This is a timeline of BBC Local Radio.
1960s 1962 27 June – The Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting publishes its report and recommends that the BBC should extend its activities to the creation of local radio stations in order to prevent the introduction of commercial radio. The BBC runs a series of closed circuit experiments in local radio from a variety of locations across England.
1966 A government White Paper paves the way for the launch of a small number (eight) of two-year experimental BBC Local Radio stations.
1967 8 November – At 12:45pm, BBC Local Radio launches when the first station, BBC Radio Leicester, starts broadcasting. 15 November – BBC Radio Sheffield launches. 22 November – BBC Radio Merseyside launches.
1968 31 January – BBC Radio Nottingham launches and four days later, the station hosts the UK's first ever radio phone-in. 14 February – BBC Radio Brighton launches. 14 March – BBC Radio Stoke launches. 24 June – BBC Radio Leeds launches. 3 July – BBC Radio Durham launches.
1969 10 July – The BBC publishes a report called "Broadcasting in the Seventies" proposing replacing regional broadcasting on BBC Radio 4 with BBC Local Radio. BBC Local Radio is made permanent after the two-year experiment is judged to have been a success.
1970s 1970 4 September – BBC Radio Bristol launches. 10 September – BBC Radio Manchester launches. 6 October – BBC Radio London launches. 29 October – BBC Radio Oxford launches. 9 November – BBC Radio Birmingham launches. 18 December – BBC Radio Medway launches. 31 December – BBC Radio Solent and BBC Radio Teesside launch.
1971 2 January – BBC Radio Newcastle launches. 26 January – BBC Radio Blackburn launches. 25 February – BBC Radio Humberside launches. 29 April – BBC Radio Derby launches.
1972 25 August – When the government restricted the BBC to twenty local radio stations, the corporation responds by closing BBC Radio Durham. Its resources are transferred to Carlisle where BBC Radio Carlisle, now BBC Radio Cumbria, is formed. 2 September – BBC Local Radio stations begin broadcasting on MW. Prior to this, the stations have only been available on VHF.
1973 8 October – BBC Local Radio faces competition for the first time when the UK's first Independent Local Radio station, LBC, launches. 24 November – BBC Radio Carlisle launches.
1974 1 April – Following the formation of the county of Cleveland, BBC Radio Teesside is renamed BBC Radio Cleveland.
1975 No events.
1976 No events.
1977 No events.
1978 No events.
1979 No events.
1980s 1980 Summer – Ahead of the start of further expansion of BBC Local Radio, regional news and opt-out programming on BBC Radio 4 ends, apart from in the south west as this is now the only part of England still without any immediate plans for the launch of a BBC local station. 11 September – BBC Radio Norfolk launches. 11 November – BBC Radio Lincolnshire launches.
1981 4 July – BBC Radio Blackburn expands to cover all of Lancashire and is renamed accordingly. 23 November – BBC Radio Birmingham expands to cover the West Midlands, South Staffordshire, north Worcestershire and north Warwickshire and is relaunched as BBC Radio WM.
1982 15 and 16 March – BBC Local Radio starts broadcasting to the Channel Islands when BBC Radio Guernsey and BBC Radio Jersey launch. 1 May – BBC Radio Cambridgeshire launches. 25 May – BBC Radio Carlisle expands to cover all of Cumbria and is renamed accordingly and as part of the expansion, BBC Radio Furness launches as an opt-out service for the south of the county. 30–31 May – BBC Radio York is given permission to provide a temporary service to cover Pope John Paul II's visit to York. The service, which runs for just over 24 hours, operates on what will become BBC Radio York's MW frequency when the station launches the following year. 16 June – BBC Radio Northampton launches. 31 December – The final BBC Radio 4 regional opt-out ends when the final edition of Morning Sou'West is broadcast, ahead of the launches of BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Cornwall.
1983 17 January – BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Cornwall launch. 2 July – BBC Radio Medway is expanded to cover all of the county of Kent and is renamed accordingly. 4 July – BBC Radio York launches on a permanent basis. 22 October – BBC Radio Brighton is expanded to cover all of the county of Sussex and is renamed accordingly. 12 December – BBC Radio Bury launches as a trial community radio station. It opt-outs on MW from BBC Radio Manchester for a few hours each day. It is the first of five such trial stations, each operating in various parts of the Manchester area. Each station is on air for a few weeks.
1984 During the first half of 1984, the other community radio station trials take place. The station airdates are BBC Radio Bury (late 1983/early 1984), BBC Radio Oldham, BBC Radio Rochdale (eight weeks from 14 May 1984), BBC Radio Trafford and BBC Radio Skelmersdale (Summer 1984).
1985 23 April – BBC Radio Shropshire launches. 24 June – BBC Radio Bedfordshire launches.
1986 25 August – An early evening service of specialist music programmes launches on the BBC's four local radio stations in Yorkshire. The programmes are broadcast on weeknights between 6pm and 7:30pm. 5 November – BBC Essex launches.
1987 September – The service of specialist music programmes broadcast on the BBC's four local stations in Yorkshire is expanded. Programmes are broadcast on six nights a week (Wednesday to Monday) and the length of each programme is increased by 30 minutes. Consequently, the four stations now stay on air into the mid-evening as they are transmitted between 7pm and 9pm.
