September 30, 1967: 'Wonderful Radio 1', the BBC's first pop station, takes to the airwaves
The voice of Tony Blackburn and the strains of The Move's Flowers in the Rain welcomed listeners to a new station born out of the pirate radio movement. http://home.bt.com/news/world-news/september-30-1967-wonderful-radio-1-the-bbcs-first-pop-station-takes-to-the-airwaves-11364007701988 With Tony Blackburn’s words, “Good morning everyone, welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1”, and the strains of The Move’s Top 10 hit Flowers in the Rain, the BBC’s first dedicated pop station began broadcasting on this day in 1967. Radio 1 had come into being after the Marine Offences Act outlawed unregulated ‘pirate’ radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London, to meet the need for a legal pop music station; its predecessor, the Light Programme, had combined pop with easy listening and comedy. The less contemporary elements of the Light Programme would be hived off to another new station, Radio 2, while the BBC’s other stations would also be renamed in the shake-up - the Third Programme becoming Radio 3, and the Home Service Radio 4. Radio 1 would broadcast pop from 7am to 7.30pm, followed by lighter music and entertainment until 2am. Several disc jockeys were hired for the new station on eight-week contracts, with the intention to retain the most popular thereafter. The new presenting roster (pictured above) included many popular former pirate radio DJs, including Blackburn, Simon Dee, Emperor Rosko, Kenny Everett and John Peel, alongside established BBC names such as Pete Murray, Jimmy Young and Alan Freeman. With the studios at Broadcasting House in London packed with press and well-wishers, the station began broadcasting at 7am with Blackburn’s new show, 'Daily Disc Delivery' - the DJ following up The Move’s opener with songs by the Bee Gees, The Tremeloes and Simon and Garfunkel. With Radio 1 the only station of the four BBC channels not to be allocated at stereo FM frequency, reception was initially poor in several areas of the county; despite this, it proved a huge success, doubling the Light Programme's audience within a month of its launch. Do you remember Radio 1’s first day? Was it an improvement on the pirate stations? Let us know in the Comments section below. BBC Radio 1 – Did you know? Radio 1 could be found at 247 metres medium wave; at first, the fledgling station was going to be named Radio 247. The original plan for Radio 1 was that would not only play pop music, but also broadcast news headlines and 'occasional classical music'. Radio 2 was launched at exactly the same time as Radio 1; Paul Hollingdale opened the Light Programme for the final time that morning at 5.30am, and his Breakfast Special show continued on the new station from 7am. Hollingdale actually announced the precise time of the switchover to the new stations with the words: "Ten seconds to go before Radio 1....stand by for switching......five, four, three, Radio 2, Radio 1, GO!” Radio 1 had its own signature tune, Theme One by the George Martin Orchestra. Tony Blackburn’s show had its own jazzy theme, a track called Beefeaters by Johnny Dankworth. Radio 1 and Radio 2 shared programmes such as the Sunday Top Twenty show, the Jimmy Young Show, and Late Night Extra – presenters of the latter programme that were heard on Radio 1 included Terry Wogan and Michael Parkinson. From its inception and throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Radio 1 was hugely successful, commanding weekly audiences of up to 24 million listeners. The station only became totally separate from Radio 2 in 1979 when it began broadcasting from 6am until midnight. It finally began broadcasting 24 hours a day in May 1991. _ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html
