Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies, 8th edition

Commercial radio (UK)

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awarded in 1973, to bring into existence the all-

news London Broadcasting Company (LBC) and

Capital Radio for London, with regional stations

following soon afterwards. Additional franchises

were granted by the IBA in 1981. By 1988 there

were forty independent local radio stations

(compared to twenty-seven BBC local stations).

Th e broadcasting act, 1990 separated out

the statutory overseeing of radio and televi-

sion, creating for TV (in place of the IBA) the

Independent Television Commission (ITC) and

for radio, the Radio Authority. These bodies

were empowered to assign frequencies, appoint

licensees and regulate programming and adver-

tising. Th ey were also required to draw up and

periodically review codes of practice concerning

programmes, advertising standards and other

matters. Both the Radio Authority and the ITC

ceased to exist with the inaguration of the Offi ce

of Communications (ofcom), born out of the

communications act (uk), 2003. See televi-

sion broadcasting.

Commercial radio (UK) Licensing of UK

commercial radio stations is the responsibility of

ofcom: the office of communications. By

the end of 2009 there were over 370 local radio

stations, more than 200 providing for dab (Digi-

tal Audio Broadcasting) reception and in excess

of 350 streaming their services for online recep-

tion. Th ere are three national stations, Absolute

Radio, Classic FM and TalkSPORT, and eighteen

regional stations such as Magic (London),

Galaxy (North East, Central Scotland and York-

shire), Real Radio (London, East Midlands, West

Midlands, North East and North West) and the

Coast (Solent).

The commercial radio landscape is subject

to flux as individual stations change hands;

ownership is rarely if ever local, more generally

constituting part of the portfolio of large media

companies. Global owns (at the time of writing)

Capital Radio (London), Galaxy, Heart (London,

East Midlands and West Midlands) and two

other London stations, LBC 97.3 and XFM, while

Bauer Media own Kerrang! (West Midlands),

Kiss (London, East of England and the Severn

Estuary) and Wave 105 (Solent). National Radio

Wales is part of the Town and Country holding.

Th e UK has the biggest dab network in the

world, with 103 transmitters and fi fty-one digital

stations available in London alone. Th e switcho-

ver date to dab is 2015. By 2009, 35 per cent of

the UK population had dab, though the fi gure

for adults with mobile-phone access to radio

transmission was 89 per cent.

While for most commercial radio stations

Commission (NBC), Columbia Broadcasting
Service (CBS), Mutual Broadcasting System
(MBS) and the American Broadcasting
Company (ABC), while the FCC worked towards
the growth of projects of educational interest.
Despite the BBC’s monopoly in the UK,
commercial broadcasts in English were trans-
mitted from abroad as early as 1925. Radio Paris,
broadcasting from the Eiff el Tower, presented a
fashion talk in English, sponsored by Selfridges.
Only three listeners wrote to the station to say
they had heard the broadcast, but the commer-
cial lobby was undaunted.
In the 1930s Captain L.F. Flugge, who had
arranged the fashion talk, formed and ran the
International Broadcasting Company. The
IBC’s Radio Normandy transmitted 15-minute
shows for several hours a day from 1931; by the
following year twenty-one British firms were
paying sponsorship money for commercial
broadcasting, and the UK was being beamed at
commercially from Th e Netherlands, Spain and
Luxembourg.
The IBC actually set up offices in Portland
Place, London, and had its own outside
broadcasting vehicles, each painted black with
‘Radio Normandy 274 metres’ on the side. An
important part of the company’s operation was
the International Broadcasting Club, formed in
1932, with free membership. By 1939, the IBC
had 320,000 members.
Radio Luxembourg began broadcasting on
1191 metres long wave in 1933, its fi rst two spon-
sors being Zam Buk and Bile Beans. Th ough the
UK Post Offi ce conducted a sustained campaign
to close down these commercial stations, it was
Adolf Hitler and the Second World War that
did the trick: many transmitters were either
destroyed by the Nazis or taken over. Radio
Luxembourg became Hitler’s major propa-
ganda weapon against the British.
Of the commercial stations, Luxembourg
was the only one to start up again after the war
(fi nally closing down in 1992). Th e fi rst accred-
ited commercial radio station on British soil was
Manx Radio, which began broadcasting in 1964.
With the election of the Conservatives in 1970,
the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications
produced a White Paper, An Alternative Service
of Broadcasting, proposing a network of about
sixty commercial stations under the Indepen-
dent Television Authority (to be renamed the
Independent Broadcasting Authority).
From the beginning, in 1972, local independent
radio was to broadcast on stereo VHF as well
as medium wave. The first franchises were