1942 in British radio

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This is a list of events from British radio in 1942.

Events

• 29 January – The BBC Forces Programme transmits the first edition of Desert Island Discs, presented by Roy Plomley. Vic Oliver is the first castaway. The series will still be running (on BBC Radio 4) more than 75 years later.
• 27 February – James Stanley Hey, a British Army research officer, helps develop radio astronomy, when he discovers that the sun emits radio waves.
• 6 May – The Radio Doctor (Charles Hill) makes his first BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice to British civilians.
• 19 May – A subsequently famous BBC outside broadcast recording captures the song of the common nightingale with the sound of Royal Air Force Lancaster bombers flying overhead.
• 27 June – The BBC resumes sponsorship of the Promenade Concerts.
• September – The Brains Trust first broadcast under this title on BBC Home Service radio in the United Kingdom.
• 8 November – Aspidistra medium wave radio transmitter goes into service in the south of England for black propaganda and military deception purposes against Nazi Germany.

Debuts

• 29 January – Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)

Continuing radio programmes

1930s

• In Town Tonight (1933–1960)

1940s

• Music While You Work (1940–1967)
• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)

Births

• 12 August – David Munrow, early music performer and presenter (Pied Piper on BBC Radio 3) (suicide 1976)
• 24 October – Frank Delaney, Irish-born novelist and radio presenter (died 2017)
• 24 December – Anthony Clare, Irish-born psychiatrist and radio presenter (died 2007)
• 26 December – Emperor Rosko (Mike Pasternak), American-born DJ

See also

• 1942 in British music
• 1942 in British television
• 1942 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1942