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BBC Radio London is the
BBC's local radio station serving
Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9
FM frequency,
DAB,
Virgin Media channel 937,
Sky channel 0152 (in the London area only),
Freeview channel 721 and online.
The station's output is generally similar to that of other BBC Local Radio stations and targets a broad, mainstream audience. While previous incarnations of the station offered a more diverse range of programmes for London's various
ethnic
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
, religious, social and cultural communities, specialist programming now remains in a smaller form and is mostly broadcast at weekends.
According to
RAJAR
Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was call ...
, the station has a weekly audience of 671,000 listeners and a 1.1% share as of September 2022.
History
1970–1988: Radio London
Local radio arrived in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
as part of the second wave of BBC local stations, following a successful pilot project headed by
Frank Gillard, who on visiting the United States discovered local radio stations of varying formats and were to bring this concept to Britain.
Test transmissions for the new local radio station were carried out from
Wrotham,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, on 95.3
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
in
FM mono, relaying
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
(at the time broadcast only on medium wave), with several announcements informing listeners of the new service. On 6 October 1970 Radio London was launched, three years before commercial radio for
Greater London in the guise of
LBC. An additional medium wave frequency was allocated on 1457 kHz (206 metres) from Brookman's Park. 95.3 soon changed to 94.9.
BBC Radio London was the local station for the capital, although in the early days it relied heavily on news reports from other stations in the BBC network and often shared programming with
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
and
BBC Radio 2. It took on a fairly lively sound and featured (as it does to this day) extensive traffic reports, phone-in programmes — it pioneered the daily phone-in in the UK — and much contemporary and
middle-of-the-road music. For several months after launch, the station was not able to play commercial records as no agreement had been reached over so-called
needle time
Needle time was created in the United Kingdom by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited to restrict the amount of recorded music that could be transmitted by the BBC during any 24-hour period. The number of hours per week allow ...
, which led to London listeners becoming acquainted with broadcast library music from outside the UK (notably the Canadian Talent Library) and music from film soundtracks. A phone-in programme, ''
Sounding Brass'', was pioneered, devised and first presented by Owen Spencer-Thomas in 1977. Listeners were invited to choose a Christmas carol or hymn while a
Salvation Army brass band stood by in the studio to play their request live. It later moved to
BBC Radio 2 and was presented by
Gloria Hunniford.
As soon as
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...
stations
LBC and
Capital London
Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...
went on air, public attention to Radio London declined, with the station attempting to copy both.
Radio London started regular broadcasts from Harewood House,
Hanover Square, near
Oxford Circus, later moving to 35
Marylebone High Street
Marylebone High Street is a shopping street in London, running sub-parallel to Baker Street and terminating at its northern end at the junction with Marylebone Road. Given its secluded location, the street has been described as "the hidden wonde ...
- the former ''
Radio Times'' warehouse, famously without windows and providing an enormous sub-basement studio.
Tests for FM stereo began in 1981 with ''Music on the Move'', a programme featuring non-stop music, prior to full launch on 11 February. The FM transmitter was shortly moved to
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
. This coincided with the planned relaunch in 1981, which saw the station take on a style that was softer than BBC Radio 2 - a station predominantly playing "
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
" music. Music ranged from softer contemporary pop, such as
The Carpenters
The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct, soft, musical style, combining Karen's contr ...
, to light classical music. This move was unpopular with employed staff, who thought it very un-hip, and politicians who would question the need for a local radio station to sound like the two music-based BBC national networks. However, the relaunch led to improved audience figures and a string of awards and accolades.
One of its programmes on the schedule was ''Black Londoners'', devised by Ray Criushank, a community relations officer for the
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...
, and presented by
Alex Pascall. The programme helped to develop on-air talent from London's Afro-Caribbean community, namely
Juliet Alexander,
Syd Burke and
Mike Phillips and was the pioneering programme on television or radio to regularly speak to Black Londoners. The programme's title was changed to ''Black London'' shortly before Radio London closed (see below). It was revived for a short time in 2003, with Pascall returning as a presenter. The forerunner to the
BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...
was an
Asian programme, ''
London Sounds Eastern'', presented by
Vernon Corea
Vernon Corea (11 September 1927 – 23 September 2002) was a pioneer radio broadcaster with 45 years of public service broadcasting both in Sri Lanka and the UK. He joined Radio Ceylon, South Asia's oldest radio station, in 1956 and later the Sr ...
who was appointed the BBC's Ethnic Minorities Adviser in the 1970s.
