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1984 in British radio

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This is a list of events in British radio during 1984.

Events

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  • During the first half of 1984, the BBC conducts five trials of community stations in Greater Manchester. Each trial, which covers a specific area of Greater Manchester, lasts for a few weeks, broadcasts only on MW and operates for a few hours each day, opting out of BBC Radio Manchester.[1]

January

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  • 8 January – Simon Bates begins his second stint as host of BBC Radio 1's Sunday teatime Top 40 programme.
  • 20 January – BBC Radio 2 makes changes to its schedule and following the decision not to renew the contract of long standing presenter Ed Stewart,[2] the year-long revival of Music While You Work ends. Gloria Hunniford takes over Ed's slot the following week and Steve Jones replaces Hunniford on the lunchtime show.
  • 21 January – On Radio 2:
    • Overnight changes see the return of Nightride and the launch of A Little Night Music which, rather than have a named presenter, is instead hosted by that night's duty announcer. Both programmes replace You and the Night and the Music which had aired between 2am and 5am.
    • Ken Bruce joins the station as a regular presenter when he takes over as the new host of the Saturday late show.
  • 22 January – Sounds of Jazz moves to BBC Radio 2 from BBC Radio 1.

February

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  • No events.

March

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  • No events.

April

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  • 5 April – BBC Radio 4 begins what is described in the Radio Times as "a new three-hour sequence – a six-month broadcast experiment in which you are invited to participate." The programme is called Rollercoaster and is presented by Richard Baker.[3] The "Grand Finale of Radio 4's rollicking rolling experiment" takes place on 27 September[4] and is not repeated.

May

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  • No events.

June

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July

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August

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September

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  • 7 September – Commercial radio returns to Leicester, eleven months after Centre Radio went off air. The new service is provided by Leicester Sound.
  • 14 September – John Timpson chairs Any Questions? for the first time.
  • 23 September – Tony Blackburn – the first voice heard on Radio 1 – presents his final show for the station.[7]
  • 29 September –
    • The Radio 4 UK branding is dropped and the station is now officially simply known as Radio 4 and the station expands its broadcast day with the 6am start-time seven days a week - the 6.10am slot filled by Prelude, described as "musical start to your weekend listening"[8] and the post-midnight Shipping Forecast starts being broadcast 18 minutes later than before, moving to a start-time of 12.33am. Consequently, the station is now on air every day from just before 6 am until 12:45 am.
    • Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show is revamped and the children's requests element of the show is dropped.[9]
  • 30 September – The first edition of The Network Chart Show is broadcast. Aired on almost all of the UK's Independent Local Radio network, the programme is presented from the studios of Capital Radio by David Jensen. On the same day, Richard Skinner takes over from Simon Bates as host of BBC Radio 1's chart show.

October

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  • 1 October – Three commercial stations launch, bringing commercial radio to Kent (Invicta Sound), central Norfolk (Radio Broadland) and north Cambridgeshire, south Lincolnshire and west Norfolk (Hereward Radio).
  • 13 October – BBC Radio 3's broadcast hours are extended. The station closes 40 minutes later – at midnight instead of 11:20 pm, and weekend broadcasts begin an hour earlier, at 6:55 am rather than 7:55 am. Consequently, the station is now on air from 6:55 am until midnight seven days a week.

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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Closing this year

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Births

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Deaths

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ BBC Radio Timeline 1990s to date
  2. ^ "The Glasgow Herald – Google News Archive Search".
  3. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC Radio 4 listings 5 April 1984
  4. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC Radio 4 listings 27 September 1984
  5. ^ "Princess Margaret makes a guest appearance on The Archers 22 June 1984, History of the BBC". BBC. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  6. ^ BBC Genome Project - BBC Radio 2 listings 29 July 1984
  7. ^ "BBC Radio 1 England – 23 September 1984 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  8. ^ BBC Genome Project – BBC Radio 4 listings 29 September 1984
  9. ^ "Flashbak Digital Collection". Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  10. ^ "BBC Radio 2 – 28 December 1984 – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2017.