
4 July – A new transmitter for
DevonAir is switched on allowing the station to expand its transmission area to East Devon, West Dorset and South Somerset. The relay broadcasts under the name of South West 103.
16 July –
The Breeze begins broadcasting on MW across Essex and Surrey.
15 September –
Fox FM starts broadcasting to
Oxford and
Banbury. It becomes the first UK commercial station to be licensed to broadcast on a single waveband.
2 October – LBC ends and is replaced on FM by news and comment station
LBC Crown FM
Unknown –
Liverpool station
City Talk 1548 AM becomes the UK's first all-talk radio station outside of London.This was unusual as most stations launched 'golden oldie' stations on their AM frequencies.
Unknown –
Southern Sound's broadcast area is expanded when it begins broadcasting to East Sussex.
1 September – Official launch of dance music station
Kiss FM. The station had previously operated as a pirate broadcaster but now broadcasts legally across London..
6 October –
The Superstation closes after 2 years 3 months on air at 6am after going into liquidation.
7 October –
Mellow 1557 begins broadcasting to the Tendring area of Essex.
8 October –
Severn Sound splits into two services, with
Severn Sound continuing on FM with 3 Counties Radio launching on MW.
October –
Echo 96 begins broadcasting to South Cheshire and Staffordshire.
27 January –
Galaxy Radio replaces
FTP in Bristol. This station would be part of Chiltern Radio's Hot FM network, with separate programmes during the day and taking the main network output from Milton Keynes between 2200 and 0600 overnight.
10 March –
South Coast Radio launches on MW along the Sussex and Hampshire coast.
July –
The Radio Authority awards the first
Independent National Radio licence to Showtime Radio, which proposes a 'songs from the shows' format. The rules, as set out by the
Broadcasting Act 1990, stated that the authority had to give the licence to the highest cash bidder, providing that the applicant met criteria set down in the Broadcasting Act[13] and Showtime offered the highest amount out of the three applicants.
April –
The Radio Authority awards the second
Independent National Radio licence to Independent Music Radio, a consortium jointly owned by
TV-am and Virgin Communications Ltd. The Authority had hoped that the station would launch by the end of the year but it didn't launch until the following April.
4 July –
Minster FM begins broadcasting to
York and the surrounding areas of mid North Yorkshire.
July – As Classic FM prepares to launch, test transmissions are carried out using a recording of
birdsong originally made for a
Raymond Briggs play about nuclear war in 1991. The recording proves popular with listeners and is later launched as
Birdsong Radio.[15]
25 October –
Channel 103 begins broadcasting to the Channel Island of
Jersey.
22 November –
Delta Radio's new owners close the station after 2 years, and the transmitter is goes back to being a relay of
Radio Mercury. Meanwhile,
Wey Valley Radio launches in a different frequency.
18 January –
Signal Gold launches as a full-time station on Signal Radio's MW frequency although a limited split service had been operating for the past year in the form of a separate MW-only Golden Breakfast Show.
1 March –
The Bay begins broadcasting to southern Cumbria and north Lancashire.
30 April –
Virgin 1215, Britain's second national commercial radio station broadcasting on
Radio 3's old mediumwave frequency, is launched by owner
Richard Branson at 12.15pm.
27 August –
Marcher Coast begins broadcasting. The station covers the north Wales coastal area from Llandudno eastwards.
3 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.[16]
4 September –
Wessex FM begins broadcasting across central and western
Dorset.
30 October –
Radio Rovers launches, and therefore becomes the first dedicated football club radio station in the United Kingdom. The station provides matchday coverage for all of
Blackburn Rovers FC's home games.
Unknown –
London station WNK closes.[17] 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.
1–16 September – The UK's first five regional commercial stations start broadcasting. They are
100.4 Jazz FM (north west England),
100–102 Century Radio (north east England),
Galaxy 101 which launches a dance music service on the 4th to the Severn estuary area,
100.7 Heart FM which launches on the 6th and covers the West Midlands and
Scot FM which broadcasts music and speech to the Scottish central belt.
5 October –
News Direct 97.3FM and
London News Talk 1152AM begin broadcasting. They replace LBC Newstalk and London Talkback Radio. The change occurs following last year's decision by the
Radio Authority not to renew LBC's licence, instead giving it to London News Radio, a consortium led by former LBC staff and backed by
Guinness Mahon.[19]
16 October –
Kiss 102 begins broadcasting a dance music service to
Manchester.
