1990 in British radio

This is a list of events in British radio during 1990.

List of years in British radio (table)
In British television
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1988
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1990
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1993
In British music
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1990
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Events

January
  • 3 January – Radio Clyde splits on a permanent basis with the full time launch of its classic hits service on MW. The FM station, Clyde 1, relaunched as a contemporary hit music station.
  • 6 January – BBC Radio 2 becomes available on FM on Saturday afternoons for the first time. Previously the station's FM frequencies were loaned out at this time to BBC Radio 1 but this is no longer necessary as Radio 1 is now available on FM across much of the UK. The weekday late evening ‘borrow’ had ceased in October 1988.
  • 8 January –
    • BBC Radio 1 launches a new 30 minute news programme News 90 which replaces the teatime edition of Newsbeat.[1]
    • BBC Radio 1 launches a new jingles package called ‘’Music Radio for the 90s’’.
  • January – Frances Line replaces Bryant Marriott as controller of BBC Radio 2.[2]
  • January – Delta Radio begins broadcasting as an opt-out of County Sound for the Haslemere district on what was originally intended to be a relay transmitter for County Sound.

February

March
  • 4 March – Jazz FM, a station playing mainly soul and jazz music, launches with an Ella Fitzgerald concert at the Royal Albert Hall.[4][5]
  • 17 March – Gary King joins Radio 1, to take over the early breakfast show, initially replacing Tim Smith at weekends before moving to the weekday early show to replace Jackie Brambles, who moves to the weekday drivetime show.
  • 25 March – At 7 pm BBC Radio 2 becomes available on FM 24/7 for the first time after the final ever ’borrow’ of its FM frequencies by BBC Radio 1.
  • 29 March – Ahead of major changes to BBC Radio 2’s output, Brian Matthew goes Round Midnight for the final time.
  • 31 March –
    • Sounds of the 50s, presented by Ronnie Hilton, is launched and Brian Matthew takes over as host of Sounds of the 60s.
    • Launch of Choice FM, the first black station with a London-wide commercial licence. The station broadcasts on 96.9FM.[6]

April
  • 2 April – The changes to weekday programming on BBC Radio 2 begin on this date. Ken Bruce launches a new late night programme with Judith Chalmers replacing Bruce on mid-mornings, a weeknight late night jazz show called Jazz Parade is launched and a weekday guest afternoon slot is introduced featuring a different personality choosing their favourite music each week.[7]
  • 6 April – The first edition of The Arts Programme on BBC Radio 2 is broadcast. The programme airs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings between 10pm and midnight.
  • April – BBC Radio 1 starts broadcasting on FM in north east England.
  • April – BBC Radio introduces new logos for its national radio stations.[8]

May
  • 24 May – BBC Radio 1 begins FM transmission in Central Southern England.[9] Also during 1990, the transmitters established in 1988 move to higher power.

June
  • 1 June – Red Rose Radio, which was transmitted on 97.4 MHz and 999 kHz, is split into two stations – Red Rose Rock FM using the FM frequency and Red Rose Gold on the medium wave frequency.
  • 22 June – Orchard FM expands its coverage southwards when a transmitter covering the southern parts of south Somerset and parts of north Dorset is switched on.[10]
  • 25 June –
    • Spectrum Radio launches, broadcasting programmes for London's various ethnic communities. However the frequency allocated to the station was being used by pirate station Radio Caroline, thereby causing interference with Spectrum's transmissions. The Independent Broadcasting Authority, in agreement with the Department for Trade and Industry, allowed Spectrum to temporarily broadcast on 990 kHz alongside 558 kHz.[11] Caroline eventually vacated the 558 kHz frequency and the temporary transmitter was switched off.
    • The same day sees the launch of two more Incremental radio stations – Airport Information Radio, providing travel information for users of Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport, and Glasgow station East End Radio. Both turn out to be short lived. Airport Information Radio closes the following year and East End Radio closes when it had its licence revoked.[12]
  • 28 June – The Independent Broadcasting Authority begins trials of AM Stereo on the MW transmitters of Radio Orwell. They lasted until the end of July.[13]
  • 29 June – Programmes For Schools are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 for the final time.

