Home > Archives
Articles about BBC Radio
Receiving the Home, Light and Third
Published 22 October 2018
Hints on receiving the Home Service, Light and Third Programmes from BBC Engineering in 1951
Broadcasting in the West
Published 8 October 2018
It’s 1949 and regional radio from the BBC Home Service is at its height. Our new special site reprints a BBC West of England booklet going behind the scenes of radio in the west and south west
The rise of ‘Take It From Here’
Published 24 September 2018
The 1950 BBC Handbook celebrates the big hit for the Light Programme in 1949: Take It From Here by Denis Norden and Frank Muir
The mike and I at Wembley
Published 6 March 2018
Ice hockey on the radio propels Stewart MacPherson from the press office at the Wembley Pool into a career with the BBC
“What are the Wild Waves Saying?”
Published 7 December 2017
The BBC’s chief engineer in 1923 takes a tongue-in-cheek look back at the trials and tribulations of developing simultaneous broadcasting (networking as we would now call it)
The birth of ITMA
Published 10 October 2016
Ted Kavanagh explains where wartime hit ‘ITMA’ came from
Tonight’s BBC radio… in 1938
Published 7 February 2016
A look at what was on the BBC’s radio networks on Monday 7 February 1938
The Many Lives of BBC Radio Sport
Published 9 April 2007
Glenn Aylett looks at sports coverage since 1945
Just for you
Published 1 January 2005
The recent history of Radio 2, and its change from “Radio Grim Reaper” to being the most popular station on the dial.
The cull of Radio 1
Published 1 December 2003
A revolution at BBC Radio One throws out the old and rings in the new – in public and painfully
No ads please – we’re British
Published 30 November 2003
Advertising guru Charles Higham warns against commercial radio… in 1933
Out of the Light 1
Published 29 November 2003
The changeover between the Light Programme and Radios 1 and 2 wasn’t easy
Out of the Light 2
Published 28 November 2003
Radio Two tries to find an identity after two decades under the shadow of its younger sibling
The compleat Burkiss Way
Published 15 August 2001
An episode guide the the most underrated radio comedy
A chronology of RadioActive!
Published 15 August 2001
A chronology of one of the most popular BBC Radio 4 comedy series of the eighties.
The quality and the width
Published 15 August 2001
What’s more important – more services or better sound?
A local service
Published 15 August 2001
The BBC had tough decisions to make in the choice of direction for establishing a service.
A new lease of life
Published 15 August 2001
The Second World War had forced a change in priority for the BBC.
Forces of Light
Published 15 August 2001
How the Light Programme was shaped by the wartime Forces and General Forces programmes