10 January – BBC Radio 2 announces a major overhaul of its schedule that will take effect from 14 May. Among the changes will be the start of a three-hour joint drivetime show presented by Simon Mayo and Jo Whiley, and a new weekday overnight show presented by O. J. Borg. Some long-running programmes, such as The Organist Entertains will come to an end, and Paul Jones will leave the network after presenting a blues programme for three decades; he will be succeeded by Cerys Matthews.[4]
12 January – The BBC is reported to be "deeply unimpressed" by an off-air conversation between John Humphrys and Jon Sopel in which they joked about the gender pay gap controversy. The conversation is said to have occurred before the 8 January edition of the Today programme, the morning after the BBC's China correspondent, Carrie Gracie resigned from her post over the issue of gender pay.[5]
15 January – The MW transmissions of BBC Radios Sussex, Surrey, Humberside, Wiltshire, Nottingham, Kent and Lincolnshire are switched off and MW coverage for BBC Devon, Lancashire and Essex is reduced.[6]
17 January – BBC Radio 1 announces an overhaul of its schedule from 24 February. The changes will see Maya Jama and Jordan North joining the network as weekend presenters, fronting the Greatest Hits programme, while current presenter Matt Edmondson will present a weekday afternoon show on which he will be joined by a different guest co-presenter each week. Current afternoon presenter Alice Levine will move to weekend breakfasts to co-present with Dev.[7]
29 January – BBC Radio Cymru 2 begins broadcasting. It airs as an opt-out service for two hours every morning on digital and online platforms as a music and entertainment alternative to the main network.[11]
2 February – Christian O'Connell announces that he will be leaving Absolute Radio and emigrating to Australia to host the Gold 104.3 breakfast programme in Melbourne.[13]
6 February – Noel Edmonds has set up an online radio station, Positively Noel, dedicated to broadcasting negative messages about Lloyds Bank, a company with which the presenter has been involved in a decade-long legal dispute.[15]
7 February – Figures from RAJAR indicate that The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw has shown some recovery from its worst ever audience during the third quarter of 2017. The number of listeners to the show increased from 4.93m listeners in the third quarter of 2017 to 5.72m listeners in January 2018, an increase of almost 800,000.[16][17]
24 February – BBC Radio 1 overhauls its weekend schedule. The changes see Maya Jama and Jordan North joining the network as weekend presenters, fronting the Greatest Hits programme, while current presenter Matt Edmondson moves to present a weekday afternoon show on which he will be joined by a different guest co-presenter each week. Alice Levine moves from afternoons to weekend breakfasts to co-present with Dev.[7]
BBC Radio 2 announces that Nick Drake will be inducted into its Folk Hall of Fame to mark what would have been the singer's 70th birthday.[24]
It is announced that the trial of small-scale digital radio multiplexes will be extended until 2020.[25]
16 March – Radio 2 travel presenter Lynn Bowles, who has been with the station since 2000, tells listeners she is leaving at Easter.[26] She leaves the network on 29 March.[27]
18 March – Andrew Castle presents his final show for Smooth, the Sunday Sanctuary. He is replaced the following week by Gary Vincent.[28]
21 March – Jazz FM have signed singer China Moses to present their late night weekday programme Jazz FM Loves. At the same time, dating website eHarmony have renewed their sponsorship of the programme for another twelve months.[30][31]
24 March – BBC Radio 3's Controller Alan Davey announces a raft of new programmes, including a new world music show called Music Planet which will replace World on 3 and a new weeknight late show called After Dark.[32]
27 March – Ofcom releases new guidelines covering the music played on BBC Radio 1. It states that 50% of songs played on the network during the day must be "new music", defining that term as any track up to twelve months after its release or six week after it entered the charts. The changes could lead to a faster turnover of Radio 1 and Radio 2 playlists.[33]
