1979 in British radio explained
This is a list of events in British radio during 1979.
Events
January
- 27 January – BBC Radio 2's last closedown at 02:02. Sarah Kennedy is at the Newsdesk after Brian Matthew finishes "Round Midnight". From 02:00 to 05:00 the following night, listeners hear "You and the Night and the Music". Radio 2 has the longest period of continuous broadcasting of any national radio station in the UK.
- 29 January – BBC Radio 1 begins its delayed weeknight mid-evening programme with Andy Peebles joining to host the new programme. It had originally been scheduled to launch on 13 November 1978 but was delayed as a result of trade union disputes.
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
- 2 September – Tony Blackburn replaces Simon Bates as host of Radio 1's Top 40 show.
- September – Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher considers introducing advertising for some BBC radio services, but later abandons the idea after encountering opposition.[2]
October
- 5 October – The Scottish Gaelic service Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: BBC Radio nan Eilean launches, broadcasting to north west Scotland from Stornoway.
November
- November – A weekday mid-morning programme launches on BBC Radio Cymru, thereby extending its broadcasting hours to 65 hours each week. Previously, apart from extended news bulletins at lunchtime and early evening, and some off-peak opt-outs, the station had only been on air at breakfast time.
December
- 16 December – After a decade on air, United Biscuits closes down its internal radio station United Biscuits Network due to it being seen as no longer necessary to operate a radio station due to the rollout of independent commercial stations.[3]
Station debuts
Programme debuts
Continuing radio programmes
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
Ending this year
Closing this year
Births
Deaths
- 23 February – Albert Modley, comedy entertainer, 77
- 9 September – Ronnie Taylor, broadcast comedy scriptwriter and producer, 58
- 27 September – Gracie Fields, singer and actress, BBC and Radio Luxembourg broadcaster, 81[4]
- 8 November – Sydney Tafler, actor, 63[5]
- 30 November – Joyce Grenfell, actress, comedian and singer, 69[6]
- December – Peter Eton, broadcast producer, 62
See also
Notes and References
- http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio4/fm/1979-04-01 BBC Genome Project – BBC Radio 4 listings 1 April 1979
- Revealed publicly in papers released by The National Archives at the end of 2014. News: Margaret Thatcher considered advertising on BBC . BBC . BBC News . 30 December 2014 . 30 December 2014.
- Web site: Cracker factory records: the surprising story of United Biscuits' radio station . 2020-11-06 . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201105103022/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/nov/05/cracker-factory-records-the-surprising-story-of-united-biscuits-radio-station . 2020-11-05 .
- Book: Colin Larkin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 1995. Guinness Pub.. 978-1-56159-176-3. 1443.
- Book: John A. Willis. John Willis' Screen World. 1980. Crown. 236.
- Book: Joyce Grenfell. Reggie Grenfell. Richard Garnett. Joyce. 25 September 1980. Macmillan. 13.