Radio ‘shock-jocks’A B C D E F G H IJKL M N O P R S T U VXYZWstations ‘under the general supervision of an
independent broadcasting authority’.
Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 5
Live (BBC) Radios 1 to 4 have broadcast in their
present form since 1967; Radio 5 took to the air
in August 1990, to be revamped into Radio 5
Live in March 1994. Prior to 1967 there was the
Home Service, catering for news, plays, talks,
comedy shows and magazine programmes – the
Talk channel; the Light Programme, largely for
popular music and entertainment; and the Th ird
Programme serving the world of classical music
and drama. During the 1960s pirate radio
invaded the airways with pop music, which
attracted large audiences; the Marine Broadcast-
ing (Offenders) Act, 1967 made such stations
illegal. BBC’s Radio 1 was created to meet the
new demand and successfully competes with
commercial radio stations for the attention of
popular music fans.
Radio 2 took on a similar if not identical role
to that of the Light Programme, Radio 3 that
of the Th ird Programme, and Radio 4 became
Britain’s premier talk radio channel. For its
richness, diversity and sheer quality of output,
Radio 4 must rank among the world’s fi nest radio
services. Faced with competition from classic
fm Radio, Radio 3 has proved itself responsive to
audience needs without sacrifi cing quality.
Radio 5 was to be a speech-led service catering
for the needs of children and young people, shar-
ing airtime with news and sport. Just when this
pioneering new channel was beginning to win
listeners and produce programmes of original-
ity, the BBC abandoned it and opted for Radio
5 Live, more general in orientation, often cross-
ing lines with Radio 4 but in terms of its sports
coverage, unexcelled. See bbc digital. See also
topic guide under broadcasting.
Radio: Rokker Radio The UK’s first radio
programme for gypsies and travellers, broadcast
by the BBC’s Three Counties Radio, covering
Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Bucking-
hamshire and then extending to BBC Radio
Cambridgeshire, BBC Radio Essex and BBC
Radio Norfolk. Rokker Radio closed in 2008, but
traveller news and views are still obtainable at
Travellers’ Times Online launched on Interna-
tional Roma Day, 8 April 2009.
Radio ‘shock-jocks’ Populist radio talk hosts
trading in strong, sometimes sensationalist
opinions, generally taking Rightist viewpoints
and purporting to speak on behalf of ordinary
citizens; to be heard mostly in the US and
Australia, where public service broadcast-
ing (psb) regulations are less restricting than,convincingly acceptable than on the stage; at the
same time, because its stage is contained by no
proscenium arch or screen-frame, because its
‘stage-set’ is actually the mind of the listener,
radio also lends itself successfully to epic drama:
Shakespeare can be marvellous on radio.
Among writers who took an early interest in
radio as a serious art form was the Irish poet
Louis MacNeice (1907–65). His verse plays
broadcast during and after the Second World
War, such as Th e Story of My Death (1943) and
Th e Dark Tower (1946), impressively explored
the potential of radio, while in 1953 another poet,
Welshman Dylan Th omas (1914–53), gave to the
world one of the best known and most loved
plays for radio, Under Milk Wood. Th e play was
fi rst broadcast on 25 January 1954, with a distin-
guished all-Welsh cast and produced by Douglas
Cleverdon.
For thirty years Val Gielgud as Head of
Radio Drama at the BBC guided the evolution
of the radio play, himself producing and writ-
ing. Throughout its history, radio drama has
witnessed a strong tradition of able producers
such as Cleverdon, Lancelot Sieveking, Donald
McWinnie and Alfred Bradley, nurturing writers
who later became famous: Harold Pinter, Stan
Barstow, Giles Cooper, Allan Prior, Alun Owen,
William Trevor, Henry Livings, Peter Terson,
Alan Plater, David Rudkin and Tom Stoppard.
Despite its creative potential, radio as a
dramatic medium has acquired less status, and
been paid less attention than other, more glam-
orous, media; and less than it deserves. However,
the BBC continues to broadcast between 200
and 300 radio plays a year, classical drama as
well as new works. See television drama;
‘war of the worlds’; web or online drama.
Radio: Independent radio; Radio Luxem-
bourg; Radio Normandy See commercial
radio: origins.
Radio Northsea pirate radio station, UK,
which began broadcasting off the coast of Essex
immediately prior to the General Election of
- Mindful of the Labour government’s
antipathy to commercial radio and the Conser-
vatives’ support for it, Radio Northsea broadcast
pro-Tory propaganda at an election in which the
18–21 age group were voting for the fi rst time.
Many constituencies in London and the
south-east were marginal seats. Labour lost the
election; in the constituencies nearest Radio
Northsea, the swing against Labour was great-
est. At the Royal Opening of Parliament on 2
July 1970, the Queen’s Speech confi rmed that
legislation would be introduced for local radio