14 February –
Talk Radio UK becomes the last of three national commercial radio stations to go on air. It broadcasts on the old
Radio 1 mediumwave frequency.
10 April –
Virgin Radio starts broadcasting on FM in London. The station is a full simulcast of the national service apart from a 45-minute weekday early evening programme.
30 May –
Radio XL begins broadcasting to the Asian community of the
West Midlands. The frequency was previously used by
BBC WM.
10 June –
Premier Christian Radio becomes the UK's first Christian radio station when it launches on AM across
London.
July –
The Radio Authority gives permission to
GWR Group to begin programme networking across many of its FM stations. This landmark ruling begins the move by commercial radio companies in the UK to replace locally produced shows with networking.[22]
3 June –
Asian Sound Radio begins broadcasting on MW across East Lancashire.
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.
15 July –
Oban FM begins broadcasting to the
Oban area of west Scotland.
2 September –
Supergold closes after eight years on air, replaced by
Classic Gold at 7am.
Classic Gold was based at Chiltern Radio studios in Dunstable from this point.
9 September – Following a change in ownership,
Manchester station
Fortune 1458 is renamed Lite AM.
September – The Radio Authority awards a full-time commercial licence to a student radio station for the first time when it awards the Oxford licence to
Oxygen FM.
January –
Leicester Sound moves frequency (from 103.2 to 105.4) and increases transmitter power to allow the station to cover the county of
Leicestershire.
6 January –
West FM begins broadcasting on FM to
Ayr and the surrounding areas. West Sound Radio continues on MW.
February – Emap launches a network of Magic stations on its MW frequencies across the north of England. The Yorkshire stations launch on 12 February, replacing and
Great Yorkshire Gold and a week later
Magic 1152 and
Magic 1170 replace
Great North Radio.
14 February – At 1.05pm,
Kiss 105 begins broadcasting a dance music service across East, West and South Yorkshire.
17 March –
The roll-out of the Magic brand concludes when the north west Magic stations –
Magic 1152 and Magic
Magic 1548 launch.
After broadcasting a one-month temporary service called 1278 and 1530 AM West Yorkshire,
Classic Gold launches in
Bradford and
Halifax/
Huddersfield. The station is a simulcast of the Classic Gold network heard on MW in central and southern England with a local breakfast show supplemented by local news and information throughout the day.
20 October –
European Klassik Rock begins broadcasting a classic rock service via satellite. The station also operates 28-day
RSLs in various cities and counties.
6 December –
Waves Radio begins broadcasting to the
Peterhead area of Aberdeenshire.
9 December – Chris Evans's media production company,
Ginger Media Group buys Virgin Radio from
Richard Branson for £85m. Branson had planned to sell the station to
Capital Radio, but Evans, who had not wanted to work for the station, launched a rival bid.
1998
17 January –
KMFM Thanet begins broadcasting to the Thanet area of Kent.
31 May –
Xtra AM closes after nine years on air and the station is replaced by a relay of
Capital Gold.[24] 1998 also saw capital Gold rolling out in Birmingham and Kent, replacing
Xtra AM and
Invicta Supergold respectively.
London's dance/urban station
Kiss 100 is rebranded by
EMAP Radio with a new logo and mainstream pop music is introduced to the playlist, this leads to criticism from some DJ's and listeners.
Britain's first national commercial
DAB digital radio multiplex,
Digital One, goes on air to England, and parts of Scotland and Wales. The stations carried at launch include the three national commercial AM/FM services –
Classic FM,
Virgin Radio (now Absolute) and
Talk Radio UK (now Talksport) – along with two new digital-first stations – fresh pop service
Core and adult classic rock station
Planet Rock, both then under the ownership of Classic FM's then parent (and Digital One shareholder)
GWR Group. Digital One would extend its station lineup and transmission area over subsequent years, and became available to Northern Ireland from 2013 (following the completion of digital television switchover in the UK and
Republic of Ireland the prior autumn).
11 September – Following a
terrorist attack on the
United States, and the collapse of the
Twin Towers in
New York City, live on television, most broadcasters abandon regular programming in order to provide up to date coverage of unfolding events.
16 October –
Saga 105.7 FM, the UK's first radio station dedicated to the over-50s, begins broadcasting in
Birmingham.
