1975 in British radio

Events

January

• 1 January – BBC Radio Ulster launches as a full time station. It replaces what had been a Northern Ireland opt-out of BBC Radio 4.
• 6 January – BBC Radio 2's broadcasting hours are reduced due to budget cuts at the BBC. The former 5am2am schedule is reduced to a 6am start up Mondays to Saturdays with a 6:55am start up on Sundays. The station closes down at around 12:33am each day. Another consequence on the cuts is that David Hamilton's afternoon show is broadcast on both Radio 1 and Radio 2.
• 22 January – Radio Forth begins broadcasting to the Edinburgh area.

February

• No events.

March

• No events.

April

• No events.

May

• 19 May – Plymouth Sound begins broadcasting to the Plymouth area.

June

• 9 June – Proceedings in the Parliament of the United Kingdom are broadcast on radio for the first time.
• 24 June – Radio Tees begins broadcasting to the Teesside area.

July

• 3 July – Radio Trent beings broadcasting to the Nottingham area.

August

• No events.

September

• 16 September – Pennine Radio begins broadcasting to the Bradford area.
• 29 September – BBC Radio 2's broadcasting hours are further reduced when the station closes slightly earlier, concluding its day at around 12:10am Mondays to Fridays, and at 12:33am on Saturdays and Sundays.
• September – The first edition of The Sunday Request Show is broadcast on BBC Radio 1. Presented by Annie Nightingale, the show runs until the end of 1979 before being re-introduced as an evening programme in 1982.

October

• October – Kenny Everett plays Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" repeatedly on his radio show, forcing their record company to release it as a single.
• 14 October – Radio Victory begins broadcasting to the Portsmouth area.
• 28 October – Radio Orwell begins broadcasting to the Ipswich area.

November

• No events.

December

• No events.

Station debuts

• 1 January – BBC Radio Ulster
• 22 January – Radio Forth
• 19 May – Plymouth Sound
• 24 June – Radio Tees
• 3 July – Radio Trent
• 16 September – Pennine Radio
• 14 October – Radio Victory
• 28 October – Radio Orwell

Programme debuts

• 1 October – The News Huddlines on BBC Radio 2 (1975–2001)

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
• Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)
• Down Your Way (1946–1992)
• Letter from America (1946–2004)
• Woman's Hour (1946–Present)
• A Book at Bedtime (1949–Present)

1950s

• The Archers (1950–Present)
• The Today Programme (1957–Present)
• The Navy Lark (1959–1977)
• Sing Something Simple (1959–2001)
• Your Hundred Best Tunes (1959–2007)

1960s

• Farming Today (1960–Present)
• In Touch (1961–Present)
• The Men from the Ministry (1962–1977)
• Petticoat Line (1965–1979)
• The World at One (1965–Present)
• The Official Chart (1967–Present)
• Just a Minute (1967–Present)
• The Living World (1968–Present)
• The Organist Entertains (1969–2018)

1970s

• PM (1970–Present)
• Start the Week (1970–Present)
• Week Ending (1970–1998)
• You and Yours (1970–Present)
• I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (1972–Present)
• Good Morning Scotland (1973–Present)
• Hello Cheeky (1973–1979)
• Kaleidoscope (1973–1998)
• Newsbeat (1973–Present)

Births

• January – Adam Rutherford, geneticist and science broadcaster
• 22 January – Rachel Burden, news presenter
• 24 January – Lucy Montgomery, comedy actress
• 25 February – Naga Munchetty, broadcast news presenter
• 31 March – Jonny Saunders, radio sports reporter, presenter and commentator
• 1 April – Suzy Klein, arts broadcast presenter
• 25 July – Margaret Cabourn-Smith, comedy actress
• 31 July – Stephanie Hirst, radio presenter
• 23 September – Chris Hawkins, radio presenter
• 20 November – Jason Mohammad, radio and television presenter
• 30 November – Richard Bacon, broadcast presenter
• 15 December – Ayesha Hazarika, Scottish broadcast journalist, political adviser and comedian
• Catherine Shepherd, comedy actress

Deaths

• 26 February – Denis Goodwin, comedy scriptwriter and radio presenter, suicide (born 1929)
• 3 March – Sandy MacPherson, theatre organist (born 1897)
• 4 March – Gillie Potter, comedian (born 1887)
• 3 April – Jacques Brown, radio comedy producer (born 1900)
• 10 November – William Hardcastle, radio news presenter (born 1918)

References

References

1. [http://www.transdiffusion.org/rmc/reference/ilrdates.php Radiomusications: Radio Reference: Independent Local Radio Stations (TBS Editors)] {{webarchive. link. (2010-11-14 ; accessed 18 February 2010)
2. (9 June 1975). "1975: First live broadcast of Parliament". BBC News.
3. Chiu, David. (2005-12-27). "Unconventional Queen Hit Still Rocks After 30 Years". The New York Times.
4. Martin, Roy. (10 February 2025). "Celebration planned for 50th anniversary of Plymouth Sound launch". Radio Today.
5. Martin, Roy. (19 May 2025). "Original Radio Tees team to mark 50th anniversary since launch". Radio Today.