A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Radio 1, a British national radio station which began broadcasting in September 1967.
1960s 1967 30 September – BBC Radio 1 launches at 7am, replacing the BBC Light Programme, with Tony Blackburn presenting the first show. He welcomes listeners to "the exciting sound of Radio 1" and then plays the station's first track: The Move's "Flowers in the Rain". Other presenters of the launch team include John Peel, Stuart Henry, Terry Wogan, Jimmy Young, Dave Cash, Simon Dee, David Symonds, Tommy Vance, Emperor Rosko, Kenny Everett and Ed Stewart. Saturday Club, Junior Choice, Easy Beat, Pick of the Pops and Radio 1 Breakfast are broadcast on Radio 1 for the first time. 1 October – The first Peel Session takes place. Aired as part of his new show Top Gear, the session features psychedelic rock band Tomorrow.BBC Programme Index – Radio 1 1 October 1967 2 November – Dave Lee Travis joins, presenting the Thursday lunchtime show Pop North.
1968 27 January – Tony Blackburn presents the breakfast show on Saturdays for the final time. Rather than replace him, Radio 1 simulcasts the entirety of Breakfast Special. 2 June – Jimmy Savile joins, presenting the Savile's Travels show.
1969 18 January – Saturday Club is broadcast for the last time. The show is replaced by Everett is Here, hosted by Kenny Everett. 26 April – Johnnie Walker joins the station for the first time. Noel Edmonds joins, Simon Dee leaves.
1970s 1970 5 April – The In Concert brand comes into use for the station's live and recorded concerts. The station has already aired concerts since the start of the year, as part of The Sunday Show, with both of these shows being hosted by John Peel. 20 July – Kenny Everett is dismissed after making remarks about the wife of the Transport Minister's driving test and for publicly criticising the BBC. His Saturday morning show is taken over by Noel Edmonds. 19 August – Bob Harris joins to present the Wednesday edition of Sounds of the 70s until 9 September. 9 October – Round Table, a weekly discussion of the week's new releases, begins. The show's first presenter is Emperor Rosko. 19 October – David Symonds leaves the station. He is replaced as the Monday presenter of Sounds of the 70s by Bob Harris, who joined the station two months earlier.
1971 Radio 1 launches its first promotion badges using the slogan Go Radio 1 Better on 247. 9 September – Dave Cash leaves.
1972 9 January – Radio 1 airs its first documentary: The Elvis Presley Story, narrated by Wink Martindale. 31 March – Terry Wogan leaves the station to join Radio 2, and is replaced as the weekday afternoon presenter by Alan Freeman. 24 September – The final edition of Pick of the Pops as the current chart show is broadcast. It would be revived in 1989, this time as a retro chart show. 1 October – A new show, called Solid Gold Sixty, replaces Pick of the Pops as the current chart show. It is hosted by Tom Browne, who joins the station.
1973 8 April – Kenny Everett briefly returns to the station, before leaving again in September to move to Capital Radio. 1 June – Tony Blackburn presents his final daily breakfast show on Radio 1, having fronted it since the station went on air in 1967. 4 June – Noel Edmonds takes over as presenter of Radio 1's breakfast show, with Tony Blackburn moving to the mid-morning slot. He replaces Jimmy Young, who leaves the station to join Radio 2. One of the new features is The Golden Hour, an hour of records that charted in the same year. 27 June – Tommy Vance leaves the station for a while to join Capital Radio. 23 July – The first Radio 1 Roadshow takes place, broadcast from Newquay, Cornwall. It is hosted by Alan Freeman. 10 September – Newsbeat bulletins air for the first time and Richard Skinner joins the station, as one of the new show's presenters. 5 October – Paul Gambaccini joins, as a reporter on the new show Rockspeak. It airs as the Friday edition of Sounds of the 70s, and is presented by Michael Wale.
1974 17 March – Solid Gold Sixty is broadcast for the final time. It is replaced the following week by a one-hour show which just features the Top 20 singles chart. 24 March – Paul Burnett joins as the presenter of a new Sunday morning show, called All There is to Hear. In addition, a weekly request show is introduced, with Dave Lee Travis being the first presenter. Radio 1 hosts its first Fun Day.
1975 1 January – Stuart Henry leaves the station, with his Wednesday show being taken over by Annie Nightingale, and his Saturday morning show by Emperor Rosko, whose show, formerly heard at lunchtime, is extended to three hours. 6 January – Broadcasting hours are reduced due to budget cuts at the BBC. All evening programming stops on Radio 1 and the station simulcasts Radio 2 every evening from 7pm. Consequently, Sounds of the 70s ends and Bob Harris leaves the station for a while. Also, the weekday afternoon show, presented by David Hamilton, is broadcast on both stations and John Peel's show is moved to the drivetime slot. 11 January – Alan Freeman broadcasts a live performance by Pink Floyd which featured a performance of The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety. It was recorded at the Empire Pool on 16 November 1974. 25 September – The final edition of Top Gear is broadcast. 27 September – Paul Gambaccini presents his first American chart countdown show. 28 September – Annie Nightingale replaces Dave Lee Travis as the host of the Sunday request show, which is renamed The W1A 4WW Show. 29 September – John Peel's show moves back to late evenings. For this, Radio 1 uses Radio 2's VHF/FM frequencies on weeknights again (having previously done so from October 1971 to December 1974, for shows hosted by Peel, Annie Nightingale and Bob Harris among others). This one-hour show on weeknights is the only time of the evening that Radio 1 broadcasts its own shows and the station now ends weekday transmissions an hour earlier at 6pm. Mike Smith joins.