October – The
Sky News Radio service is expanded to provide hourly news bulletins, audio and scripts for a number of clients in the commercial radio sector.
December – The eight medium wave
Magic stations in northern England begin networking 10am – 2pm and 7pm – 6am with the London station
Magic 105.4 providing the programmes.
Unknown –
Garrison FM begins broadcasting. The station serves military bases across the UK.
28 February–1 March – The first three community radio stations –
Bradford Community Broadcasting,
Cross Rhythms in Stoke and
Angel Community Radio (
Havant) – start broadcasting as part of a trial of community radio which sees 15 stations go on air during 2002. The trial, under the title of "Access Radio", saw each station originally licensed for one year. All three stations are still on air today.
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.
3 January – Severn Estuary regional station
Galaxy 101 is renamed
Vibe 101.
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 News 1152 transfers to FM and is renamed LBC 97.3. The change takes place following the purchase of the two stations by
Chrysalis Radio.
January – Just over a year after EMAP decided to simulcast London station
Magic 105.4 on its eight medium wave
Magic stations in northern England, and following a sharp decline in listening, the station ends the networking of
Magic 105.4. It replaces the simulcast with a regional northern network.
1 February –
Mid 106 FM begins broadcasting across mid Ulster.
7 September –
Saga 105.2 FM begins broadcasting, becoming the third station to broadcast to Scotland's central belt.
2005
17 January – Almost all of the UK's commercial stations join to broadcast
UK Radio Aid, a twelve-hour event to raise money for the victims of the
Asian tsunami.
18 December –
Radio Music Shop begins broadcasting. The station, which claims to be the world's first retail radio station, lasted less than a year, closing on 5 October 2007.
3 August – All stations in the
Classic Gold and
Capital Gold networks are replaced by a new network called simply Gold, the result of the merger of the Classic Gold and Capital Gold networks under one owner, GCap Media.
6 August –
Norwich-based community station
Future Radio begins broadcasting.
23 August – GMG Radio confirms that
Mark Goodier's mid-morning show on
102.2 Smooth Radio will be syndicated across other Smooth stations in the network from September.[44]
8 January –
97.5 Smooth Radio becomes north east England's third regional station when it begins broadcasting. The licence had been awarded to Saga Radio but Smooth's owners GMG Group took over Saga in 2007, replacing the saga stations with Smooth Radio.
Another of the original Digital One stations,
Core Radio, stops broadcasting.
12 January – The Forces Station
BFBS begins a trial period of broadcasting nationwide across the UK on
DAB from midnight. The trial ran until 23:59 on 31 March 2008, and audience research carried out during this time concluded that it was successful. BFBS subsequently returned to DAB Digital Radio on a permanent basis.[49]
31 March – Following its decision to exit digital broadcasting, GCap closes
theJazz and
Capital Life.[51] To compensate, two hours of jazz music are broadcast each night on
Classic FM.
28 April – The
Heart Network begins simulcasting some of its programmes from
Heart 106.2 in London. There are now only ten hours of local programming from
100.7 Heart FM in Birmingham and
Heart 106 in the
East Midlands during weekdays and four hours on Saturday and Sunday.
10 November – Thirteen stations owned by
GMG Radio take part in an eighteen-hour on-air appeal to raise money for the
Help for Heroes charity. The event raises almost £200,000.[60]
1 December –
Touch Radio is rebranded to Touch FM.
24 March – The five radio stations owned by YMC Ltd (
3TR FM,
Bath FM,
Brunel FM,
Quay West 102.4/100.8 and
Quay West 107.4) are closed by administrators after multiple refusals on the part of regulator
Ofcom to transfer the licenses, following a number of financial issues at the stations after TLRC's sale.[61]
6 April –
Sunshine 1530 closes after three years on air.
15 April – Under new guidelines from
Ofcom, from May commercial radio rivals will be allowed to co-locate to cut costs, and to slash local programming. The guidelines are a result of the recently passed
Digital Economy Act.[62]
29 April – Lanarkshire station
L107 closes after five years on air.
