BBC Radio 5 was a national

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

that broadcast sports, children's and educational programmes. It ran from 1990 to 1994 and was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz AM. On 28 March 1994, three years and seven months after the station started, it was replaced by

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

, following the success of rolling news coverage of the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

on Radio 4 News FM.

History

Launch

A new fifth national radio station was first announced by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

on 9 October 1988. In line with the

Conservative government Conservative or Tory government may refer to: Canada In Canadian politics, a Conservative government may refer to the following governments administered by the Conservative Party of Canada or one of its historical predecessors: * 1st Canadian Min ...

's broadcasting policy at the time, the BBC ended its longstanding practice of

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

ing its services on both AM and FM, freeing the

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...

frequencies which

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

had been using since 23 November 1978 for another use. On 15 August 1990, Radio 2 began to draw to a close its medium wave transmissions by broadcasting a daytime information service providing advice about how to listen on FM as well as advertisements for the new station. This continued until 2.00 pm on the day before Radio 5's launch, and Radio 2 ended its medium wave transmissions at midnight on Sunday 26 August. Nine hours later, at 9.00 am on Monday 27 August, Radio 5 launched with five-year-old boy Andrew Kelly uttering the words: Prior to this, the new station's frequencies broadcast a long sequence of programming trails linked by Jon Briggs (one of the station's launch presenting team) and pre-recorded sketches from comedians Trevor Neal and Simon Hickson (consisting of the two larking about in the studio amid the strains of "

Sailing By "Sailing By" is a short piece of light music composer, composed by Ronald Binge in 1963, which is used before the late Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4. A slow waltz, the piece uses a repetitive ABCAB structure and a distinctive rising and fallin ...

", and Trevor suddenly being cut off while he was reading his so-called "Ode to Radio 5"). The official first programme was ''Take Five'', a pre-recorded programme by Bruno Brookes.

Structure

Many believed that BBC Radio 5 was a service the four other main BBC stations did not want, reflected in a speech by Jenny Abramsky, News International Visiting professor of Broadcast Media 2002 at Exeter College,

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. Abramsky described the service, In 1991,

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

was launched, as part of the multinational response to the

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, codenamed Project 17, began on 2 August 1990 and marked the beginning of the Gulf War. After defeating the Kuwait, State of Kuwait on 4 August 1990, Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq went on to militarily occupy the country fo ...

. From 16 January, Radio 4's FM frequencies were used to provide an all-news network for the coverage of the war, dubbed ' Radio 4 News FM' (or more popularly in the media as ''Scud FM''), but despite protests mainly received praise for the quality of this service and the speed with which it was established. Following the end of the conflict, Radio 4 resumed its normal schedule but the positive response to commencing review into the possibility of providing a full-time news station, leading to the broadcast of a similar service on

longwave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, dati ...

during the 1992 general election campaign. Due to the resistance to any use of Radio 4 FM (or LW) frequencies, it was decided that Radio 5, criticised by John Birt as "improvised and disjointed", would relaunch as a combined news and sports channel.

Demise

The "old" Radio 5 signed off at midnight on Sunday 27 March 1994 with a pre-recorded ''Nigel and Earl'' sketch at the end of one of the network's Irish music magazine programme '' Across the Line''. Ten minutes later, the frequencies closed down for the night following a ''BBC Radio News and Sport'' bulletin and the new

began its 24-hour service at 5:00 am on Monday 28 March.

Programming

The station was on air daily from 6.00 am until just after midnight although initially, apart from sports coverage, original programming was restricted to key times of the day – breakfast, mid-mornings and on weekdays drive and evening programmes for young people. The rest of the day was filled with simulcasts of other BBC stations and with programmes from the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, which were broadcast for several hours each day. World Service programmes were aired at 6.00 am, 11.00 pm and for two hours on weekday afternoons,

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

was broadcast on weekday lunchtimes, with

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

simulcast on Saturday evenings, and on Sunday lunchtime and teatime.

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 Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

and

were also simulcast on Sundays – Radio 2 in the afternoon when there was no sports coverage and Radio 1 during the early evening during the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

's 1990/91 winter break. From spring 1991, the station started to expand its original programming and this replaced the rebroadcasting of programmes from other BBC networks. The first to be discontinued, at the end of March 1991, was the 11.00 pm World Service block, followed in autumn by the simulcasts of other BBC stations, and May 1992 saw the removal of the weekday afternoon block of World Service programmes. This meant that, from this point, the station was now producing its own programming every day from 6.30 am until just after midnight. The 6.00 am World Service news bulletin simulcast remained throughout the station's time on air. The new network allowed the BBC to significantly enhance its sports coverage, especially in its later years. For example, during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the network devoted its entire output to the eventBBC Genome - An example of Radio 5's schedule during the 1992 Olympic Games
/ref> and during the summer months, sports coverage was broadcast all afternoon every day of the week.

