please empty your brain below
I think I imagined too far by thinking this to be a diary of new work.

Patrickov | 30.09.17 - 6:27 a.m. | #

Radio 1 came into existence as the UK government did not want people to listen to the popular pirate radio stations of which there were several in the 1960's.
As the pirate stations were all on Medium Waves AM, Radio 1 started on 247m medium waves where it stayed until 1994 then moving to VHF-FM. So different to today with DAB and on-line streaming being promoted and most young people unaware of medium wave radio.
Radio 1 never appealed to me as I rather liked the old Light programme (which became Radio 2).
I did listen to the opening in 1967 and have been listening to the Tony Blackburn anniversary show since 6am this morning.
I was in my early twenties when Radio 1 started.

John | 30.09.17 - 7:30 a.m. | #

Many happy returns Dg - you're a year younger than me :)

Red Cardinal | 30.09.17 - 8:00 a.m. | #

As part of the Vintage weekend, they've added a few programmes to iPlayer - including the great Blood on the Carpet documentary about the mid-90s clear out. You can find them at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05hggxj

martin | 30.09.17 - 9:14 a.m. | #

Did anyone else listen to short wave and Radio Moscow and the numbers stations?

Antipodean | 30.09.17 - 9:41 a.m. | #

I well remember the Tuesday chart rundown; having no access to a radio at school it was an excited dash home in the afternoon as my mum would have written it down for me, interspersed with the odd question mark where she hadn't properly heard the name of the band or song! Again around that time I got my first cassette recorder, so on the Sunday top 40 show I would position the microphone in front of the speaker of the only radio in the house at the time, put my fingers to my lips to shush everyone and press record for evey song I liked.

As time progressed, in the late 70s / early 80s I switched to John Peel (and sometimes Kid Jensen whose show I reacll preceded John's) in the evening and started to abhor the daytime offerings. I know I'm not the only one whose musical tastes have been moulded by the great man.

Tim | 30.09.17 - 9:42 a.m. | #

Late 70s through to early 90s for me, when I drifted over to Radio 4

Andrew | 30.09.17 - 10:13 a.m. | #

I recall when I lived at home listening to R1 in contrast to R2 which was the pater's preference...somehow, when I left home, radio stopped being something other than something I listened to in the car...and inevitably, when I moved to London, that meant the local regional stations not R1.

B | 30.09.17 - 10:59 a.m. | #

I'm afraid it all went wrong for me when DJ's started having "crews" and "posses". That increased the amount of drivel going on and the same applies to Radio 2. Steve Wright is by far the biggest culprit, then and now, and I really can't abide his show, even the very few infrequent snippets I inadvertently catch. They seem very peased with themselves and find everything much funnier than it is. Then again, his listening figures may prove I am in the minority.

Dave | 30.09.17 - 12:08 p.m. | #

We used to listen to Steve Wright and his 'Sunday Lovesongs' years ago, but got fed up with his constant playing of 'this is Sunday Lovesongs' promo every five minutes (or seemed like it).

Bill Matters | 30.09.17 - 2:49 p.m. | #

John - wikipedia suggests radio 1 switched to fm in the late 80's and it was certainly on fm when i started listening in the early 90's

whiff | 30.09.17 - 3:36 p.m. | #

I've always loved radio but was only a Radio One listener for a relatively short period.

Capital was my music station of choice in the 80s but I used to tune away in the evenings to fare from further afield - DJs like Rod Lucas on Radio Kent, later Caesar on Invicta.

I tired of Capital as the repetition became too much. Chris Tarrant played Phil Collins once too often. Many though hail that era as Capital's golden period.

I eventually arrived at Radio One - via the original Radio Five - when it was 'Bannistered'. Although Radio One wasn't his best radio work, it was the arrival of Danny Baker that made me listen. Kevin Greening was also excellent, a sad loss.

My Radio One period was basically the 'Britpop' years when the station seemed to be in step with the music I liked and had smart, witty presenters. 'The Nations Favourite' by Simon Garfield is a must read about Radio One and this period.

Ned | 30.09.17 - 3:56 p.m. | #

I'm guessing I must be a similar age to Ned as my earliest radio memories are Simon Bates' 'Our Tune' and listening to Mark and Lard on the original radio 5. It was Chris Evans that probably got me listening regularly to Radio 1 but it was only really Simon Mayo and Mark and Lard that I really enjoyed listening to; once they left I drifted away to Virgin and Five Live.

Simon Mayo seems to have been somewhat overlooked in the celebrations of both Radio 1 and 2 but I think he is an absolutely brilliant broadcaster; it also feels like I have been listening to and enjoying him for most of my life.

dg writes: Here's an hour of Mr Mayo (available from Monday morning). And here's TV Cream's excellent tribute.

whiff | 30.09.17 - 5:12 p.m. | #

I remember (from the 8Os) the jingle "275 and 285 and Stereo VHF". Although initially the VHF (FM) offering was very limited - the chart show, for one, on the frequency used the rest of the time by Radio 2. I think it got a permanent FM location in London in the late 8Os, before eventually getting one nationwide.