3 June –
Kestral FM's broadcast area expands when it subsumes
Delta FM. However, a split breakfast show continues for a short while, prior to all output being merged in 2011.[63]
21 June –
Global Radio announces plans to reduce the number of its local
Heart stations from 33 to 15 "super stations" in a reorganisation. The stations will have their own breakfast and drivetime shows, and local news bulletins, but all other output will come from London. A further two stations owned by Global will also be subsumed into the Heart network.[64]
29 June –
Smooth Radio announces plans to merge its five stations based in England, creating a national network. The new station will be based in
Manchester and will see the loss of 60 jobs at Smooth's other bases. A phased launch will begin on 4 October.[65]
3 January –
95.8 Capital FM London launches nationally and becomes a part of
The Capital FM Network following the merger of Global Radio's
Hit Music and
Galaxy networks to form the nine-station 'Capital Network'.[66] Other than daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows, the majority of Capital's London-based output is now networked.[67]
11 January –
KMFM West Kent and
KMFM Maidstone merge their breakfast shows, meaning all programming is shared across both stations.[68]
1 November –
GMG Radio launches a dedicated station playing nothing but
Christmas music, under the brand "Smooth Christmas". The station had no news or advertisements but did promote Smooth Radio and broadcast until 27 December 2011.[71]
23 December – GMG Radio confirms plans to launch a station dedicated to music from the 1970s on trial basis and four days later
Smooth 70s replaces Smooth Christmas on the
Digital One platform.[72]
2012
6 January – Following its sale to
UKRD,
Fresh Radio which broadcast on MW across the
Yorkshire Dales, closes after fifteen years on air.[73] The more populous parts of the area are later served by
Stray FM which is expanded to cover areas such as
Skipton and Wharfedale and the
Richmond area is served to
Star Radio North East.
21 January – Under new guidelines to come into force from 30 April clinics which charge for pregnancy services including abortions will be able to advertise on radio and television after the
Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice ruled there was no justification for barring such clinics from advertising their services.[74]
23 January – GMG Radio announces it is conducting a "full review" of its news staff. Currently the broadcaster employs 39 journalists, nine of whom are based in Scotland.[75]
7 February –
UTV Media unveils plans to merge
The Wolf, The Wyre and The Sever and rebrand them as
Signal 107.[79] The rebrand happens on 26 March.
14 February –
Poole community radio station
The Bay 102.8 is re-branded as Hot Radio.[80]
16 February – Ofcom gives the
KMFMnetwork permission to network the breakfast show, meaning programming will be identical across all seven stations at all times.[81]
5 March – Community station
Rossendale Radio closes after just two years on air.[82]
7 March –
Guildford based
County Sound is given approval by
Ofcom to change its classic hits format to a community-based information station under the name Eagle Extra.[83]
14 March – The owners of
Jack FM announce the launch of a new consultancy firm, OXIS Media, which will represent the brand throughout the UK and Europe.[84]
16 March – Quidem, owners of the Touch FM brand agrees a deal with the
Lincs FM Group to buy
Oak FM in Loughborough and Hinckley, thus increasing its number of stations to eight.[85]
2 April – From today,
Talksport dedicates its entire programming schedule to sport output, having previously offered a variety of sport and general news-related topics.[87]
The weekend breakfast show on the north of England
Magic stops being a local show in favour of a networked programme. Only the weekday breakfast show remains locally produced.
1 May – Ofcom approves a co-location request from
Touch Radio Staffordshire to move from
Tamworth to
Oak FM's headquarters in
Coalville. Touch will share some of Oak's programming, but must retain its local Staffordshire-based breakfast show.[89]
12 June – It is reported that
GMG has received multiple offers for its
radio business which value it at £50 million, as the company seeks to reshape itself to stem losses being made by The Guardian and The Observer.[93]
25 June –
GMG Radio is sold to
Global Radio for an undisclosed amount, thought to be around £50m. However, no structural changes will be made to either organisations until the deal has been investigated by Ofcom.[94] Several rival radio groups express their concerns over the takeover and the effect it could have on commercial radio in the UK.[95]
KMFM Extra closes and is replaced on DAB by the new-countywide KMFM.
3 July – Global Radio announces plans to branch into television with the launch of two non-stop music channels;
Heart TV and
Capital TV, which will go on air from September.[96]
24 August – An Ofcom survey of radio listeners reveals many believe there are too many adverts on commercial radio.[97]
30 August – West Midlands based
Sanjhi Awaz Radio ceases broadcasting after two years on air due to financial problems.[98]
4 September –
Gold is replaced by
Free Radio 80s in the West Midlands on MW and DAB.[99]
8 August –
Southport station
Dune FM closes after fifteen years on air.
11 October – The Office of Fair Trading agrees to fast-track the investigation into Global Radio's purchase of GMG Radio after Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Maria Miller says the deal will not be investigated for media plurality. The matter is also forwarded onto the
Competition Commission, which oversees business mergers and takeovers.[100] The Competition Commission later announces 27 March 2013 as the date on which it will publish its findings into the takeover.[101]
30 October – Smooth Radio confirms that Smooth Christmas will return, airing on the Digital One multiplex in the lead up to the festive season, giving the brand three stations on the platform.[102] It launches two days later.
Solid Gold Gem launches. The internet station is based on 1990s Midlands oldies station
GEM-AM.[104]
15 December – Celador rebrands its recently acquired
Kestrel FM stations as The Breeze.[105]
2013
3 January – It is reported that
Gaydar Radio owner QSoft Consulting will leave the radio business and hand its DAB licences to Manchester community station
Gaydio.[106]
11 January – Radio Today reports that Ofcom is inviting applications for community radio licences to operate on
medium wave, a move that will keep the waveband in use until at least 2020.[108]
21 January – Radio Today reports the name change of Nation 80s to
Nation Hits, a move allowing the station to air a broader range of music. It is the station's third rebranding since 2009.[109]
6 February –
Bauer Media buys the digital station
Planet Rock for a sum estimated to be between £1m and £2m.[110]
14 February – The
Competition Commission publish their preliminary findings into the
Global Radio takeover of
GMG Radio, recommending a full or partial sale of the now renamed Real and Smooth Radio Ltd.[111]
25 March –
NME Radio closes after five years on air.[112]
31 March –
Garrison FM is merged with
BFBS, resulting in BFBS taking over the six Garrison stations currently on air.
23 April – The Radio Today website reports that
Absolute Radio 60s and
Absolute Classic Rock have been removed from several DAB platforms in England and Wales, but the stations continue to broadcast in London and online.[113]
7 May –
Kisstory and
KissFresh begin broadcasting and sister station
Q Radio closes down after five years on air.
14 June –
Kerrang! 105.2's final day of broadcasting on FM in the West Midlands. The 105.2 frequency is taken over by
Planet Rock simulcasting from London. Kerrang! continues on DAB, but with content aired from London from 17 June.[115]
27 August – The MXR regional digital radio multiplex for the West Midlands is switched off after 12 years on air.[117]
3 October – Global Radio announces that Smooth 70s will close in three days time after 21 months on air.[118]
6 October –
Smooth 70s stops broadcasting to make way for the launch on Digital One of
Capital Xtra.
7 October –
Choice FM is rebranded as Capital Xtra.[119]
2014
1 January –
Jazz FM stops broadcasting on the national
Digital One multiplex, but continues to be available on DAB in London, online and through satellite television.[120] Its Digital One slot is temporarily taken over by the return of
Birdsong Radio, with plans for a permanent replacement in February.[121]
6 January – It had been reported on 30 December 2013 that
Hot Radio would close at 18:00,[122] but the station remains on air after the deadline had passed.[123]
20 January –
Global Radio is found to be in breach of their license remit for
Heart Cornwall after a listener complained to
Ofcom that there was not enough local news and speech to make it a fully local station.[124]
4 February – The Radio Today website reports that
Ofcom have given
Global Radio permission to remove
Smooth Radio from the
Digital One platform, and replace it with a new national station. Under the agreement, Smooth will continue to air on its regional FM frequencies, but with a greater local output.[125]
6 February – Global Radio sells eight of its regional stations to Irish media holdings firm
Communicorp.[126]
11 February –
LBC 97.3 launches nationally on the
Digital One platform, taking over the slot formerly occupied by Jazz FM. The station also secures a sponsorship deal with the Financial Times.[127][128]
14 March – Global Radio announces that Gold will become a non-stop music service, with the exception of the breakfast show and Saturday's Vinyl Heaven.[129]
24 March –
Smooth Radio returns to airing local output on its regional frequencies, with local programming for Breakfast and Drivetime, and a raft of
new presenters joining the network.[130]
Smooth Radio replaces
Gold on MW across southern England.[131]
11 February – Welsh station
Radio Hafren closes after 22 years on air.[148]
27 March – The Sound Digital consortium, which includes
UTV Media, wins the licence to launch the
Digital Two network in 2016. UTV Media will launch four new stations on the platform.[149]
13 September – Ahead of the relaunch of XFM as
Radio X, Global hands back the Paisley licence, on which it had broadcast
XFM Scotland, to
Ofcom when the regulator refused Global's request to network 24/7 from London.
