This is a list of events taking place in 2018 relating to radio in the United Kingdom.
Events January 8 January – Matt Hancock is appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in a Cabinet reshuffle, replacing Karen Bradley. 9 January – Winifred Robinson, the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's You and Yours, is taken off air after posting her views concerning the BBC gender pay gap controversy on Twitter the previous day. 10 January – BBC Radio 2 announces a major overhaul of its schedule that will take effect from 14 May. Among the changes will be the start of a three-hour joint drivetime show presented by Simon Mayo and Jo Whiley, and a new weekday overnight show presented by O. J. Borg. Some long-running programmes, such as The Organist Entertains will come to an end, and Paul Jones will leave the network after presenting a blues programme for three decades; he will be succeeded by Cerys Matthews. 12 January – The BBC is reported to be "deeply unimpressed" by an off-air conversation between John Humphrys and Jon Sopel in which they joked about the gender pay gap controversy. The conversation is said to have occurred before the 8 January edition of the Today programme, the morning after the BBC's China correspondent, Carrie Gracie resigned from her post over the issue of gender pay. 15 January – The MW transmissions of BBC Radios Sussex, Surrey, Humberside, Wiltshire, Nottingham, Kent and Lincolnshire are switched off and MW coverage for BBC Devon, Lancashire and Essex is reduced. 17 January – BBC Radio 1 announces an overhaul of its schedule from 24 February. The changes will see Maya Jama and Jordan North joining the network as weekend presenters, fronting the Greatest Hits programme, while current presenter Matt Edmondson will present a weekday afternoon show on which he will be joined by a different guest co-presenter each week. Current afternoon presenter Alice Levine will move to weekend breakfasts to co-present with Dev. 23 January – The BBC confirms that Aled Jones will return to his presenting roles on BBC One's Songs of Praise and BBC Radio Wales after he was suspended in October 2017. 24 January – BFBS returns to semi-national DAB broadcasting when it launches on the Sound Digital multiplex. 26 January – Six of the BBC's leading male presenters—Huw Edwards, Nicky Campbell, John Humphrys, Jon Sopel, Nick Robinson and Jeremy Vine—have agreed to take pay cuts following the recent controversy over equal salaries at the broadcaster. 28 January – After nearly 78 years on air, The Sunday Hour is broadcast on BBC Radio 2 for the final time. 29 January – BBC Radio Cymru 2 begins broadcasting. It airs as an opt-out service for two hours every morning on digital and online platforms as a music and entertainment alternative to the main network. Undated in January – Rob Cowan leaves BBC Radio 3 for Classic FM after seventeen years at the station. He is replaced as presenter of Essential Classics by Ian Skelly.
February 2 February – Christian O'Connell announces that he will be leaving Absolute Radio and emigrating to Australia to host the Gold 104.3 breakfast programme in Melbourne.ARN secures UK radio star Christian O'Connell for Gold 104.3 Radio Info 2 February 2018 4 February – Relaunch of the BBC Radio 2 religion-themed magazine programme Good Morning Sunday, presented by Kate Bottley and Jason Mohammad. Comedian Jack Whitehall appears as a guest on Desert Island Discs, where he expresses regret over a joke he made about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip during the 2012 edition of Channel 4's The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. 6 February – Noel Edmonds has set up an online radio station, Positively Noel, dedicated to broadcasting negative messages about Lloyds Bank, a company with which the presenter has been involved in a decade-long legal dispute. 7 February – Figures from RAJAR indicate that The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw has shown some recovery from its worst ever audience during the third quarter of 2017. The number of listeners to the show increased from 4.93m listeners in the third quarter of 2017 to 5.72m listeners in January 2018, an increase of almost 800,000. 16 February – Speaking to BBC 6 Music Glastonbury Festival organiser Emily Eavis says she would like to ban plastic bottles from next year's festival. 24 February – BBC Radio 1 overhauls its weekend schedule. The changes see Maya Jama and Jordan North joining the network as weekend presenters, fronting the Greatest Hits programme, while current presenter Matt Edmondson moves to present a weekday afternoon show on which he will be joined by a different guest co-presenter each week. Alice Levine moves from afternoons to weekend breakfasts to co-present with Dev. 26 February – Former Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallett joins York's Minster FM to present the breakfast show alongside Ben Fry.
March 1 March – Global Radio holds its inaugural awards ceremony, the Global Awards at London's Hammersmith Eventim Apollo. 5 March – Cumbrian stations The Bay and Lakeland Radio are relaunched as Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria and Smooth Lake District respectfullyPlans announced for The Bay and Lakeland Radio – RadioToday , Radio Today, 8 January 2018 following Global's purchase of the two stations from CN Group. 6 March – Launch of You, Me and the Big C on BBC iPlayer Radio, a podcast that discusses matters relating to cancer. 7 March – BBC Radio 2 announces that Nick Drake will be inducted into its Folk Hall of Fame to mark what would have been the singer's 70th birthday. It is announced that the trial of small-scale digital radio multiplexes will be extended until 2020. 16 March – Radio 2 travel presenter Lynn Bowles, who has been with the station since 2000, tells listeners she is leaving at Easter. She leaves the network on 29 March. 18 March – Andrew Castle presents his final show for Smooth, the Sunday Sanctuary. He is replaced the following week by Gary Vincent. 19 March – The BBC says it will continue FM transmissions for the foreseeable future rather than switching entirely over to digital broadcasting. 21 March – Jazz FM have signed singer China Moses to present their late night weekday programme Jazz FM Loves. At the same time, dating website eHarmony have renewed their sponsorship of the programme for another twelve months. 24 March – BBC Radio 3's Controller Alan Davey announces a raft of new programmes, including a new world music show called Music Planet which will replace World on 3 and a new weeknight late show called After Dark. 27 March – Ofcom releases new guidelines covering the music played on BBC Radio 1. It states that 50% of songs played on the network during the day must be "new music", defining that term as any track up to twelve months after its release or six week after it entered the charts. The changes could lead to a faster turnover of Radio 1 and Radio 2 playlists.
