UK Commercial Radio Timeline The 1970s 

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...

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.

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.

The jingles sound so catchy!

Back before everything became Heart.

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. . 🙄👍

Nice to hear the different jingles

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

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

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

Absolutely brilliant as ever.

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!

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

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

THX

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)

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

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.

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

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

So weird not to hear Radio City not being 96.7

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

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!" ?

Probably not but Will you make one on portugal

Do those stations broadcast nowdays?

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?

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

can you do the next wave

does beacon still here?i never watching full one

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

There was BBC Radio 1 2 3 & 4

R A D I O TIME

All jingles from JAM Creative Production????

What have we today Fart Fm and Crapital radio

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.

Where was BBC radio ulster

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!*