Pandit Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...
, Indian pop star
Usha Uthup
Usha Uthup Iyer (born 7 November 1947) is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer who sang songs in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. "Darling", which she recorded with Rekha Bhardwaj for the film ''7 Khoon Maaf'', won the Filmfare ...
, were among those interviewed for ''London Sounds Eastern'', launched on BBC Radio London in 1976 and produced by Keith Yeomans. The programme introduced the
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
music of
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur
and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in th ...
and
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...
to new London audiences.
A programming relaunch in 1984 saw Radio London adopt the tagline ''"The Heart and Soul of London"'', with more soul music being played during the day.
Tony Blackburn from BBC Radio 1 moved up the schedule to host a morning show for housewives, playing classic soul of the 1970s and presenting a show laced with cheeky jokes and ''
double entendres
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially a ...
'', once daring to "get out his 12-incher" - referring to an LP record. He was dismissed in 1988 crossing the line of taste and decency, conveniently in time for the station's first relaunch. Regular Soul Night Outs were held initially in
Kilburn but later in other venues, such as Ilford. This was where
Dave Pearce
David Alistair Pearce (born 14 June 1963) is an English dance DJ, EDM producer and broadcaster, who has performed across the United Kingdom and the world. He previously presented ''Dance Anthems'' on BBC Radio 1 for ten years. He is renowned f ...
, later of BBC Radio 1 fame, made his first regular appearances as a BBC DJ (Monday night programme 'A fresh start to the week'). Two of the station's producers, Guy Hornsby (Tony Blackburn) and Mike Gray (Robbie Vincent Telephone Programme), went on to create the ground-breaking commercial dance stations
Kiss 102
Kiss 102 was a dance music radio station based in Manchester, England.
History
The frequency was originally issued to Sunset 102 Radio - The Kickin FM but that suffered some financial problems. In May 1993, the Radio Authority made a decisio ...
and
Kiss 105
Kiss 105 was a dance music radio station based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It was part of a new breed of regional radio stations as opposed to independent local radio.
History
The station was launched at and the first track played was 'I Like ...
, which recaptured the somewhat anarchic spirit of BBC Radio London in its mid-1980s heyday to great audience and commercial success.
''Radio London'' closed on 7 October 1988. The final programme, just before its 18th birthday, was presented by
Mike Sparrow and Susie Barnes. Immediately after
closedown at 7pm, test transmissions began for the next 17 days, preparing for a new radio station for London, Greater London Radio (GLR).
1988–2000: Greater London Radio (GLR)
Test transmissions for the new ''Greater London Radio'' GLR began as soon as Radio London closed. Its pre-launch announcements stated in no uncertain terms that GLR was to be radically different in style promising the fastest news, traffic and travel news every 20 minutes and the best music mix. GLR was to be the first new radio station in London for 15 years.
An irreverent announcement, voiced by
Chris Morris, aired four days before launch:
Heading the new station were Managing Editor
Matthew Bannister
Richard Matthew Bannister (born 16 March 1957) is a British media executive and broadcaster.
Early career
After attending King Edward VII School, Sheffield, he graduated in law at the University of Nottingham in 1978, and joined BBC Radio Not ...
and Programme Organiser
Trevor Dann
Trevor John Dann (born 6 November 1951) is an English writer and broadcaster best known for his radio and print journalism with BBC Radio, ''Q magazine'', ''Mojo'', and ''The Guardian'', and his critically praised 2006 "Darker Than the Deepest Se ...
. Bannister, from
Capital London
Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...
, favoured a young, racy, news and speech format, miles away from the typically stuffy BBC Local Radio sound. Dann came from Radio 1, via BBC TV's
Whistle Test, and developed an album-oriented music policy. GLR was aimed at ''people who hate pop but love music, hate prattle'' (excessive on-air talk) ''but want to know what's what where in the world''. The station was aimed at 25- to 45-year-olds, who perhaps grew up with Radio 1, but now wanted to be intelligently informed about the city in which they live, and the world in general. Early promotions used the phrase "rock 'n' rolling news". Much of the daytime speech output covered London events and nightlife, with comedians and other artists being interviewed. The music mix was best described as
Adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
, though indie bands such as The Wonder Stuff were also played. It has been said this Triple-A format inspired the launch of
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
years later.
Chris Evans took on a variety of roles on GLR, often presenting a weekend show, ending in 1993 as his media career took off.
