More Than Two Can Play

The 1986 Peacock Committee is now best remembered for its proposal that the BBC should privatise Radios 1 and 2. That recommendation was forgotten about, though the idea still continues to appear at intervals. As for the commercial radio sector Peacock suggested that “IBA regulation of radio should be replaced by a looser regime”.

Here’s how BBC Radio 4’s Six O’Clock News reported the Committee’s findings on 3 July 1986. The newsreader is David Symonds, the reports by John Parry and John Sergeant.

A year later the Government issued the Green Paper Radio: Choices and Opportunities proposing changes to the regulatory framework for Independent Local Radio. It also signalled the end to simulcasting on both AM and FM and paved the way for the Broadcasting Act 1990 that saw the launch of the three Independent National Radio stations, dozens of local and community stations and the establishment of the Radio Authority.

This edition of BBC Radio 4’s Analysis titled More than Two Can Play looks at what the future may hold for radio broadcasting in terms of content and the way it’s transmitted. The programme is presented by David Wheeler, produced by Fraser Steel and was broadcast on 20 May 1987.

There are contributions from Chris Dickins, Brian Wenham, David Mellor, Brian West, Jimmy Gordon, Bevan Jones, Clement Freud, Robin Corbett, Sam Brittan, Philip Crooks, Tony Currie, Jocelyn Hay, Monica Sims and Phil Layden.