40 year's it happened at midnight tonight. I was listening then and here I am again.

Who remembers this jingle... Fifteen hundred on the longwave and stereo VHF, two four seven medium wave, this is Radio 2, easy listening!

I remember putting the stickers on our radios. Then retuning on the day.

I remembered the 275/285 song from Radio 1. Oh my, what special days!

David Symonds the first voice on Radio 4 UK just as he had been the first presenter on Capital Radio five years before.

Radio 1 on 3 sounds so surreal, no matter what. They're two different worlds!

Reception of BBC national radio services improved greatly after the frequency / wavelength changes, Radio 1 on 285m/1053kHz and 275m/1089kHz was an improvement over the lousy 247m/1215kHz which faded out every night and sometimes during the day in certain propagation conditions, Radio 2 sounded warmer and more pleasant on 433m/693kHz and 330m/909kHz over the horribly mains hum prone LW, Radio 3 on 247m/1215kHz inherited the night time fade that plagued Radio 1, and Radio 4 200kHz/1500m LW gained European continent listeners that Radio 2 had moving to LW.

@organisten

Жыл бұрын

It did - with one noticable exception. Those of us who liked Radio 3 hated it. The new medium wave frequency was far inferior. Yet I am sure this hastened our particular group to go over to FM instead.

@Sheffield_Steve

21 күн бұрын

275 & 285 didn't sound that great in Sheffield & South Yorkshire. Our strongest AM frequency was Radio Sheffield on 1035kHz. 2nd strongest Radio Hallam 1548kHz/194mtrs then Radio 2 on 909. I used to feel bad for Radio 3 being left with that awful 247m/1215 kHz frequency which used to get interference from a high power station in Albania. Strange how it was mentioned in the documentary "The Story of Pop Radio" that UK Foreign Office ministers would get complaints about pirates interfering with their stations during 1964-67 but yet when Radio 3 got interference we didn't register any complaint to the Albanian embassy! 🫣🤣🤣🤣 It always made me wonder why the World Service for Europe didn't go to the strong LW rather than the 648kHz frequency that could only be heard by listeners in the South East. It was a shame for Radio 3 that they never got the stronger frequencies that Virgin/Absolute Radio had. Ours in Sheffield was 1233kHz. It was a better improvement when Radio 1 finally received FM Stereo on 97-99MhZ but not for another 10-12 years.

Frank Muir’s voice comes in single, double and whipped but never sour.

@fluorosco

2 жыл бұрын

Everyone's a fwoot and nut case

The Droitwich transmitting station Today Talksport on 1053 (105KW), Absolute Radio on 1215 (105KW), BBC 5 live on 693 (500KW) and BBC Radio 4 on 198 (500KW).

@RWL2012

7 ай бұрын

3 years, power reductions and the loss of Absolute on 1215 later...

@jayrogers8255

6 ай бұрын

@@RWL2012😢

Well compiled (in sound & vision) - many memories!

I remember l have got an old transistor radio on LW it was written BBC radio 2 among the other radio stations on LW as Allouis,Europe 1,Luxembourg,Moscow and Praha

Great to hear Andrew Turner on Radio 2 News, who I'm only old enough to remember from Atlantic 252!! 👍

@andyhessey

15 күн бұрын

Very sadly, recently passed away. An outstanding broadcaster.

26:00 - I think that was the official moment where 1500m transitions from Radio 2 to Radio 4. Such suspense.

@ntmdisco

4 жыл бұрын

1500 meters or 198 khz from the mighty Droitwich transmitters pumping out 500 Kilotwatts of power.

@jayrogers8255

3 жыл бұрын

ntmdisco wouldn’t that be 1,515 meters now?

@RWL2012

7 ай бұрын

​@@ntmdiscoit was 200KHz until sometime in 1988.

Hmm, presentation and style wise - Radio 2 sounds the most antiquated and 1950s-ish in comparison to the other 3 national stations. Really nice archive recording - with Radios 1 and 3 having a pop at each other in a light-hearted manner!

@TheGerkuman

Жыл бұрын

The Radio 3 guy seemed a bit put off by 'Fat Bottomed Girls' by Queen

Tony B really hasn't changed much, has he. Edit: Brian Matthew using a version of Matthew And Son is very apt in an almost annoying way!

The BBC World Service also moved to the AM frequency of 648kHz on that date, transmitted from Orfordness. Even though the publicity for the changes overlooked this. In 2023, the Orfordness site is one of the very few AM services left in the country (now used by Caroline) and it isn't going anywhere%

@Sheffield_Steve

21 күн бұрын

It's about high time that Radio Caroline's power on 648 was increased to be heard in the rest of the UK. Or giving them a space on national DAB+ because I think we owe Caroline a long awaited debt of gratitude for changing UK radio for the better!