Danny Baker
Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television.
Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fami ...
has had a long association with the station, presenting Weekend Breakfast from 1989 to 1990 and then returned to present a Sunday morning show from 1996 to 1998.
Janice Long
Janice Berry ( Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. In a career that spanned five decades, ...
presented the Breakfast show on the station from 1989 to 1991, and
Kevin Greening started as a producer in 1989, before becoming a presenter of the Breakfast show with
Jeremy Nicholas in 1991.
Bob Harris also presented shows for the station from 1994 to 1998 after leaving
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
. Early afternoon programming previewed London's varied entertainment scene, interviewing comedians and other performers.
Richard Cook had a Saturday night jazz show.
Specialist speech programmes in the evening were aimed at London's communities:
Asian,
Afro-Caribbean,
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
,
Gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
and Irish. ''Black London'' was replaced with Margaret Jones aka The
Ranking Miss P, who was dropped by
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
. ''Lavender Lounge'', the programme for the gay community, was presented by comedian
Amy Lamé. Weekends featured extensive sports coverage, centring on football and London's numerous clubs such as
Arsenal,
Tottenham and
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
.
In 1989 GLR set up a youth-based radio training facility at Vauxhall College, SW8, which was followed with a second course based at
White City, W12. This was allocated funds from the
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...
and the British parliament.
One unique aspect of GLR was the ability to access directly Scotland Yard's network of traffic cameras across London's busiest streets. This enabled its reporters, most commonly "Bob at the Yard", to give unparalleled accurate traffic and travel news to its listeners. The reports were known as ''20/20 Travel'', named because its travel reports were read out every 20 minutes during peak times. No other radio station had this access for a while, even managing to out-do
Capital Radio
Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...
's traffic plane, known as the ''Flying Eye''.
GLR continues to be celebrated many years after its demise.
Criticism and closure
Three years into the newly relaunched station the station was given an additional three years to prove itself to its audience by senior BBC management or close for good: this threat was also applied to its other metropolitan BBC Local Radio stations
BBC WM in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
and
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
's
BBC GMR. The threat was lifted after the BBC deemed it sufficiently patronised to remain on-air, however, criticism of the station grew from its Radio London days, causing then
Minister for Broadcasting David Mellor to remark: "The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
must think hard whether it is occupying radio frequencies without making much use of them." This claim was rejected by senior management.
In 1991, Matthew Bannister left to spearhead the BBC's charter-renewal strategy called Extending Choice. He was replaced as Managing Editor by Trevor Dann. Kate Marsh was appointed News Editor. In 1993 GLR was forced to relinquish its 1458 kHz medium wave frequency, for a new commercial radio station which was eventually won by
Sunrise Radio
Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the Indian subcontinent. It broadcasts to the Greater London area on 963/972 AM, on DAB (SDL National), and via the internet.
History
Sunrise R ...
. Previously it had been simulcasting with 94.9 MHz FM with a few programmes which occasionally opted from FM. In 1993, Nigel Chapman, Head of BBC South & East, drove through a policy of "speech shoulders", forcing GLR to drop its music/speech mix at breakfast and drive times. Dann resigned in protest and left the BBC.
Steve Panton, formerly Managing Editor of BBC Radio Solent, took over and GLR limped on with a small listener base, but its music policy gained a cult following, particularly among its younger adult listeners. One of its noted DJs on-air at the time was Gary Crowley, who had a weekend show which regularly showcased new and unsigned bands, often not getting much airplay on commercial radio stations, and to a lesser extent, Radio 1. Kaleem Sheikh presented the A to Z of Indian Film and Classical music to a mainstream and specialist audience. Other DJs, notably
Bob Mills ("Millsie"), had a loyal following of cab drivers and cockney phone-ins. With the launch of new specialist commercial stations
Kiss 100
Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network.
It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol an ...
,
Jazz FM and
XFM GLR remained distinct. Speech rather than music formed a higher percentage of airtime than most commercial stations.
In 1999, following a consultation exercise on local broadcasting in the South East, the BBC decided to rebrand GLR and substantially change the programming. A campaign to "Save GLR" was organised and a petition delivered to the BBC. The argument became acrimonious. In particular, those opposed to the changes argued that the BBC never organised a public meeting in London as part of the consultation exercise and, when one was organised by supporters of the station, no one involved in the consultation exercise attended. Although the campaign was unsuccessful in saving GLR, and the rebranding went ahead the next year, it demonstrated the existence of a loyal audience for its format. GLR's music format, and several of its presenters, returned to the BBC with the launch of the national digital station
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
in 2002.