6 May –
Orion Media announces that they have been bought by
Bauer for an undisclosed fee, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.[157][158] This gives Bauer the West Midlands network of
Free Radio stations and East Midlands regional station
Gem 106.
17 January – Cross Counties Radio announce plans to launch an online radio station for the 9,000 workers based at the
Magna Park distribution centre in
Lutterworth,
Leicestershire.[160]
19 January – The Armed Forces radio station
BFBS announces it will cease broadcasting on the
Digital One platform from March because of the cost of transmitting content through DAB.[162]
29 March –
UKRD Group announces that it is to hand back the licenses which are used to provide
Star Radio North East to
Ofcom apart from the
Northallerton licence which it proposes to transfer back to
Minster FM.[163] Ofcom confirmed the transfer of the Northallerton licence to Minster on 4 April 2017.[164]
31 March – Star Radio is reprieved when UKRD announces that it has sold the station to View TV Group.[165]
5 July –
Jazz FM confirms its presenter Peter Young has stepped down from his presenting role after 27 years at the station due to ill health.[166]
Aberdeen station
Northsound 2 stops broadcasting on MW. The station continues to broadcast on DAB and online. It becomes the first commercial radio station in Scotland – and the first of Bauer's local stations – to cease analogue broadcasting.[174]
15 May –
Sound Digital announces that it will add 19 transmitters to its network. They will launch in the South West, East Anglia, Wales and North of Scotland and will increase Sound Digital's coverage by nearly 4 million new listeners in more than 1.6m new households.[175]
12 June – For the first time since its inception in 2004,
Ofcom does not award a re-adversided licence to the incumbent licensee when it awards the
Ipswich licence to
Ipswich 102.[178] It will replace
Town 102 on 18 October.
1 August – Ahead of its launch on FM in October,
Ipswich 102 goes on air on DAB.[179]
15 August – Scottish station
NECR closes after 28 years on air.[180]
23 October – The first radio station to have a playlist made up entirely of female artists,
JACK Radio, launches on DAB. Jack will also feature female sports and material from female stand-up comedians.[181]
22 December –
Virgin Radio launches two spin-off stations – Virgin Radio Anthems and Virgin Radio Chilled. Both stations launch on the
Sound Digital multiplex.[183]
2019
7 January –
Greatest Hits Radio launches, replacing the Bauer City 2 branding. Individual station identities in Northern England are dropped and are rebranded to GHR with Scotland unaffected. The new network extends to the West Midlands although
GHR West Midlands continues to air a weekday three-hour local show.[184][185]
26 February –
Global Radio announces plans to replace the regional breakfast shows on
Capital,
Heart and
Smooth with a single national breakfast show for each network. Also, the number of drivetime shows will be reduced with local shows replaced by regional programmes.[186]
Lancashire station
2BR stops broadcasting and is replaced by a relay of
Capital Manchester.[188] This comes nine months after Global had bought 2BR from UKRD.[189]
Capital London's
breakfast show goes national, resulting in the scrapping of all other local breakfast shows apart from on
Capital Cymru. The only 'local' output is at drivetime and the new regulations mean that Global is able to replace local shows with 10 regional programmes which will be networked across all stations in that region.[190]
3 June – The local
Heart breakfast shows are axed to make way for a single Heart breakfast show from London. Also, the number of drivetime shows are reduced with regional shows replacing local programmes.[193]
21 June – Global launches another Heart spin-off station,
Heart Dance.
Bauer begins to network its
Hits Radio Manchester weekday Drivetime show on all but one of its
Hits Radio stations in England, leaving only the weekday breakfast show as a local show[200] following the removal in July of the one remaining local weekend programme.[201]
Smooth Radio's networked Drivetime show launches.[202] At the same time, the number of breakfast shows drops to seven.
28 October – Global relaunches LBC London News as a national 24-hour rolling news channel called
LBC News.[203]
2 December – Quidem's six local stations in the south east Midlands become part of the
Capital network. They operate as
Capital Mid-Counties, sharing all programmes with the
Capital network apart from a local weekday drivetime show.[204]
2020s
2020
1 April –
Your Radio closes and the frequency begins transmitting Nation Radio Scotland.
April – Jack 3, branded as Jack 3 & Chill, replaces Jack 2 on 107.9 MHz in Oxfordshire.[205] an easy listening station which launched on
DAB in Oxfordshire in May 2017.
30 June – Bauer switches off the MW transmitters which had been carrying
Absolute Classic Rock since the start of 2019. Consequently, Bauer is no longer broadcasting on MW in the West Midlands.
28 August – Bauer launches
Hits Radio Pride, aimed at the LGBTQ+ community.[209] This is the first time that a major radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom has launched a station that is targeted to the LGBTQ+ community.
31 August –
Bauer closes
Leeds station
Radio Aire after 39 years on air. Its frequency is transferred to Greatest Hits Radio.[210]
Hits Radio South Coast launches, thereby becoming the second FM station to be known on air as Hits Radio. The station had previously broadcast as The Breeze South Coast and the change is made following the purchase in 2019 of The Breeze network from Celador Radio.
16 October – Global switches off its mediumwave frequencies in Cardiff and Newport [217] and on 3 November Global switches off its MW frequencies in
Luton and
Bedford.[218] Both sets of frequencies had been used to broadcast Smooth Radio and in both areas Smooth is available on DAB.
25 December –
Radio Caroline broadcasts the
Queen's Christmas Message for the first time, 66 years after its request to air the address was turned down by the BBC for being an unauthorised broadcaster.[221]
12 March –
Boom Radio becomes available nationally on the
Sound Digital multiplex, having initially launched on some local DAB platforms and online.[223]
26 April – Bauer switches off its mediumwave frequencies in Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Leeds and Humberside. They are being switched off following the launch of Greatest Hits Radio on FM in those areas.[224]
9 August –
Global Radio confirms its purchase of Quidem Media, allowing it to take full control of six Midlands stations that are running under the Capital brand.[228]
1 September – Imagine FM rebrands as Greatest Hits Radio.[230]
6 September – Bournemouth's Fire Radio and Bristol's Sam FM rebrand as
Hits Radio.[231]
1 November –
Argyll FM launches its Internet radio service, the last radio station operating on a commercial licence in the UK to do so. Consequently, all commercial radio stations in the country are now available online.[232]
21 April –
Nation Broadcasting launches
Breezy Radio, a station replacing
Swansea Bay Radio on 102.1FM in Swansea, and available throughout Wales on DAB.[234] Later in 2022, the station is relaunched as Easy Radio.
3 May –
Fix Radio begins broadcasting nationwide after launching on the SDL Mutliplex.[235]
1 September – Launch of
Virgin Radio 80s Plus on DAB in London and Central Scotland, as well as online.[236]
2 September –
University Radio York is awarded a five-year licence by Ofcom to broadcast on 88.3FM to the
University of York after taking part in a one-year broadcasting trial on FM of stations broadcasting on FM with a maximum radius of 1 kilometre. It was the only student radio station to do so.[237]
4 October –
Radio Wyvern is relaunched in Worcester on 106.7FM, replacing Youthcomm Radio, which has used the frequency since 2008. This incarnation of Wyvern is a joint venture between Muff Muffin, Sammy Southall and former Wyvern presenter Paul Ellery.[238]
13 and 16 February – Global launches to more spin-off stations –
Capital Chill[243] and
Radio X Classic Rock.[244] Both stations are carried on the Sound Digital multiplex.
25 June –
University Radio York switches off its AM frequency after 55 years on air, having made the decision to move to FM.[246]
30 June –
Global Radio switches off more of its AM frequencies. It turns off all but two of the AM transmitters which carry
Gold network, leaving the station as a digital only service apart from in London and Manchester,[247] and Global switched off
Smooth Radio's AM frequencies in Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Wiltshire and Plymouth.[248]
4 September –
BRMB is relaunched in Birmingham when community station
Big City Radio rebrands its DAB output. Big City Radio continues online.[249]
29 September – Global switches off of its 1548KHz London frequency used by
Gold.[250]
2024
19 January –
Sunshine 855 switches off its mediumwave frequency on 855KHz, having been granted permission to do so by Ofcom due to the expensive cost of maintaining the transmitters and the small number of listeners who listen on mediumwave.[251]