Radio Moments - Clips

Snow's great news for local radio. Whatever the usual station allegiances, you can bank on the fact that you might attract at least some level of 'curiosity cume' from an audience hungry for information or just seeking to wallow in a great English drama.

The timing of such conditions were a little awry for BBC Radio Brighton, coming some weeks before its official launch in February 1968. Little wonder then that the station chose to launch, in a limited way, prematurely.

On 8th December 1967, with local residents trapped in offices and schools, the BBC's Frank Gillard asked the Post Office (which controlled transmissions and related matters back then) for an early start. The Light Programme even gave the fledgling service an excited mention and the Pavilion studio went live.

It seemed to be due to an inadvertent oversight that a Christian radio station could not hold a radio licence, so there was considerable joy for the pioneers when, at last, a station like Premier Radio could launch. Hear here the countdown at Battersea Park in 1995, and then the voice of Peter Meadows , in conversation with the then Programme Controller, Mark Seaman.

Surprise election results are nothing new. In 1970, the Conservatives rallied a majority of 30 even though most opinion polls predicted a very different result, and bristling Ted Heath duly replaced the raincoat of Harold Wilson at Number Ten.

It was a noteworthy election as the voting age was lowered to 18 for the first time, and spotty youths hurried to the ballot box on the way to the pub.

For radio, if was significant too. This new Government was to announce it would introduce commercial radio, as it did with the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972. It was also an election where one radio station was to break the rules - and openly rally support for a party. Having been jammed by the British government, the pirate Radio Northsea International, anchored just off the coast, vented its frustration by urging voters to turn Right. Its impact was compounded by the tactical adoption of the fond 'Radio Caroline' brand, a name which elicited painful memories of the role Harold Wilson had seemingly played in taking away their favourite pirate music stations three years previously.

Whether or not the station did play an appreciable role in this political surprise is a matter for debate, as explored brilliantly in this documentary by Paul Rowley.

Another fond look back to this week in radio history, for the week ending June 12th 2015, as heard at the end of the week's RadioTalk podcast from Radio Today.