please empty your brain below
Fascinating, thanks. A relic of the MW days will live on as Absolute’s text-in number is still 81215.

andy c | 22.01.23 - 7:56 a.m. | #

30th September 1967 - Not forgetting the very first piece of music that Radio One listeners would have heard - George Martin's Theme One. This was used to open and close the station each day for many years.

James Bunting | 22.01.23 - 8:00 a.m. | #

I did not expect you to write about this. The demise of MW and LW broadcast radio. As a child what fun tuning the the dial and hearing AFN, Luxembourg, Monte Carlo Radio and other exotic stations.

The pleasure of making a crystal set and getting radio for free. (No battery or mains power needed)

I expect eventually FM and DAB will also close as everything will be "On Line" Cheaper for the broadcaster more expensive for the receivers.

John | 22.01.23 - 8:25 a.m. | #

Is medium wave the same as AM, and if so why did some radio stations promote themselves as MW and others AM? I remember Radio 1 MW but I also remember in the 80s in London when Capital would split its output at weekends with pop on 95.8FM and golden oldies (Capital Gold) on 1548AM. The split was soon made full time with two permanent stations on the different bands.

chunderwagon | 22.01.23 - 8:52 a.m. | #

You missed mention of the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 when documenting the change from the Light Programme to Radio 1.

Steve | 22.01.23 - 9:52 a.m. | #

I must have been so excited as a 10 year old that I was listerning when Theme No.1 one came on. If you have never heard it before you can find the oringinal on YouTube.

Mike | 22.01.23 - 9:52 a.m. | #

I feel a little bit sad now, however I haven't tuned into a non-DAB radio station for around 12 years, so didn't know about the shut down.

Still Anon | 22.01.23 - 10:11 a.m. | #

Morning, cool Spocks Mum plaque, love it. My recent new kitchen radio listening pleasure is music station Maritime Radio that I hear on Frequency Modulation (I think that's FM's name correct) and find very congenial in all listening respects. Comes from Greenwich way. It has overtaken the digital presets on the radio and assumed dominance. And I'm a fussy listener. I'm glad Ke.n Bruce is throwing in the towel he deserves a decent long retirement

Noel | 22.01.23 - 10:22 a.m. | #

I listened to Virgin 1215 from its launch through to its change to FM in 1995. Listened to Nick Abbott every night as he ripped the shit out of everyone and got taken off air for a couple of weeks. He'd be cancelled these days.

daveid76 | 22.01.23 - 10:24 a.m. | #

AM is amplitude modulation, FM is frequency modulation, these terms refer to the way the audio signal is applied to the radio wave. FM is less affected by interference from other things like nearby cars and outer space. AM needs simpler equipment to hear the sound, e.g. Crystal sets, or occasionally tooth fillings.
Long wave, medium wave, short wave, Very High Frequency and Ultra High Frequency all represent segments of the frequency/wavelength spectrum. Higher frequencies correspond to shorter wavelengths. AM is used on SW, MW and LW, FM is used on VHF, and UHF is used for TV.

Malcolm of Kent | 22.01.23 - 10:54 a.m. | #

Thanks for that Malcolm - I've never know what all the different frequencies meant. Long wave and medium wave were just terms the older generation used, growing up with AM & FM myself.

Never heard Theme Number One - quite stirring!

Cornish Cockney | 22.01.23 - 11:11 a.m. | #

being a youngster (almost 40) I only ever knew AM stations by their frequencies, not their wavelengths. Still a surprisingly large amount of MW stations, but as far as I can tell only Radio 4 on 198 LW (and RTE1 on 252, broadcast from Ireland)

Al__S | 22.01.23 - 11:15 a.m. | #

Honoured you marked this. I made that 10 minute closedown sequence.

Dan | Homepage | 22.01.23 - 11:21 a.m. | #

And excellent it is too, thanks Dan!
Link updated :)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 22.01.23 - 11:31 a.m. | #

The only time I would have listened on 247 would have been to TMS before it moved to LW.

I'm a 275 285 era Radio 1 listener. "Mike Read, Mike Read, 275 and 285. Mike Read, Mike Read, BBC Radio 1".

Mikey C | 22.01.23 - 11:50 a.m. | #

Ken Bruce isn't retiring - he's moving to Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio. It can be found on the former frequencies of a variety of independent local radio stations around the country (including, in London, 105.8FM, the old home of Absolute Radio).

James Cridland notes that the annual cost of broadcasting on 1215AM could probably pay for five Ken Bruces.

martin | 22.01.23 - 12:17 p.m. | #

I remember when the Light programme started medium wave AM broadcasts, it was slightly better reception in London that the Long wave signal. It took some people time to get used to the change, I think they thought the switch marked LW on there radio was for Light (program) Wireless!

I went to the Brookmans Park medium wave transmission site when it was operated by the BBC and they held an open day. The Light Programme and the Home service were transmitted from there at the time. Big transmitters with water cooling for the valves!

In 1955 the Light, Home and Third programmes became available in London on VHF FM from a transmission site at Wrotham in Kent (which is still operating) but most listening was still done on MW and LW as the early VHF FM radio sets were not very sensitive and you normally needed to erect an FM aerial on the roof.

Many countries have ceased all MW and LW transmissions and the bands are getting empty.
What will the unused frequencies be used for in the future, maybe give amateur radio enthusiasts some more spectrum.

The only new MW AM station in the UK is Radio Caroline which can be heard is some areas on 648 kHz (464m) as OFCOM has allowed them to use that old frequency which was once the BBC World Service Europe frequency. They are only on low power but are using some of the old BBC aerial site.

The MW AM transmitters use a lot of power as some are running 25 kilowatts or more, and electricty is not cheap at the moment

John | 22.01.23 - 12:40 p.m. | #

As Steely Dan remarked "no static at all". Must go and have a listen now.

Mike | 22.01.23 - 4:25 p.m. | #

Rather than "multiple FM frequencies", as far as I know the only FM frequencies Absolute has ever broadcast on are 105.8 in London, which started in 1995 when it was still Virgin, plus 105.2 in the West Midlands. That former Planet Rock and previously Kerrang! frequency was added in 2015. Both now carry GHR.

ap | 22.01.23 - 4:53 p.m. | #

If anyone here is older and misses what Radio 2 used to be - or has perhaps older parents who feel their listening preferences are less catered-for these days - I can recommend the internet station 'Serenade Radio'. My Mum and Dad, in their 80s, really like it, and I enjoy listening to it with them and hearing their stories which the tunes tend to bring up. No connection / satisfied listeners etc etc.

mark addy | 22.01.23 - 9:39 p.m. | #

I was very pleased to get allocated locker 247 in my last job but none of my colleagues understood why - they were all far too young to have heard Radio 1 on 247m!

Steve Rochford | 23.01.23 - 3:23 a.m. | #

I recall in late 1978 being issued with a number of small, numbered semi-translucent stickers that one was supposed to stick onto the radio's tuning dial to indicate the new location of the moved stations. I think Radio 1 (which was all I listened to back then) played "Some Enchanted Wavelengths" by The King's Singers rather a lot, which made some of the newer tunings memorable.

dg writes: one of the links is to "Some Enchanted Wavelengths".

bob | 23.01.23 - 9:49 p.m. | #











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