We had the sticker on the plug socket for the radio for about 10 years after the change 🤣

28:45 - For those who thought James Alexander Gordon’s sole role at the Beeb was to read out the classified football results…

This is _adorable!_

Hola yo lo escuché tenía 14 años , Soy de Amotape - Perú, pensé que eran de otros mundos, lo escuché en mi radio marca ERRES

The Crabwood crop formation , using the binary Askey keyboard code wrote a message. This was in a field next to the BBC Winchester transmitter. Winchester was the original capitol city of this land. interesting message........... regards

Interesting to find this video about a month and a half after one of the transmitter networks involved shut down... RIP Absolute Radio [*]

@johnr6168

11 ай бұрын

The wonderfull 247m/1,215kHz? Before it was used by Radio 1, it was used by Radio 2 while it was still called the 'Light Programme' by helper transmitters where LW reception wasn't so good. The 247m/1215kHz network therefore had a life of around 70 years. When Absolute Radio finally ceased to use it they played a special montage of snippets of all the stations that had used it just before the final switch off.

The song at 2:53 is cute and funny! :))

@theweathercat2002

2 жыл бұрын

Someone should upload it on its own

Glynn Worsnip's DJ voice was hilarious!

And now we're about to lose Radio 4 LW.

@jayrogers8255

6 ай бұрын

😢

This is fantastic! Especially 15:50 - 16:09 hahaha

Just how "mannered" was Patricia Green on Radio 3? Even for 1978 it seemed far too formal.

16th November 1978

45 years ago today

11:34 "The new Radio 4 opening music" - does anyone recall what the previous opening music was?

@robalexander8065

4 ай бұрын

I think it was brand new as opposed to a replacement.Radio 4 became Radio 4 UK and wanted a theme to reflect that.

@linmanfu913

3 ай бұрын

There wasn't any; this was newly commissioned. It had previously been a network of regional stations. Very sad that it was lost.

26:05 I called 0634-666-666 (Devil number) and GUESS WHAT? There is a voicemail from the BBC.

Radio 3 received a downgrade and a half on Medium Wave! Possible the average R3 listener would have been more likely to have owned a V.H.F set though than the average overall listener - on demographics alone

@linmanfu913

3 ай бұрын

I'm sure that was the justification. I also read a book chapter from around the same era arguing that Radio 1 would never need to be on "VHF" because the poor reception on MW was good enough for its "tinny" music. 🙈 So arrogant!

I’m thinking if there was any confusion

@betaman7988

5 жыл бұрын

These long winded jingles probably caused more confusion. Just turn the dial until you hear Simon Bates or Tony Blackburn

I think that's Flanders & Swann at 4 minutes, isn't it?

@RandomRadioJottings

5 жыл бұрын

That vocal group is Instant Sunshine

@richardthompson2892

3 жыл бұрын

@@RandomRadioJottings The Vocal group was the Kings Singers I believe and I think they sang the full song on television

What is the name of the first song playing on BBC radio 1

@RandomRadioJottings

4 жыл бұрын

Well if you mean back in 1967 it was, of course, Flowers in the Rain by The Move

@theweathercat2002

4 жыл бұрын

@@RandomRadioJottings no I ment BBC radio 1 song That played on BBC radio 3

@riceymartin2203

3 жыл бұрын

@@theweathercat2002 One Shazam later... I Love America - Patrick Juvet

@theweathercat2002

2 жыл бұрын

@@riceymartin2203 thanks

Great stuff! I was only 6 when all this happened, but already an avid radio listener, so remember all the hoo-hah clearly. Looking through my files, I came across this recording from Radio 4 a couple of days before the changeover. kzread.info/dash/bejne/p39_29FwgKS-Zps.html

no video ... just stills!

25:50 byeeeee

0:08 1978 - 79

What do I have tune my radio to if I want to get Jimmy Savile?

@ericwhite8010

5 жыл бұрын

Ask a policeman!

@Mishima505

5 жыл бұрын

eric white now then, young man...

@arthurvasey

5 жыл бұрын

PERV-FM somewhere in Alabama - they play random shows presented by him, playing artists like Gary Glitter and Rolf Harris!

@Mishima505

3 жыл бұрын

@@paulmorris8094 now then, young man…

@AlexOnTheBus

11 ай бұрын

666 kHz

0:08

2:54 funny

1978 (0:08)

that song at the end is so cringe

1978 (0:04)