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2013 in British radio

This is a list of events in British radio during 2013.

Events

January

February

  • 4 February – Aled Jones is signed up by Classic FM to present a Sunday morning programme from March.
  • 6 February – Bauer Media buys the digital station Planet Rock for a sum estimated to be between £1m and £2m.
  • 10 February – Les Ross returns to radio in Birmingham with a Sunday afternoon show on Big City Radio.
  • 11 February – BBC Radio 2 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the recording of The Beatles' album Please Please Me with "Twelve Hours to Please Me" in which today's musical artists pay homage to the album.
  • 14 February
  • The Competition Commission publish their preliminary findings into the Global Radio takeover of GMG Radio, recommending a full or partial sale of the now renamed Real and Smooth Radio Ltd.
  • Former head of BBC News Helen Boaden is appointed Director of BBC Radio by incoming BBC Director-General Tony Hall. She will take up the position from April.
  • 18 February – BBC journalists stage a one-day strike over compulsory redundancies.

March

April

  • 7 April – Former BBC Radio 4 newsreader Charlotte Green joins Classic FM to host a weekly Sunday morning programme, Charlotte Green's Great Composers.
  • 11 April
  • Radio 2 Breakfast Show presenter Chris Evans is forced to hand over to a colleague after losing his voice live on air.
  • It is reported that Gold presenter Neil Francis has been suspended from the network for comments he made about comedian Jim Davidson on Facebook.
  • 12 April – Radio 1 Controller Ben Cooper announces that the station's Radio 1 Chart Show will not air "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead", a song which charted following an internet campaign in the wake of the death of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on 8 April. Instead a portion of the song will air as part of a news item.
  • 15 April – Bauer increases networking on its Yorkshire Magic stations with a networked breakfast show coming from Magic 828 in Leeds.
  • 23 April – Absolute Radio have removed Absolute Radio 60s and Absolute Classic Rock from several DAB platforms in England and Wales, but the stations continue to broadcast in London and online, the Radio Today website reports.

May

June

  • 3 June – The BBC issues an apology after an edition of Radio 5 Live's Fighting Talk featured a debate on whether sports presenter Clare Balding, who is gay, could be "cured" of her sexuality.
  • 5 June
  • Ofcom awards five new community radio licences for stations in Northern Ireland.
  • Health and beauty retail chain Superdrug launches an in-store radio station.
  • 12 June – Mayor of London Boris Johnson will join LBC to host a monthly phone-in show, it is confirmed.
  • 14 June – Kerrang! 105.2's final day of broadcasting on FM in the West Midlands. The 105.2 frequency is taken over by Planet Rock simulcasting from London. Kerrang! continues on DAB, but with content aired from London from 17 June.

July

August

  • 4 August – David Jacobs presents the final edition of Radio 2's The David Jacobs Collection after fifteen years. He is stepping down from the role for health reasons.
  • 8 August – Smooth Radio hires Andi Peters to present a Sunday lunchtime show.
  • 13 August – Sony end their sponsorship agreement with the Radio Academy Awards.
  • 27 August – The MXR regional digital radio multiplex for the West Midlands is switched off after 12 years on air.
  • 28 August
  • Ofcom finds Liverpool's Radio City 96.7 in breach of broadcasting rules after a listener complained about a feature called Neil or No Neil in which presenter Dave Kelly phones numbers in the United States to ask if there is anyone there named Neil.
  • A contemporary recording of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 speech "I Have a Dream" is aired by Radio 4 and the BBC World Service to make its 50th anniversary.

September

  • 3 September – It is reported that the actress Naomi Watts walked out of a radio interview with Simon Mayo because she was uncomfortable with him asking her about her portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales in the biopic, Diana.
  • 25 September – A Radio 4 news item about a bondage workshop at a village hall becomes an internet hit.
  • 28 September
  • Former BBC Radio 4 newsreader, now Classic FM presenter, Charlotte Green makes her debut reading the classified football results on BBC Radio 5 Live and the World Service. Her appointment was announced on 6 August.
  • Radio 3 announces a raft of new weekend programmes. They include a new concert series Live in Concert, a new film music programme called Sound of Cinema, a chance to hear highlights of the weekday lunchtime concerts, consistent times for the station's jazz programming and a new Monday night slot for Opera on 3.
  • 30 September – Radio 2 overhauls its schedule.

October

  • 1 October – Smooth Radio is moved to Global Radio's Leicester Square headquarters in London and given a makeover.
  • 3 October – Global Radio announces that Smooth 70s will close less than a week after Smooth programming moved to its London headquarters.
  • 5 October – Sara Cox becomes a regular presenter on Radio 2 with Sounds of the 80s, a new programme dedicated to hits of the 80s.
  • 6 October – Actress Tina Hobley begins presenting a Sunday Morning show on Smooth Radio.
  • 7 October
  • Choice FM is rebranded as Capital Xtra.
  • London-based digital station IBC Tamil is found in breach of Ofcom licence conditions following a complaint about a "highly partial" and unreliable news item.
  • 17 October
  • Radio Exe suspends Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" from its playlist after singer Charlotte Church criticised it as being derogatory to women in an address to the 2013 Radio Festival. They also request listener feedback on whether it should be banned.
  • Former BBC Radio Norfolk presenter Michael Souter is convicted of a series of historical accounts of sexual abuse against boys following a trial at Norwich Crown Court. He is subsequently jailed for 22 years.
  • 18 October – Two digital transmitters are switched on in Gloucestershire, allowing DAB broadcasting to begin in the county.
  • 25 October – The BBC hosts 100 Women, a day of debate and discussion across radio, television and online featuring a hundred women from around the world.
  • 27 October – As the clocks go back an hour at the end of British Summer Time, a glitch at Radio 2 sees the second hour of Bob Harris's late night/early morning show being simultaneously aired with another segment of the show.

November

  • 1 November – Broadcasting of Paul Gambaccini's America's Greatest Hits is suspended from its Saturday night slot on Radio 2 after the presenter is arrested as part of the Operation Yewtree investigation. Gambaccini himself takes the decision not to go on air following media interest in his arrest. He also steps down temporarily as host of Radio 4's music quiz Counterpoint. A year later, it is announced that no charges will be brought against Gambaccini and he much later receives damages from the Crown Prosecution Service.
  • 5 November – Internet station Solid Gold Gem celebrates a year on air. The station hires American presenter Ted Bradford to present a one-off weekend show to mark the occasion.
  • 15 November – Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents Radio 3 Breakfast for the final time. She leaves the show to become presenter of Radio 3's Wigmore Hall lunchtime concerts and to present Sunday afternoon programme The Choir. She is replaced on 2 December by weekend breakfast presenter Clemency Burton-Hill.
  • 28 November – A BBC local radio guest in the North West who claims to have been a disc jockey on Radio Caroline North during the 1960s is challenged as a fake during an on-air interview.
  • 29 November – Robbie Vincent announces he will leave Jazz FM. His final show airs on Sunday 1 December.

December

  • 12 December – Nick Ferrari and Charlotte Green are among six radio personalities inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.
  • 19 December – Fearne Cotton apologises to Radio 1 listeners after a microphone left on during a track picks up one of her Christmas party guests swearing.
  • 31 December – A financial report released by Global Radio shows the company paid £69m for the purchase of GMG Radio.

Station debuts

Programme debuts

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Ending this year

Closing this year

Deaths

References