2000–2001: BBC London Live 94.9
Facing even more public criticism over GLR's position in the London radio market and its very low listening reach, the station was relaunched on 25 March 2000 as BBC London Live 94.9 in a blaze of publicity. Promising even more speech and less music, London Live — originally the title for GLR's lunch-time news show (presented by
Charles Carroll, now on BBC Radio 2) — was launched with new on-air personalities and new shows, including a speech-heavy breakfast show and a mid-morning phone-in and debate. Only drivetime and the specialist shows would remain, albeit refreshed. The re-launch at the time was promoted by huge billboards and television spots on BBC Newsroom South East depicting London's famous landmarks as radio paraphernalia (a woman seen raising
Big Ben as a radio aerial, for example). It cost the BBC in excess of £20 million, an amount seen by vocal critics, led by private media as "obscene amount of money" and added to repeated calls for the
licence fee
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...
(which also funds radio) to be scrapped.
Leading the relaunch was Station Director
David Robey
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, who hired such personalities as
Lisa I'Anson
Lisa I'Anson (born 31 May 1965) is a British radio presenter, television presenter, and VJ.
Career
I'Anson first started as a broadcaster on the then pirate radio station Kiss FM, and through to its legal licence, presenting the magazine sho ...
,
Vanessa Feltz
Vanessa Jane Feltz is an English television personality, broadcaster, and journalist. She has appeared on various television shows, including ''Vanessa'' (1994–1998), ''The Big Breakfast'' (1996–1998), ''The Vanessa Show'' (1999), ''Celebr ...
,
Tom Watt and various black presenters including
Eddie Nestor and
Dotun Adebayo. Most notably another presenter,
Henry Bonsu, was controversially sacked for reportedly being "too intellectual".
2001–2015: BBC London 94.9
In October 2001 the name was changed to BBC London 94.9. Newly updated jingles were added with its new slogan ''"On TV, On Radio, Online"'', voiced by BBC London News host
Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis (born 6 September 1970) is a British journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former newsreader for the BBC. She was the lead anchor until the end of 2021 of ''Newsnight'', the BBC Two news and current affairs programme.
Early lif ...
. The overall branding for this was BBC LDN.
New recruits to BBC London 94.9 included
Jon Gaunt from
BBC Three Counties Radio
BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable.
According t ...
, former GLR presenter
Danny Baker
Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television.
Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fami ...
, and
Sean Rowley (hosting the ''Guilty Pleasures'' show).
Danny Baker
Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television.
Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fami ...
hosted a breakfast show, which was co-hosted with American comedian
Amy Lamé. Jon Gaunt then hosted the mid-morning phone-in show.
Robert Elms
Robert Frederick Elms (born 12 June 1959) is an English writer and broadcaster. Elms was a writer for ''The Face'' magazine in the 1980s and is currently known for his long-running radio show on BBC Radio London. His book, ''The Way We Wore'', ...
was kept at lunchtime. Vanessa Feltz took over
Lisa I'Anson
Lisa I'Anson (born 31 May 1965) is a British radio presenter, television presenter, and VJ.
Career
I'Anson first started as a broadcaster on the then pirate radio station Kiss FM, and through to its legal licence, presenting the magazine sho ...
's afternoon slot with a phone-in. ''Drivetime with
Eddie Nestor and Kath Melandri'' guide Londoners home with news updates, sport, travel and debates with the public. Specialist programmes for the Black community emerged at the weekends along with sports coverage and alternative music shows in the evening. BBC London also saw the return of
Tony Blackburn on Saturdays, more than 20 years since he first appeared on the station. His show was as before, playing classic soul music and chat.
Although having joined at the end of the stations time as GLR,
Norman Jay
Norman Jay MBE (born Norman Bernard Joseph on 6 November 1957) is a British club, radio and sound system DJ. He first came to prominence playing unlicensed "warehouse" parties in the early 1980s, and through his involvement with the then-pira ...
's ''Giant 45'' show attracted a large and loyal following until Jay's eventual departure in February 2008 having been moved to a "digital only slot". This was by no means the first change to specialist music programming by Robey to have attracted a negative reaction. In 2003, a campaign called ''Londumb Live'' was briefly launched as a response to the axing of a number of specialist shows including
Coldcut
Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...
and Ross Allen.