April 3 April – Northsound 2 stops broadcasting on MW. The station continues to broadcast on DAB and online. It is the first commercial radio station in Scotland – and the first of Bauer's local stations – to cease analogue broadcasting.Northsound 2 to switch off AM radio service , Radio Today, 8 March 2018 LBC announces that Jacob Rees-Mogg will present a fortnightly phone-in show on the station. 8 April – Louise Redknapp makes her radio debut, guest presenting the first of two evening shows on Heart, her second being on 15 April respectively. 12 April – The BBC has come under fire over its planned broadcast of an edition of the Radio 4 programme Archive on 4 featuring actor Ian McDiarmid reading the full text of Enoch Powell's controversial 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech. The BBC says the programme, scheduled for 14 April and which marks the 50th anniversary of the speech, is intended as an analysis of the speech not as an endorsement of it. 17 April – London-based internet station Radar Radio suspends broadcasting following allegations of mistreatment and exploitation of its staff. 18 April – Bauer Radio announces that, on 4 June its Manchester station Key 103 will be rebranded and relaunched as Hits Radio, a CHR-led music station aimed at 25–44 year olds.Bauer to launch new national radio station , Bauer Media, 18 April 2018 The station will be merged with The Hits to provide a single national service across the UK on DAB, Freeview and online.Key 103 to become Hits Radio as part of major rebrand , Prolific North, 18 April 2018 In Manchester, Hits Radio will continue to provide local news and information, traffic bulletins and advertising.Key 103 to rebrand as Hits Radio and go national , Radio Today, 19 April 2018 Hits Radio will also produce and broadcast off-peak programming for Bauer's network of CHR local stations which will continue to air local programming at peak times. Gemma Atkinson, Gethin Jones and Dave Vitty are announced as breakfast presenters on the new station.
May 4 May – Dermot O'Leary and Scarlett Moffatt are announced as presenters who will lead the BBC's respective television and radio coverage of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, O'Leary fronting coverage for BBC One and Moffatt providing coverage for Radio 1. 7 May – "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran is voted favourite song by listeners to Smooth Radio in their annual Top 500. 8 May – Long running specialist music programmes The Organist Entertains and Listen to the Band are broadcast for the final time – the former had been on air since 1969. 10 May – The final edition of the Radio 2 Arts Programme is broadcast, ending after 28 years on air. 14 May – A new weekday evening and overnight schedule launches on BBC Radio 2. Jo Whiley joins Simon Mayo to present an extended teatime show with Jo's former slot now occupied by specialist music and documentaries. Sara Cox launches a new late evening show and live overnight broadcasting resumes with a new midnight to 3am show presented by O.J. Borg. 15 May – Sound Digital announces that it will add 19 transmitters to its network. They will launch in the South West, East Anglia, Wales and North of Scotland and will increase Sound Digital's coverage by nearly 4 million new listeners in more than 1.6m new households. 17 May – The latest RAJAR listening figures show that more than half of radio listening is via digital platforms, overtaking FM and AM for the first time. 18 May – Christian O'Connell presents the Absolute Radio breakfast show for the final time. 25 May – Ahead of the launch of Hits Radio on 4 June, the name Key 103 disappears from the Manchester airwaves. 28 May – Smooth Radio launches The Smooth Late Show, a nightly show that is presented by Martin Collins on weekdays and Danny Pietroni at weekends. 31 May – BBC Radio 1 announces that, in the autumn, Nick Grimshaw and Greg James are to swap shows. James will become the new host of the breakfast show and Grimshaw will take over the drive time show.
June 4 June – Manchester station Key 103 is rebranded as Hits Radio Manchester. The station is a localised version of The Hits Radio which replaces DAB station The Hits. Key 2 is renamed Key Radio. 12 June – For the first time since its inception, Ofcom does not award a re-advertised licence to the incumbent licensee when it awards the Ipswich licence to Ipswich FM. Consequently, Town 102 will end broadcasting on 18 October. 15 June – Radio 1 starts broadcasting much of its weekend schedule on Fridays meaning that the weekday daytime schedule is now only broadcast from Mondays to Thursdays. Scott Mills replaces Greg James as host of The Official Chart and Radio 1's Dance Anthems. Kylie Minogue will headline BBC Radio 2's "festival in a day" at Hyde Park on 9 September. She will be joined by acts including All Saints, Rita Ora, Manic Street Preachers and Lenny Kravitz. 28 June – The final broadcasts of BBC School Radio take place, bringing to an end almost a century of programmes for schools on BBC Radio.
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