United Biscuits Network (UBN) was an internal radio station serving the factories of

United Biscuits United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In ...

(UB) in Britain that operated from 1970 to 1979. In 1970 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 ...

had a monopoly on radio broadcasting in Britain, although there were a few offshore

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

broadcasters, such as

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

. At one time factories had sought to avoid unnecessary background sound, but during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

psychologists found that light background music (

muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments owned by Mood Media. The name ''Muzak'', a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been ...

) increased productivity at times it was low, a trend that continued after the war. But as jobs became deskilled and ever more monotonous, muzak became less effective, and staff turnover increased. United Biscuits was affected by this trend; Hector Laing, the managing director in the 1960s, needed to reduce the costs of high staff turnover. Inspired by the success of the pirate stations, Laing hired suitable staff, bought state-of-the-art broadcasting equipment, and set up UBN at UB headquarters in

Osterley Osterley ( ) is an affluent district of Isleworth in west London, England, from Charing Cross in the London Borough of Hounslow. Most of its land use is mixed agricultural and aesthetic parkland at Osterley House (National Trust), charity-r ...

, western Greater London (later the headquarters of broadcaster

Sky UK Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), Trade name, trading as Sky, is a British broadcasting, broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone ...

Description

UBN broadcast from Osterley to UB factories in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

24 hours a day. Presenters who later achieved wider public recognition included

Roger Scott Roger Scott (23 October 1943 – 31 October 1989) was a British radio disc jockey. He was best known for presenting an afternoon radio show on Capital London from 1973 until 1988 and a late night Sunday show, ''Scott on Sunday'' on BBC Rad ...

, Roger Day,

Adrian Love Adrian Love (3 August 1944 – 10 March 1999) was a British radio presenter, remembered for his ''Love in the Afternoon'' programme on BBC Radio 2. Early life Adrian Love was born in York on 3 August 1944 to Cicely Joyce (née Peters) and music ...

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Nicky Horne Nicky Horne (born 3 September 1950) is an English DJ, who has worked for a variety of radio stations, including Capital London, Capital Radio, BBC Local Radio and Boom Radio. Career Horne worked as a road manager for Emperor Rosko in 1969, b ...

, Graham Dene,

Peter Young Peter or Pete Young may refer to: Sports * Peter Dalton Young (1927–2002), English rugby union player * Peter Young (cricketer, born 1961), Australian cricketer * Pete Young (born 1968), American baseball player * Peter Young (rugby league) (fl. ...

, and

Dale Winton Dale Jonathan Winton (22 May 1955 – 18 April 2018) was an English radio DJ and television presenter. He presented the shows '' Supermarket Sweep'' from 1993 until 2001 and again in 2007, the National Lottery game show '' In It to Win It' ...

. The first Programme Director when the station opened in 1970 was Neil Spence, the former pirate Radio London DJ known as Dave Dennis. Because there were no legal commercial radio stations in 1970, the network became notable in introducing new acts and presenters. In 1972

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 2 ...

(ILR) was introduced by legislation in the UK; in 1979 the UBN was closed, with ILR played in the factories instead. Distribution of the "radio" from the Osterley studios to the various factories was via GPO landlines, then 100 V loudspeaker systems in each factory. Each pair of workers had their own loudspeaker and volume control. To accommodate the already high

ambient noise level In atmospheric sounding and noise pollution, ambient noise level (sometimes called background noise level, reference sound level, or room noise level) is the background sound pressure level at a given location, normally specified as a referenc ...

s in the factories, the audio was highly compressed. UBN's programme content was similar to contemporary commercial radio, except that "commercials" did not promote products but encouraged safe work practice, among other subjects, and music requests were from workers on various production lines. Programming was similar to

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

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 ...

, but there were specialist programmes for Asian listeners and

Country and western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, or d ...

fans in Liverpool and Glasgow.

Influence

As the UBN was the only independent "broadcaster", operated 24 hours a day, and had high quality equipment and musical sources, it was an excellent opportunity for entertainers to rise from small-scale DJ-ing to radio broadcasting; the network was music-oriented, and hosts were allowed a free rein, within reason. Graham Dene, who became a well-known presenter after UBN, was on air on the opening day, 1 September 1970, and later said he "could not believe his luck": "It was like a radio university. We had the best kit, the proper studios. We even had jingles re-recorded from the pirate ship Radio London. It was like seventh heaven: a proper station of our own." Someone who joined at the start was told that if UBN could reduce UB staff turnover by 20%, it would pay for itself; within the first year, turnover dropped by 40%. The growth of

ultimately led to the closure of UBN as unnecessary; the many people it trained in broadcasting were available to man the new independent broadcasters. Andrew Ellinas, who broadcast on UBN's last hour on 16 December 1979, said "UBN was the beginning of the golden age of radio. Its legacy lies in every commercial station in the UK."

In popular culture

The

Chris Petit Chris Petit (born 17 June 1949) is an English novelist and filmmaker. During the 1970s he was Film Editor for ''Time Out (company), Time Out'' and wrote in ''Melody Maker''. His first film was the cult British road movie ''Radio On'', while his ...

film '' Radio On'' was partly filmed at the UBN studio. The protagonist is a DJ at an industrial radio station similar to UBN.

References

External links

United Biscuits website

A radio documentary on UBN and how it influenced workers
{{United Biscuits United Biscuits Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Industrial music services Radio stations established in 1970 Radio stations disestablished in 1979 1970 establishments in the United Kingdom 1979 disestablishments in the United Kingdom