April
3 April –
Northsound 2 stops broadcasting on MW. The station continues to broadcast on DAB and online. It is the first commercial radio station in Scotland – and the first of Bauer's local stations – to cease analogue broadcasting.[34]
LBC announces that Jacob Rees-Mogg will present a fortnightly phone-in show on the station.[35]
8 April – Louise Redknapp makes her radio debut, guest presenting the first of two evening shows on Heart, her second being on 15 April respectively.[36]
12 April – The BBC has come under fire over its planned broadcast of an edition of the Radio 4 programme Archive on 4 featuring actor Ian McDiarmid reading the full text of Enoch Powell's controversial 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech. The BBC says the programme, scheduled for 14 April and which marks the 50th anniversary of the speech, is intended as an analysis of the speech not as an endorsement of it.[37]
17 April – London-based internet station Radar Radio suspends broadcasting following allegations of mistreatment and exploitation of its staff.[38]
18 April –
Bauer Radio announces that, on 4 June its Manchester station Key 103 will be rebranded and relaunched as Hits Radio, a CHR-led music station aimed at 25–44 year olds.[39] The station will be merged with The Hits to provide a single national service across the UK on DAB, Freeview and online.[40] In Manchester, Hits Radio will continue to provide local news and information, traffic bulletins and advertising.[41]Hits Radio will also produce and broadcast off-peak programming for Bauer's network of CHR local stations which will continue to air local programming at peak times.
8 May – Long running specialist music programmes The Organist Entertains and Listen to the Band are broadcast for the final time – the former had been on air since 1969.[45]
10 May – The final edition of the Radio 2 Arts Programme is broadcast, ending after 28 years on air.
14 May – A new weekday evening and overnight schedule launches on BBC Radio 2. Jo Whiley joins Simon Mayo to present an extended teatime show with Jo's former slot now occupied by specialist music and documentaries. Sara Cox launches a new late evening show and live overnight broadcasting resumes with a new midnight to 3am show presented by O.J. Borg.
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.[46]
17 May – The latest RAJAR listening figures show that more than half of radio listening is via digital platforms, overtaking FM and AM for the first time.[47]
25 May – Ahead of the launch of Hits Radio on 4 June, the name Key 103 disappears from the Manchester airwaves.
28 May – Smooth Radio launches The Smooth Late Show, a nightly show that is presented by Martin Collins on weekdays and Danny Pietroni at weekends.[48]
12 June – For the first time since its inception, Ofcom does not award a re-advertised licence to the incumbent licensee when it awards the Ipswich licence to Ipswich FM.[52] Consequently, Town 102 will end broadcasting on 18 October.
15 June –
Radio 1 starts broadcasting much of its weekend schedule on Fridays meaning that the weekday daytime schedule is now only broadcast from Mondays to Thursdays.[53]
28 June – The final broadcasts of BBC School Radio take place, bringing to an end almost a century of programmes for schools on BBC Radio.
July
1 July – The BBC confirms that Eddie Mair will leave Radio 4 after three decades with the network.[56] The following day Mair announces he will be joining LBC to present a programme from September. His final broadcast for Radio 4 will be on 17 August.[57]
5 July – It is announced that Ellie Taylor and Anna Whitehouse will present a new talk show on Heart FM on Sunday nights from 10pm–1am.[58]
7 July – Dame Barbara Windsor is to present the first episode of Double Acts, a series examining prominent comedy partnerships for Radio 2. It is her first project since disclosing her diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in May.[59]
18 July – Actress and Minster FM breakfast show presenter Roxanne Pallett is airlifted to hospital after being involved in a car crash while taking part in a stock car race at Hunmanby Raceway in North Yorkshire. She was racing fellow breakfast show presenter Ben Fry at the time the incident occurred, and crashed into a concrete wall.[60][61]
