1998 in British radio

Overview of the events of 1998 in British radio
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This is a list of events in British radio during 1998.

Events

January

February

March

April

  • 1 April – By way of an April Fool's stunt, Kix 96 breakfast show presenter Nic Tuff calls South African president Nelson Mandela pretending to be British prime minister Tony Blair.
  • 4 April – BBC Radio 3's weekday breakfast programme On Air begins broadcasting at the weekend.[4]
  • 6 April – Extensive schedule changes are made to BBC Radio 4. These include an earlier start to the day – 5:30 am instead of 6 am – and an earlier, 6 am, start to Today. Many long standing programmes are axed as part of the shake-up[5] and arts magazine Kaleidoscope is replaced by Front Row.
  • 12 April – A Sunday evening episode of The Archers is introduced.
  • 13 April – After nearly 30 years on air, Dance Band Days is broadcast on BBC Radio 2 for the final time.
  • April – After just seven months on air, East Midlands station Radio 106 is rebranded as Century 106 and relaunched with a new team of presenters.[6]

May

  • No events.

June

July

August

  • August – Virgin Radio launches a new Saturday afternoon football show called Rock 'n' Roll Football.[8]

September

October

  • 2 October – John Dunn presents his final drivetime show on Radio 2 after 22 years.[9]
  • 4 October – On Radio 2, David Jacobs presents Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century, a 13-part documentary about the life and career of Frank Sinatra.[10] The series concludes on 27 December.[11]
  • 5 October
    • A major overhaul of the BBC Radio 2 schedule sees many new faces joining the network, including the singer Katrina Leskanich and former Radio 1 presenter Lynn Parsons, who present overnight shows on weekdays and weekends respectively. Johnnie Walker also joins Radio 2 as a regular presenter hosting the afternoon drivetime show (Monday to Thursday). Sally Boazman becomes the station's first official traffic presenter.
    • One hour of Virgin Radio's breakfast show starts simulcasting on Sky One. When a track is played on the radio, viewers see the song's video.[12]
  • 9 October – Des Lynam joins Radio 2 to present a weekly drivetime programme on Fridays.[13]
  • 12 October – Chris Moyles is promoted from the Early Breakfast show to present the Radio 1 Early Drive show, between 4 pm and 5:45 pm on weekdays (later being extended to 3 – 5:45 pm). He replaces Dave Pearce, and is replaced on Early Breakfast by Scott Mills.
  • 15 October – Launch of In Our Time, a weekly series of historical, scientific, literary or philosophical discussions between Melvyn Bragg and three academics on BBC Radio 4. It will pass its 1000th edition in 2023.[14]

November

December

Unknown

Station debuts

Programme debuts

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

  • In Business (1983–Present)
  • Sounds of the 60s (1983–Present)
  • Loose Ends (1986–Present)

1990s

Ending this year

  • 3 April
  • 27 December – Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century (1998)

Closing this year

Deaths

See also

References

  1. ^ "Surprise call for PM". BBC News. BBC. 21 January 1998. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  2. ^ Aizlewood, John (20 December 2021). "Ken Bruce and the creators of BBC Radio 2's PopMaster: 'There's no such thing as a difficult question'". i. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  3. ^ Bannister's time as controller of Radio 1 is documented in Simon Garfield's book The Nation's Favourite.
  4. ^ "Schedule – BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  5. ^ "BBC News | UK | New image for BBC Radio 4". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Radio Authority Century 106 file". Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  7. ^ "BBC unveils digital radio". BBC News. BBC. 9 July 1998. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. ^ Evans 2010.
  9. ^ "John Dunn – BBC Radio 2 – 2 October 1998 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Frank Sinatra: the Voice of the Century – BBC Radio 2 – 4 October 1998 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Frank Sinatra: theVoice of the Century – BBC Radio 2 – 27 December 1998 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  12. ^ Lacey, Hester (4 October 1998). "A bumper breakfast, with ulcers". The Independent. London. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  13. ^ "Des Lynam – BBC Radio 2 – 9 October 1998 – BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – In Our Time – Episodes (Available now)".
  15. ^ "About". talkSPORT. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
  16. ^ "Launch dates and frequencies" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  17. ^ Collins, Steve (25 May 2023). "Cheshire's Silk Radio celebrates 25 years on-air with DAB launch". Radio Today. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Kingdom FM goes dough…nuts to celebrate 25th birthday". Radio Today. 7 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  19. ^ "XTRA-am waves goodbye after 9 years" (Subscription required). Birmingham Evening Mail. Trinity Mirror. 30 May 1998. Retrieved 17 April 2012.

Sources

  • Evans, Chris (2010). Memoirs of a Fruitcake. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-734568-7.