Additional coverage for football was made possible through a combination of its
DAB Digital Radio platform, on Sky channel 0152 and on a BBC Essex transmitter 765 kHz medium wave (for West Ham commentaries).
BBC London 94.9 was the first
BBC Local Radio to air a 24-hour live-stream online, which coincided with the 2001 re-launch. It also aired on
DAB Digital Radio in July 2000 and on
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
(channel 0152) in 2005 in the London area but it can be accessed within the UK and Ireland by manual tuning.
2015–present: BBC Radio London
On 6 October 2015 BBC London 94.9 was re-branded as BBC Radio London.
On 23 March 2020, to prioritise resources during the
Coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
, 5 Live suspended overnight programmes between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. and carried the output of BBC Radio London. This continued until early July when 5 Live resumed its overnight programming on weeknights.
5 Live continues to simulcast BBC Radio London on Friday and Saturday overnights. In 2022 presenter Salma El-Wardany took over the Breakfast Show, after
Vanessa Feltz
Vanessa Jane Feltz is an English television personality, broadcaster, and journalist. She has appeared on various television shows, including ''Vanessa'' (1994–1998), ''The Big Breakfast'' (1996–1998), ''The Vanessa Show'' (1999), ''Celebr ...
left the station after almost twenty years.
Programming
BBC Radio London is the only
BBC Local Radio station which airs its own local programming 24 hours a day. Consequently, unlike all other BBC local stations, BBC Radio London does not simulcast regional programmes from sister stations or
BBC Radio 5 Live during overnight hours.
Notable presenters
*
Dotun Adebayo (Weekend Evenings)
*
Tony Blackburn (Sunday Evenings)
*
Gary Crowley
Gary Crowley (born 8 October 1961), is an English broadcaster, TV presenter and DJ.Burrell, Ian (2009), ''The Independent'', 9 November 2009, retrieved 2 November 2010
While still at school (Rutherford School, Marylebone, London) in the late 1970s ...
(Saturday Evenings)
*
Robert Elms
Robert Frederick Elms (born 12 June 1959) is an English writer and broadcaster. Elms was a writer for ''The Face'' magazine in the 1980s and is currently known for his long-running radio show on BBC Radio London. His book, ''The Way We Wore'', ...
(Friday-Sunday Mornings)
*
JoAnne Good
JoAnne Dorothy Good (born 15 January 1955) is a British radio presenter, television presenter, broadcast journalist and actress.
Career Actress
As an actress, she is best known for her role as Carol Sands in the ITV soap ''Crossroads'' from ...
(Weekday Evenings, Saturday Afternoons)
*
Carrie Grant
Caroline Vanessa Grant, (''née'' Gray, born 17 August 1965) is an English vocal coach, television presenter and session singer.
Career
Grant is known for her work on the television talent contests ''Fame Academy'', '' Comic Relief Does Fame A ...
and
David Grant (Saturday Breakfast)
*
Jeanette Kwakye
Jeanette Boahemaa Kwakye (pronounced ''kwah-chee''; born 20 March 1983) is a sports broadcaster and retired British sprinter.
Athletics career
Kwakye won a bronze medal in the 4x100 metres relay at the 2002 World Junior Championships, with ...
(Monday-Thursday Afternoons)
*
Eddie Nestor (Monday-Thursday Mornings)
*
Gaby Roslin
Gaby Roslin (born 12 July 1964) is an English television and radio presenter who rose to fame co-presenting ''The Big Breakfast'' on Channel 4 between 1992 and 1996. Roslin also presented the '' Children in Need'' charity telethons on the BBC ...
(Sunday Afternoons)
*
Sunny and Shay (Saturday-Sunday Evenings)
Listening figures
RAJAR
Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was call ...
data, the audience measurement system in the UK, showed that BBC London 94.9
audience reach
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
for the second quarter in 2014 was 572,000, which is its largest since the station rebranded as BBC London 94.9.
["Quarterly Listening"](_blank)
Rajar."RAJAR Q2 2014: Radio 2 Breakfast Show reaches a new high"
BBC Media Centre, 31 July 2014. Its latest audience figures (Quarter 4 2019) show a weekly audience of 469,000.
References
Further reading
* ''The Radio Companion'' by Paul Donovan ()
External links
*
The History of BBC London
{{DEFAULTSORT:BBC Radio London
Radio stations established in 1970
Radio stations in London
1970 establishments in England