1976 JAM Creative Productions of Dallas, Texas begins a 20-year relationship with Radio 1 when it produces its first jingle package for the station. JAM also created Radio 2's jingles. Previously, Radio 1's jingles had been produced by PAMS (PAMS was also based in Dallas and the company was purchased by JAM Productions). 2 May – Radio 1 launches Playground, a "magazine show of special interest to young listeners". The new show incorporates Young Ideas in Action which had previously been broadcast as part of Junior Choice. 2 July – Johnnie Walker leaves the station for a while to work in America. His weekday lunchtime show is taken over by Paul Burnett. 11 July – Simon Bates replaces Paul Burnett as the presenter for All There is to Hear. This is Bates' first regular show on Radio 1, but he was heard on the station as far back as 1972, first as a Radio 2 presenter of shows simulcast on Radio 1, then starting in November 1975, as a stand-in presenter. 18 September – Emperor Rosko leaves the station to return to America. His Saturday morning show is shortned back to two hours, with David Jensen joining the station, while the Friday Round Table show that Rosko presented leaves the airwaves for a while, as Dave Lee Travis' show It's D.L.T. OK! gains a Friday edition. 25 September – Stuart Colman joins the station to host a rock show called It's Rock 'n' Roll. December – The first Festive Fifty is revealed by John Peel.
1977 4 April – Radio 1 extends its weeknight broadcasting hours. The station's daytime weekday show are extended by an hour, to 7pm, and the John Peel show is also extended by an hour to two hours. Consequently, Radio 1 now borrows Radio 2's VHF/FM frequencies for two hours each weeknight, between 10pm and midnight. 20 November – Peter Powell joins the station to take over All There is to Hear from Simon Bates. This is not his first appearance on the station, however, as he presented eight shows from 1971 to 1972. 28 November – From that day, the station has its own all-day weekday schedule with the launch of a new afternoon show presented by Tony Blackburn. David Hamilton's show, simulcast on both Radio 1 and Radio 2 until then, moves to Radio 2 only. Blackburn is replaced on mid-mornings by Simon Bates. Consequently, Radio 1 now has its own all-day schedule on weekdays. However, the station continues to simulcast Radio 2 each night from 7pm, apart from John Peel's weekday late night show at 10pm.
1978 Mike Read joins and Mike Smith leaves the station for a while to join Capital Radio. 17 April – David Jensen replaces Dave Lee Travis as host of the weekday drivetime show, with his Saturday mid-morning slot being taken over by Adrian Juste, who joins the station. 28 April – Noel Edmonds presents the Radio 1 breakfast show for the final time. 2 May – Dave Lee Travis takes over as presenter of the Radio 1 breakfast show. 26 August – Alan Freeman leaves the station for a while to join Capital Radio. 12 November – The Sunday teatime chart show is extended from a Top 20 countdown to a Top 40 countdown. Simon Bates is the presenter, having taken over as host from Tom Browne earlier in the year. 13 November – The first edition of the medical magazine Stayin' Alive is broadcast. The new show is presented by David Jensen. 17 November – Tommy Vance, one of the station's original presenters, rejoins the station to present a new show, The Friday Rock Show. Consequently, John Peel is now on air four nights a week instead of five. 23 November – Radio 1 moves from 247m (1214 kHz) to 275 & 285m (1053 & 1089 kHz) medium wave as part of a plan to improve national AM reception and to conform with the Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975. 22 December – Industrial action at the BBC by the ABS union which started the previous day, extends to radio when the radio unions join their television counterparts by going on strike. It forces the BBC to merge its four national radio networks into one national radio station from 4pm named the BBC All Network Radio Service. The strike is settled shortly before 10pm on the same day with the unions and BBC management reaching an agreement at the government's industrial disputes arbitration service, Acas.
1979 29 January – Radio 1 begins its delayed weeknight mid-evening show with Andy Peebles joining the station to host it. It had originally been scheduled to launch on 13 November 1978, but was delayed as a result of trade union disputes. 26 August – Simon Bates steps down from Sunday Top 40 hosting. 2 September – Tony Blackburn replaces Simon Bates as host of the Sunday Top 40. 30 December – Annie Nightingale quits the presenting job of the Sunday request show. Her show is taken over by a three-person rotation, consisting of Stuart Colman, Paul Gambaccini, and John Peel, until it briefly leaves the airwaves in April 1980.
1980s 1980 5 January Tony Blackburn replaces Ed Stewart as host of Junior Choice, as Stewart leaves the station to join Radio 2. Steve Wright joins the station to present the Saturday evening show. 31 March – Radio 1's broadcast hours are cut back. The station starts broadcasting on weekdays an hour later and Saturday evening programming ends. The station simulcasts Radio 2 during this additional downtime until August, when Radio 1 closes down at 7:30pm, after In Concert, shown on Rock on Saturday, presented by Tommy Vance. 29 May – David Jensen leaves the station for a while to work for the Turner Broadcasting System WTBS cable superstation in Atlanta, Georgia. His drivetime show is taken over by Paul Gambaccini, Peter Powell and Newsbeat anchorman Richard Skinner during that period, before Powell permanently takes over the time slot on 1 September. In addition, Jensen is replaced on Stayin' Alive by Andy Peebles. 6 December – Andy Peebles interviews John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New York City, two days before Lennon is assassinated.
1981