Weekdays

* ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

'' – with Sarah Ward, Jon Briggs, Danny Baker and Michele Stephens * ''This Family Business'' and ''The AM Alternative'' – with

Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky produced by Diageo in Scotland. It was established in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire in 1820, and continued to be produced and bottled at the town's Hill Street plant, once the world's ...

* ''The Health Show'' – with

Angela Rippon Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944) is an English broadcaster, former newsreader, writer and journalist. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's ''BBC Nine O'Clock News, Nine ...

* ''Sound Advice'' – with Guy Michelmore, Daire Brehan and Liz Barclay * ''The Crunch'' – with Liz Kershaw * '' BFBS Worldwide'' * ''Sportsbeat'' – with Ross King and

Tommy Boyd Timothy Leslie "Tommy" Boyd (born 14 December 1952) is a British television and radio presenter. He gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as host of the children's television programmes ''Magpie'', '' Wide Awake Club'', and ''The Saturday ...

* ''A Game of Two Halves'' – with John Inverdale, Frances Edmonds, Caron Keating and

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter, author and podcaster. He is the co-presenter (with Ellen E. Jones) of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Screenshot'', and co-presenter ...

* ''Five Aside'' – with Sue McGarry and Julian Worricker * '' John Inverdale's Drive-in''

Weekends

* ''On Your Marks'' – with Mark Curry * ''Get Set'' – with Steve Johnson * ''Go!'' – with Ross King and Garth Crooks * ''Sportscall'' – with Dominik Diamond * ''Sunday Edition'' – with Barry Johnston * '' Simon Fanshawe's Sunday Brunch''

Evenings

* ''Fabulous'' – with

Mark Lamarr Mark Lamarr (born Mark Jones; 7 January 1967) is an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. He was a team captain on ''Shooting Stars (1993 TV series), Shooting Stars'' from 1995 to 1997, and hosted ''Never Mind the Buzzcock ...

and Johnny Vaughan * '' Fantasy Football League'' – with Dominik Diamond * '' Trevor Brooking's Football Night'' * '' 6-0-6'' – with Danny Baker and

David Mellor David John Mellor (born 12 March 1949) is a British broadcaster, barrister, and former politician. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1990–1992) ...

* '' Formula Five'' * '' Room 101'' * '' They Think It's All Over'' – with

Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, pr ...

* ''Cult Radio'' – with Marc Riley * ''Le Top'' * ''The Mix'' – with Mark Thomas * ''Hit the North'' – with Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley * ''Earshot'' – with John Cavanagh * ''Eastern Beat'' * ''Rave'' – with

Rob Brydon Robert Brydon Jones (; born 3 May 1965) is a Welsh actor, comedian, impressionist, presenter, singer and writer. He gained prominence for his roles in film, television and radio. He was appointed Order of the British Empire, Member of the Order ...

* '' Across the Line'' * '' The Mark Steel Solution''

Presenters

* Danny Baker * Liz Barclay *

* Daire Brehan * Jon Briggs * Bruno Brookes *

Trevor Brooking Sir Trevor David Brooking (born 2 October 1948) is a former England national football team, England international Association football, footballer, manager, pundit and football administrator; he now works as director of football development in En ...

* Garth Crooks * Mark Curry * Dominik Diamond * Frances Edmonds * Simon Fanshawe * Simon Hickson * John Inverdale * Barry Johnston * Caron Keating *

* Liz Kershaw * Ross King *

* Guy Michelmore * Trevor Neal * Mark Radcliffe *

Miranda Rae Miranda Rae (born in the United Kingdom) is a British people, British radio disc jockey, DJ, best known for her pioneering show on Galaxy (radio network), Galaxy Radio & BBC Radio 5 (former), Radio 5, Ujima Radio, and Soul Train Radio. She was t ...

* Marc Riley *

Mark Steel Mark Steel (born 4 July 1960) is an English author, broadcaster, stand-up comedian and newspaper columnist. He has made many appearances on radio and television shows as a guest panellist, and has written regular columns in ''The Guardian'', '' ...

* Johnny Vaughan *

* Julian Worricker

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Radio 5 (Former) BBC Radio 5 (former) BBC Radio 5 Live Defunct BBC national radio stations Radio stations established in 1990 Radio stations disestablished in 1994 1990 establishments in the United Kingdom 1994 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1990s in the United Kingdom Sports radio stations in the United Kingdom Educational broadcasting in the United Kingdom