1975 in British radio

This is a list of events in British radio during 1975.

Events

January

• 1 January – BBC Radio Ulster launches as a full time station. It replaces what had been a Northern Ireland opt-out of BBC Radio 4.
• 6 January – BBC Radio 2's broadcasting hours are reduced due to budget cuts at the BBC. The former 5am2am schedule is reduced to a 6am start up Mondays to Saturdays with a 6:55am start up on Sundays. The station closes down at around 12:33am each day. Another consequence on the cuts is that David Hamilton's afternoon show is broadcast on both Radio 1 and Radio 2.
• 22 January – Radio Forth begins broadcasting to the Edinburgh area.

February

• No events.

March

• No events.

April

• No events.

May

• 19 May – Plymouth Sound begins broadcasting to the Plymouth area.

June

• 9 June – Proceedings in the Parliament of the United Kingdom are broadcast on radio for the first time.
• 24 June – Radio Tees begins broadcasting to the Teesside area.

July

• 3 July – Radio Trent beings broadcasting to the Nottingham area.

August

• No events.

September

• 16 September – Pennine Radio begins broadcasting to the Bradford area.
• 29 September – BBC Radio 2's broadcasting hours are further reduced when the station closes slightly earlier, concluding its day at around 12:10am Mondays to Fridays, and at 12:33am on Saturdays and Sundays.
• September – The first edition of The Sunday Request Show is broadcast on BBC Radio 1. Presented by Annie Nightingale, the show runs until the end of 1979 before being re-introduced as an evening programme in 1982.

October

• October – Kenny Everett plays Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" repeatedly on his radio show, forcing their record company to release it as a single.
• 14 October – Radio Victory begins broadcasting to the Portsmouth area.
• 28 October – Radio Orwell begins broadcasting to the Ipswich area.

November

• No events.

December

• No events.

Station debuts

• 1 January – BBC Radio Ulster
• 22 January – Radio Forth
• 19 May – Plymouth Sound
• 24 June – Radio Tees
• 3 July – Radio Trent
• 16 September – Pennine Radio
• 14 October – Radio Victory
• 28 October – Radio Orwell

Programme debuts

• 1 October – The News Huddlines on BBC Radio 2 (1975–2001)

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
• Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)
• Down Your Way (1946–1992)
• Letter from America (1946–2004)
• Woman's Hour (1946–Present)
• A Book at Bedtime (1949–Present)

1950s

• The Archers (1950–Present)
• The Today Programme (1957–Present)
• The Navy Lark (1959–1977)
• Sing Something Simple (1959–2001)
• Your Hundred Best Tunes (1959–2007)

1960s

• Farming Today (1960–Present)
• In Touch (1961–Present)
• The Men from the Ministry (1962–1977)
• Petticoat Line (1965–1979)
• The World at One (1965–Present)
• The Official Chart (1967–Present)
• Just a Minute (1967–Present)
• The Living World (1968–Present)
• The Organist Entertains (1969–2018)

1970s

• PM (1970–Present)
• Start the Week (1970–Present)
• Week Ending (1970–1998)
• You and Yours (1970–Present)
• I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (1972–Present)
• Good Morning Scotland (1973–Present)
• Hello Cheeky (1973–1979)
• Kaleidoscope (1973–1998)
• Newsbeat (1973–Present)

Births

• January – Adam Rutherford, geneticist and science broadcaster
• 22 January – Rachel Burden, news presenter
• 24 January – Lucy Montgomery, comedy actress
• 25 February – Naga Munchetty, broadcast news presenter
• 31 March – Jonny Saunders, radio sports reporter, presenter and commentator
• 1 April – Suzy Klein, arts broadcast presenter
• 25 July – Margaret Cabourn-Smith, comedy actress
• 31 July – Stephanie Hirst, radio presenter
• 23 September – Chris Hawkins, radio presenter
• 20 November – Jason Mohammad, radio and television presenter
• 30 November – Richard Bacon, broadcast presenter
• 15 December – Ayesha Hazarika, Scottish broadcast journalist, political adviser and comedian
• Catherine Shepherd, comedy actress

Deaths

• 26 February – Denis Goodwin, comedy scriptwriter and radio presenter, suicide (born 1929)
• 3 March – Sandy MacPherson, theatre organist (born 1897)
• 4 March – Gillie Potter, comedian (born 1887)
• 3 April – Jacques Brown, radio comedy producer (born 1900)
• 10 November – William Hardcastle, radio news presenter (born 1918)

See also

• 1975 in British music
• 1975 in British television
• 1975 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1975

References