19 July – Greg James presented Radio 1's Drivetime Show for the final time.
24 July – Former BBC sports commentator John Motson will come out of retirement to become a presenter on Talksport, it is reported, beginning his new role in August.[62]
26 July – BBC Radio 1 pulls a pre-recorded interview with YouTuber Logan Paul that was due to be aired during Charlie Sloth's evening show after publicity about the piece drew a negative response from listeners.[63]
2 August – Global announces that Brighton and Hove station Juice 107.2, which it purchased in January, will be relaunched as Capital Brighton from Monday 3 September.[65]
3 August – Broadcaster James Whale is suspended from Talk Radio following an interview with a rape victim on the 30 July edition of his show that the station has described as having "completely lacked sensitivity".[66]
11 September – BBC Director-GeneralTony Hall tells a committee of MPs that the publication of BBC salaries was a contributing facture in the departure of Eddie Mair and Chris Evans from the broadcaster.[77]
20 September – Evan Davis is confirmed as Eddie Mair's replacement as the main presenter of PM, and will take up the role from the end of October.[78]
28 September – To mark BBC Music Day, railway stations around the country play a number of prerecorded announcements made by the singer Kylie Minogue.[79]
October
3 October –
Charlie Sloth announces he will leave BBC Radio 1 and BBC 1Xtra after ten years.[80]
20 October – Having announced earlier in the month that he is leaving Radio 1 and BBC 1Xtra, Charlie Sloth now says this will happen with immediate effect. Previously he had been scheduled to leave in November. His evening show the 8th with Charlie Sloth is to be presented by Dev until Christmas [83]
22 October – Radio 2's unpopular Drivetime Show with Simon Mayo and Jo Whiley is to end after a backlash from listeners. Jo Whiley will move back to an evening slot, while Simon Mayo will leave Radio 2 altogether but continue with his Radio Five Live film review show.[84]
23 October – Launch of Jack Radio on DAB, the first radio station to have a playlist made up entirely of female artists. Jack will also feature female sports and material from female stand-up comedians.[85]
25 October – Figures from RAJAR indicate Radio 2 has recorded its lowest audience since 2012, registering an audience of 14.6 million between July and September, down 800,000 on the same time in 2017. The Chris Evans Breakfast Show has likewise recorded its lowest listenership since 2012, falling to 8.9 million from 9.4 million over the same time period.[86]
Sara Cox is named as Radio 2's new Drivetime presenter, replacing Simon Mayo. Although a date for her start is yet to be confirmed, it is announced that the show will return to its two-hour format from 5.00pm to 7.00pm.[88] The start date of Whiley's return evening show is subsequently confirmed for January 2019.[89]
The BBC announces the launch of BBC Sounds, an app that brings together the broadcaster's radio, music and podcasts, and replaces BBC iPlayer's Radio.[90]
30 October – Emilia Jaques and Cassian Pichler-Roca are named as the winners of BBC Radio 2's Young Choristers of the Year.[91]
November
8 November – Rylan Clark-Neal is named as presenter of the BBC Radio 2 Saturday teatime show, while the Saturday evening slot vacated by Trevor Nelson will be filled by some of the displaced weeknight specialist shows.[92]
26 November – Kiss breakfast presenters Rickie Haywood Williams, Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges will leave the station to succeed Charlie Sloth on the evening show on BBC Radio 1.[94]
December
10 December – Emma Bunton announces she will step down from her Heart Breakfast co-presenting role alongside Jamie Theakston on Heart London, making her final appearance on the programme on 14 December.[95]
11 December – Tom Green and Daisy Maskell are announced as the new breakfast show co-presenters on Kiss, and will take up their roles from 2 January 2019.[96]
17 December – Classic FM announces that Moira Stuart will join the network in February 2019 as a weekday newsreader and to present a programme at weekends. Stuart, who has been with the BBC for forty years, will leave her role at Radio 2.[97]
19 December – Talk Radio presenter Iain Lee helps to save the life of a man who calls into his show claiming to have taken a drugs overdose. Lee keeps the man from Plymouth talking for 30 minutes until emergency services can locate and treat him.[98] The man is treated in hospital and later released.[99]