1988 11 April – BBC Somerset Sound launches as an opt-out station from BBC Radio Bristol. It broadcasts on BBC Radio Bristol's former MW frequency of 1323AM. 20 September – The Radio Data System (RDS) launches, allowing car radios to automatically retune, display station identifiers and switch to local travel news. 3 October – BBC Radio Gloucestershire launches. 7 October – At 7pm, BBC Radio London closes and instead of handing over to Radio 2, the frequency immediately begins broadcasting test transmissions in preparation for the launch of its replacement, Greater London Radio (GLR). 25 October – At 6:30am, BBC GLR launches. 29 October – Network North West launches, providing a nightly service of programmes from 7:30pm until midnight. It is broadcast on the BBC's four north west stations. 30 October – BBC GMR replaces BBC Radio Manchester. By the end of 1988, regular evening programming on weeknights has launched in some areas. The programming is mostly regional rather than local with the same programme networked on all the stations in that area. Consequently, stations are now starting to provide local/regional programming on weeknights until midnight. Previously, stations had ended local programming by mid-evening, handing over to BBC Radio 2 until the following morning. Starting in late 1988, and following the commencement in September of the roll-out of FM transmitters for BBC Radio 1, BBC Local stations which broadcast in areas where Radio 1 still does not have an FM transmitter begin to air Radio 1 instead of Radio 2 during their evening downtime, switching to Radio 2 when Radio 1 closes at 2am.
1989 14 February – BBC Hereford and Worcester launches. 4 March – BBC Wiltshire Sound launches. WM Heartlands launches as a mid-morning experimental opt-out from BBC WM. It serves the 'Heartlands' area of East Birmingham using the 1458MW frequency. 29 May – The BBC Night Network launches on the BBC's six local radio stations in Yorkshire and north east England. The service broadcasts seven nights a week from 6:05pm (6pm at the weekend) until midnight. Any local programming, including that for minority communities, is broadcast on MW only with Night Network continuing on FM. The Asian Network launches as a 70 hours-a-week service on the MW transmitters of BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio WM.
1990s 1990 17 January – BBC CWR launches. Following BBC Radio 1's final 'borrow' of BBC Radio 2's FM frequencies for the final time, some BBC local radio stations broadcast the Sunday teatime Top 40 programme so that listeners in England where Radio 1 is still only available on MW can continue to hear the programme in stereo. This continues until Radio 1's FM network is available in enough of these areas to make this simulcast no longer necessary. 12 April – BBC Radio Suffolk launches. BBC Radio Northampton is renamed BBC Northampton.
1991 Spring – The BBC Night Network is expanded to incorporate the BBC's four north west stations. Programmes now start at 7:05pm (7pm at the weekend). 14 November – BBC Radio Surrey launches. BBC Radio Shropshire stops broadcasting on MW. WM Heartlands closes. BBC Radio Furness loses its separate branding but programme opt-outs for the South Lakes and Furness at breakfast and during the afternoon continue.
1992 21 February – BBC Radio Berkshire launches, initially as a sister station of Radio Oxford, broadcasting for part of the weekday and weekend mornings. 17 April – BBC Radio Nottingham ends transmissions on one of its MW transmitters. BBC Radio Cleveland, BBC Radio Northampton and BBC Radio Oxford also stop broadcasting on MW in 1992. 1992 sees the BBC World Service start being broadcast on many BBC Local Radio stations when they are not on the air, although most stations in the south and east continue to air BBC Radio 2 during their overnight downtime.
1993 5 April – BBC Radio Bedfordshire expands to cover the counties of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and is renamed BBC Three Counties Radio. 26 April – BBC Dorset FM launches as an opt-out service from BBC Radio Devon. Autumn – BBC GLR] and BBC GMR stop broadcasting on MW. Their frequencies are reallocated to commercial radio.
1994 7 January – BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey are merged as BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey, although the station had carried this name since the previous September. 18 March – BBC Radio Kent stops broadcasting on 1035kHz MW. The frequency is reallocated to commercial radio. 1 August – BBC Southern Counties Radio launches as the first BBC Local Radio station to adopt an all-speech format. It replaces BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey. The Furness opt-outs for southern Cumbria effectively end after 12 years as a result of cutbacks at the BBC.
1995 May – BBC CWR closes as a stand-alone station and becomes an opt-out of BBC Radio WM.
1996 March – BBC Dorset FM closes and is replaced by a rebroadcast of BBC Radio Solent with localised news bulletins. 9 April – BBC Radio Oxford and BBC Radio Berkshire merge to form BBC Thames Valley FM. 4 November – The Asian Network expands into a full-time station when it increases the number of hours on air from 80 hours a week to 126 hours a week (18 hours a day). The station, which broadcasts on the MW frequencies of BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio WM, is renamed BBC Asian Network. Consequently, Radios Leicester and WM become available only on FM.
1997 1 September – BBC Southern Counties Radio is relaunched. The all-speech format is dropped and the station reverts to a more traditional mix of music and speech. For a brief period in 1997, BBC GMR is renamed GMR Talk.
1998 BBC Radio 5 Live replaces the BBC World Service as BBC Local Radio's overnight downtime filler.
1999 No events.
2000s 2000 14 February – BBC Thames Valley FM closes and BBC Radio Oxford and BBC Radio Berkshire relaunch as separate stations although Radio Berkshire operates as an opt-out service of Radio Oxford. 25 March – BBC GLR closes and is relaunched as BBC London Live 94.9. The relaunch sees the station begin 24-hour broadcasting, thereby becoming the first BBC Local station to broadcast around the clock. 3 April – BBC Northampton reverts to its original name of BBC Radio Northampton.
2001 1 October