July

August
  • August – Atlantic 252 starts broadcasting in the evening and is now on air from 6 am until 2 am.
  • 15 August – BBC Radio 2 begins to wind down its transmissions on MW ahead of the launch of BBC Radio 5 by providing a daytime information service providing advice about how to listen to Radio 2 on FM.
  • 20 August – The Moral Maze is broadcast for the first time on BBC Radio 4.
  • 24 August – Listening Corner, the weekday lunchtime programme for small children, is broadcast for the final time. This marks the end of children's programming on Radio 4 until 1994.
  • 26 August –
    • Sport is broadcast on BBC Radio 2 for the final time with the final sports desk broadcast at 10.02pm.
    • Educational programmes are broadcast on BBC Radio 4's FM transmitters for the final time – educational programmes will return to Radio 4 in 1994 but will be broadcast only on long wave.
  • 27 August –
    • At midnight, BBC Radio 2 stops broadcasting on MW. Consequently, Radio 2 becomes the first national radio station in the UK to broadcast only on FM.
    • At 9am, the BBC's long-awaited fifth national radio station, BBC Radio 5 is launched on the old Radio 2 mediumwave frequencies. The station mainly carries sports, children's and educational programmes.
    • Following the transfer of all of BBC radio's educational and children's programming from Radio 4's FM frequencies to Radio 5, the full BBC Radio 4 schedule is available on FM for the first time.

September
  • 1 September –
    • Kiss 100 begins broadcasting legally for the first time when it launches in London. The station had previously operated as a pirate broadcaster.
    • Following the transfer of BBC Radio Sport to Radio 5, Sport on 2 is renamed Sport on 5.
  • 30 September – Mark Goodier replaces Bruno Brookes as host of BBC Radio 1’s Top 40 show.

October
  • 1 October –
    • The Evening Session debuts on BBC Radio 1, presented by Mark Goodier.
    • BBC Radio 3 stays on air for an extra 30 minutes on weeknights, ending broadcasting at 12.35am. The station continues to close at midnight at the weekend.
  • 6 October – The Superstation closes after 2 years 3 months on air after going into liquidation.
  • 8 October – Severn Sound splits into two services, with Severn Sound continuing on FM with 3 Counties Radio launching on MW.
  • 21 October – The Network Chart is expanded to a top 40 chart and the length of the programme is extended by just under an hour, starting after the 4 pm IRN bulletin – although not all of the stations took the extra hour to begin with.

November

December

Unknown
  • The Piccadilly brand name returns to the FM band in Manchester when Key 103 is rebranded as Piccadilly Key 103.

Station debuts

Closing this year

Programme debuts

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

Ending this year

Births

Deaths

See also

References
  1. BBC Radio 1 schedule 8 January 1990
  2. "Radio 2 chief appointed", The Times page 7, 3 October 1989
  3. BBC Genome listing – Radio 1 11 February 1990
  4. "Entertainment | Jazz FM goes for new smooth title". BBC News. 15 February 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  5. Graham, Stephen (9 September 2010). "Jazz breaking news: Jazz FM To Air Ella Fitzgerald Historic Albert Hall Broadcast". Jazzwise Magazine. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  6. "Blue heritage plaque unveiled to honour Choice FM". 3 April 2021.
  7. BBC Genome Project – BBC Radio 2 listings 2 April 1990
  8. BBC1 Closedown Sat 28 April 1990 - New look for Radio 1-4 logos
  9. BBC Genome listing – Radio 1 24 May 1990
  10. IBA Engineering Announcements 19 June 1990
  11. IBA Engineering Announcements 5 June 1990
  12. UK Radio History 3, Commercial Radio, ILR, Capital Radio, By Mike Smith Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  13. IBA Engineering Announcements 10 July 1990
  14. Dugdale, John (20 November 2000). "Broadcasting Act, 1990". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  15. "The Broadcasting Acts of 1990 and 1996". Ofcom. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2009.
  16. "First & last". Offshoreechos.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
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