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1994 in British radio

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This is a list of events in British radio during 1994.

Events

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January

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February

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March

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  • 5 March – Radio Trent's Derbyshire service is renamed Ram FM.
  • 7 March – Following the purchase by GWR of Mercia FM, Xtra AM is replaced by a Mercia-branded relay of Classic Gold and at around the same time, GWR replaces The World's Greatest Music Station in Peterborough with Classic Gold 1332, whose only Peterborough-based show is the breakfast show.
  • 18 March – BBC Radio Kent stops broadcasting on 1035 kHz MW. The frequency is reallocated to commercial radio to allow a new London-wide station to start broadcasting.
  • 27 March – The original BBC Radio 5 signs off after three and a half years on air.
  • 28 March – BBC Radio 5 Live launches at 5 am, with the educational and children's elements of Radio 5's programming replaced by rolling news. Jane Garvey is the first voice on air. At 2 am the following morning 5 Live broadcasts the first edition of its overnight Up All Night show.

April

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  • 2 April
    • Out This Week, Britain's first national news programme for lesbians and gay men, launches on BBC Radio 5 Live.[2]
    • The first edition of Classic Gardening Forum is broadcast on Classic FM. The programme launches following the transfer of the production of BBC Radio 4's long-running gardening programme Gardeners' Question Time to an independent company upon which the entire previous panel is dismissed. They consequently move to Classic FM on a short-term contract to present Classic Gardening Forum, which runs for 60 minutes as a mixture of gardening tips and music.
  • 3 April – The closure of BBC Radio 5 sees children's programmes return to Radio 4. However, instead of daily programmes, just one weekly 30-minute programme is broadcast, airing on Sunday evenings.[3]
  • 8 April – Following the closure of BBC Radio 5, Test Match Special is broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s long wave frequency for the first time.
  • 10 April – Radio 5's closure sees adult education and Open University programmes return to Radio 4. They are broadcast on long wave only as a two-hour block on Sunday evenings. Open University programmes are broadcast between February and September with language courses aired from October until January.
  • April – Pick of the Pops returns, on Capital Gold.

May

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  • 8 May – (Sunday) In the early hours, Annie Nightingale launches her career as a club music DJ, presenting the first edition of The Chill Out Zone on BBC Radio 1.

June

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  • June – BBC Radio 1 begins broadcasting announcements on its medium wave frequency voiced by Nicky Campbell telling listeners to retune to FM because it will no longer be broadcasting on medium wave from 1 July.[4]
  • 20 June – Fortune 1458 launches in Manchester, headed by former Piccadilly Radio boss Colin Walters. The station uses BBC Radio Manchester's old MW frequency.
  • 29 June – The Radio Authority receives 41 applications for six London-wide licenses.[5]
  • June – Following the purchase of Cambridge station CNFM by GWR, the station is relaunched as Q103.
  • June – The name Victory, as a radio station for the Portsmouth area, is re-invented eight years after Radio Victory had stopped broadcasting. The name is resurrected to broadcast a 28-day Restricted Service Licence (RSL) to mark the city's 800th birthday and the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The station returns for a second RSL over the Christmas period of 1994 and again in 1995 to mark VE Day's 50th anniversary.

July

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August

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September

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  • 1–16 September – The UK's first five regional commercial stations start broadcasting.

October

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  • 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[8] which has subsequently bought out the LBC business.[9]
  • 8 October – Virgin 1215 is awarded one of the new FM licences advertised in London.[10] The station applied for a London licence after attempts to persuade authorities to allow it to broadcast nationally on FM[11][12] had failed. The other three newly licensed stations are Heart 106.2, Premier Christian Radio and Viva 963.

November

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  • No events.

December

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Station debuts

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Programme debuts

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Continuing radio programmes

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1940s

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1950s

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1960s

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1970s

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1980s

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1990s

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Ending this year

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Closing this year

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Births

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Deaths

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  • 5 January – Brian Johnston, 81, cricket commentator and radio presenter
  • 2 February – Anona Winn, 90, broadcasting personality
  • 23 January – Brian Redhead, 64, author, journalist and broadcaster

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "BBC Radio 1 England – 10 January 1994 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  2. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC Radio Five Live listings 2 April 1994
  3. ^ "BBC Radio 4 FM – 3 April 1994 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  4. ^ "Radio Rewind – Radio 1 History – Transmitters". www.radiorewind.co.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  5. ^ Culf, Andrew (29 June 1994). "41 fight for London radio licences". The Guardian. London. p. 5. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Radio 1 History – Transmitters". Radio Rewind. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  7. ^ Sterling, C. (2004). Encyclopedia of Radio. Fitzroy Dearbon. ISBN 9780203484289.
  8. ^ LBC To Appeal Over Licence Decision, AM/FM News, September 1993.
  9. ^ Eaton, Lynn (5 October 1994). "LBC signs off after 21 years". The Independent. London.
  10. ^ Williams, Rhys (8 October 1994). "Virgin wins one of six new slots on London's airwaves". The Independent. London. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  11. ^ Culf, Andrew (29 April 1993). "Virgin pushes for Radio 4's FM slot". The Guardian. London. p. 7. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  12. ^ Culf, Andrew (9 February 1994). "Branson begins crusade to gain FM frequency for Virgin Radio". The Guardian. London. p. 8. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  13. ^ "DevonAir Radio – An unofficial tribute – Devon Air". www.devonairfm.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.