Agree that GLR was brilliant, circa 1990 especially. Chris Morris at his anarchic innovative tricks, Annie Nightingale too.

Favourite Radio One DJ though: gotta be Peel.

Dominic H | 30.09.17 - 5:23 p.m. | #

Capital was at its best in the 1970s, with Roger Scott, Nicky Horne and Kenny Everett.

I liked the Saturday DLT show on Radio 1; I won a couple of "phoneless cords"!

In our prefects' common room at Harrow County we had a record player and a selection of records - not necessarily the owners' favourites! The most played track was probably Bike from Pink Floyd's Relics - we used it to warn of a warning when there was a teacher on the way.

Stephen Bird | 30.09.17 - 7:21 p.m. | #

All I remember about Radio 1 was Ed Stewpot Stewart's Junior Choice, and Tony Blackburn.

By the very early 1970s though I'd defected to Capital (Kenny Everett, Dave Cash) and only reverted back to Radio one during the long summer holidays at the Grandparents in Cornwall.

Cornish Cockney | 30.09.17 - 10:16 p.m. | #

I'm genuinely surprised by how many people are saying how much they enjoyed Capital Radio, which I detested, but that may be because I wasn't listening in its 70s heyday.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 30.09.17 - 10:22 p.m. | #

Being 5 years old at the time, I have no recollection of the Home Service, Light and Third ceasing, but they remained on the radio dial along with Lyon, Hilversum, Athlone etc. for long after. I do have vivid memories of Radio Caroline and the Radio 1 1967-72 tranche. I still have several long-play reel to reel spools of the Sunday afternoon chart show, and the odd John Peel, waiting in vain to be reunited with a functioning open-deck tape recorder.

Radio 1 was the background music to my childhood leisure time, but got increasingly diluted by Capital and yes - LBC in the 1970's. In my teen years, LBC was the go-to place for current affairs with Bob Holness and Doug Cameron's "AM" very much out-classing R4's "Today". Hard to imagine now - I can't bear more than 10 seconds of LBC these days. Fond memories too of very learned local history spots with (I think) Peter Jackson. I even called a phone-in once, pleading for local government to get a grip on London's filthy and dilapidated transport system.

Back on the music, those early R1 years coincided with a period in which something really new and fresh came along with breathtaking frequency, whereas now (since the run of grunge/grime/garage/gangster) it all seems same-y same-y with extremely slow rates of innovation and novelty... or did all the old gits always say that back then too?

5 at the time | 30.09.17 - 10:55 p.m. | #

Capital was a change from Radio 1 when it started (1973 or 74)and it may have seemed so good partly because, unlike now, there wasn't anything else. R1 and Capital were the only stations playing current pop music during the day. Luxembourg broadcast in English in the evening but had poor reception.

amber | 01.10.17 - 5:01 a.m. | #

Capital Radio may have been so good simply because it was the sole commercial music station in London (?) back then, an alternative to Radio 1, perhaps this is why GLR/Radio London had to up it's game, yes LBC was good then too.

It probably fell apart with more competition when the government changed the rules in the 80s, then LBC (and Capital?) split into FM and AM stations, the horrible Talksport came along.

Same happened on TV with the demise of GMT and LWT, the ITV group produces little that you would make an effort to watch nowadays.

Still anon | 01.10.17 - 11:48 a.m. | #

> I'm genuinely surprised by how many people are saying how much they enjoyed Capital Radio…

But Capital was undoubtedly popular in London at the time, in terms of ratings. Whereas, more paradoxically, ratings seemed to show that almost no one listened to the much-loved much-missed GLR.

Rich G | 01.10.17 - 1:12 p.m. | #

I suppose GLR, as such, though, was short-lived: it had been the largely unloved and unlistenened to BBC Radio London up until - when the very late 80s I think?

Dominic H | 01.10.17 - 7:05 p.m. | #

In the mid-late 70s Capital Radio was generally excellent - from Graham Dene's chirpy breakfast show, all the way to Nicky Horne's "Your Mother Wouldn't like it" 9pm Rock Show.. which of course had to give way to Peel worship at 10pm

Frank F | 01.10.17 - 9:07 p.m. | #

70's and 80's had to be Capital - my last port of call would be Radio 1

Dave B | 01.10.17 - 10:26 p.m. | #

Thank you for your 17 comments about Capital Radio.

(I hated it, just saying... each to their own)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.10.17 - 10:44 p.m. | #

Maybe the difference is that you were in Oxford and (some of) the rest of us were in London?

dg writes: I was within tuning distance of Capital Radio for all of the 1970s and the majority of the 1980s. Still much preferred Radio 1.

Part of Capital's attraction for me was that I saw the 'Capital Tower' on Euston Road every day, and used to regularly see the presenters going in and out, and they were invariably friendly. And there were often freebies given out from the foyer. Not the same now their HQ is in Leicester Square.

There were also 'good works' started by Capital, like 'Help a London Child', and I'm pretty sure it was through Capital that I became involved in the early years of the expanded 'Crisis at Christmas'. It was much more than just a radio station.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 02.10.17 - 9:45 a.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy