A New Chapter

On Saturday 30 September the BBC launched Radio 1. Charged with overseeing the transition from the Light Programme to Radio 1 and Radio 2 was Robin Scott. Ahead of the launch Scott wrote for the Corporation’s in-house magazine Ariel. In A New Chapter in Radio History he explains some of the programme schedules and name checks some of the departments responsible for getting and keeping the new services on air. 

The text of his article is reproduced below:

At 7 am on Saturday 30 September, Tony Blackburn seated in Radio Continuity 1 will switch 247 out of the Light Programme network and launch Radio 1 on its course with the first of his Monday to Saturday early Pop Shows. At 5.30 the same morning new transmitters will have come into service carrying 247 meters to cover 85 per cent of the country. The VHF network, previously linked to 247, will slave to Radio 2 on 1500 metres.

Tony Blackburn will be – technically speaking – steering his own programme, playing in the records, slotting in the ‘jingles’, ‘station idents’ and ‘promos’ on cassette.

‘Breakfast Special’

In Continuity 2, Paul Hollingdale, having carried both networks to 7 am, will guide Radio 2 over less frenetic waters to 8.30 am. He, Bruce Wyndham, Peter Latham, John Dunn, and Robin Boyle are experienced hands at running the shop on their own and have for many months been sustaining – and building – a large Breakfast Special audience with a blend of light and popular music scientifically prepared by Cyril Drake and his Popular Music Department team. The format of Breakfast Special will be adapted to provide greater contrast to the Pop on Radio 1.

At 8.30 both networks will join Junior Choice presented by Leslie Crowther but at 10 am they break away again as Keith Skues brings in Saturday Club on Radio 1 opposite Max Jaffa and the Radio Orchestra on Radio 2. At noon Keith hands over to Emperor Rosko and Max to a programme of Waltzing and Marching...

So much for the ‘pattern’ of the first few hours, which is typical of the new choice to be offered. Monday to Friday sees Jimmy Young on Radio 1 and 2 from 10 to 11 am – but opposite Radio 2’s Morning Story, The Dales and Melody on the Move presented by Jimmy Hanley from 11 to 12. Midday Spin is extended to sixty minutes and brings in Kenny Everett, Duncan Johnson, Stuart Henry, and a new BBC ‘staff-man discovery’, David Rider, to join Simon Dee. From 1 to 2 pm – as a contrast to the lunchtime Pop Shows – Radio 2 will be serving a varied bill of entertainment and music. Pete Brady is the afternoon Dee Jay on radio 1 – with a daily stint of two-and-a-half hours- Radio2 welcomes an earlier light-melodic Roundabout from 4.30 to 6.30 with Brian Matthew, followed by Sports News and Album Time – featuring the latest ‘middle-of-the-road’ LPs and EPs. Meanwhile, Radio 1 has kept tabs on the latest Pop discs and David Symonds has swung into the early evening Pop Show.

At 7.30 pm News-Time with Corbet Woodall as the Newscaster brings the tow networks together and they carry the same – but restyled – evening pattern of music and entertainment programme up to 10 pm. On Sundays and Wednesdays Radio 1 goes most of the way on its own with The Jazz Scene and Jazz Club.

Late Night Extra Monday to Friday nights fills the 10 to midnight slot (Radio 1 and 2). The programme produced by Light Entertainment reflects not only the best in Pop but also keeps a pulse on what’s new in the current scene. It is hosted by Pete Myers (from World Service), Barry Alldis, Terry Wogan, Bob Holness, and Mike Lennox. Saturday night finds Pete Murray at the helm and Sunday night reflects the best in Show Music.

Through to bedtime

At midnight after a new Midnight Newsroom a Light Programme team of announcers/presenters (Sean Kelly, Bruce Wyndham, Dwight Whylie, Roger Moffat) take the networks through to bedtime at 2 am.

A host of other new or extended programmes fill the weekend. Eric Robinson on Radio 2 competes with Ed Stewart on Radio 1 on Sunday mornings, both networks share a two-hour Family Favourites linking friends and relations not only in the Forces but throughout the UK and Commonwealth. Pete Drummond is principal Dee Jay for a three-hour Radio 1 show on Sunday afternoons. Alan Freeman’s Pick of the Pops spreads to 120 minutes from 5 to 7 pm followed by Mike Raven’s Rhythm and Blues Show on Radio 1 and Sing Something Simple on Radio 2. Such a catalogue of changes and innovations- which add up to a total of over fifty-three new hours of broadcasting and a grand Radio1 and 2 total of nearly 200 hours a week – cannot convey the style or ‘image’ of Radio 1. This will be fast-moving, fresh and ‘uncluttered’, with presenters handing over to each other –whilst Continuity continues on Radio 2. Both networks will share the same news summaries exactly slotted at the half-hours – a rigorous discipline which demands professional skill of Presentation Department headed by David Lloyd James with Mitch Raper, Presentation Editor for Radio 1 and 2, responsible for establishing the correct routines at programme junctions.

Philip Monson, Don Cummings, and their staffs on the Engineering side have been carrying through the modifications to Continuities, the provision of a new ‘spare’ Continuity, the extension of the 247 transmitter network (to name but a few of their tasks); Production Planning has been wrestling with new demands for studio space; the Popular Music, Gramophone, Light Entertainment, Light Music and Central Programme Operations Departments have faced up with enthusiasm to new tasks and new programme ideas.

Awaiting the reaction

No one expects miracles and certainly it would be rash not to expect some brickbats partly from those who want Pop throughout the twenty-four hours and partly from those who want a continuous programme of Sweet Music. The choices – governed by ‘needle-time’ and sheer economics- have been made. Our concern now is with success. After the first exciting – and no doubt very fraught – weeks we shall await the first listening figures with unusual interest. Between Ed Stewart and Eric Robinson, between Keith Skues and Max Jaffa, between Pete Drummond and The Clitheroe Kid, between David Symonds and Alan Dell, between Jimmy Young and The Dales- how will the audience break? It’s anybody’s guess.

But September the 30th will add quite a chapter to BBC Radio history.      

[Article ends]

From today’s perspective one can make a couple of observations. First is that the programme schedule is very messy and complicated with only four daytime Radio 1 DJs stripped across the week, something inherited from the pirate stations: Tony Blackburn at breakfast, Jimmy Young mid-mornings, Pete Brady in the afternoon and David Symonds at tea-time. Other than that both stations have the usual mishmash carried over from the Light where there are different programmes each day of varying lengths and where there are regular shows e.g. Breakfast Special or Late Night Extra, it’s a different presenter either each day or each week. This was what Scott referred to as a “fragmented planning pattern” in that year’s BBC Handbook. Presumably it encouraged the sale of the Radio Times to help listeners navigate their way round!       

The second thing you notice is how male-dominated it all is. The article doesn’t mention a single female presenter. Looking over the first week’s schedule the only woman broadcasting on Radio 1 is journalist Miranda Ward who reports for Scene and Heard (Saturday afternoons) whilst over on Radio 2 its Marjorie Anderson on Woman’s Hour.

Interesting too is his use of the term ‘newscaster’, a term most associated with ITN whereas the BBC uses ‘newsreader’.

Here's Robin Scott making the introductory announcement before 7am on Saturday 30 September 1967.