2008 in British radio

This is a list of events in British radio during 2008.

List of years in British radio (table)
In British television
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
In British music
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
In British film
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011

Events

January
  • 11 January – Birdsong Radio launches on the Digital One platform following the closure of Oneword. The station features recording of birdsong, a device first employed in 1992 as a test transmission for Classic FM.[1][2]
  • 12 January –
    • 100.7 Heart FM breakfast presenter Sarah-Jane Mee announces she will leave the show to join Sky News in London.[3] She presented her final programme on 6 March.
    • The Forces Station BFBS begin a trial period of broadcasting nationwide across the UK on DAB from midnight. The trial ran until 23:59 on 31 March 2008, and audience research carried out during this time concluded that it was successful. BFBS subsequently returned to DAB Digital Radio on a permanent basis.[4]
  • 29 January – Bauer completes its purchase of Emap's radio, television and consumer media businesses, purchasing the assets for £1.14bn.[5]

February
  • February – Classic FM announces a major shake-up of the schedule, which will be rolled out in two parts – weekdays in late February and weekends a month later. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Margherita Taylor join as part of the revamp and former Blur singer Alex James begins presenting a 100-part series called The A to Z of Classical Music.[6] The changes will also see the introduction of a nightly two-hour jazz programme.

March
  • 17 March – Humphrey Lyttelton retires from BBC Radio 2, having presented The Best of Jazz for the last 40 years.[7]
  • 25 March – Rachel New joins Ed James as the new co-presenter of the Breakfast Show on Birmingham's 100.7 Heart FM.[8]

April

May
  • 3 May – After 14 years on air, Manchester United Radio closes due to the club announcing that they had agreed a deal with local radio station Key 103.

June
  • 3 June – Tony Blackburn's weekend breakfast show on 102.2 Smooth Radio is to be syndicated across the rest of the Smooth network in England from 7 June.[9]
  • 30 June – It is announced that Chris Tarrant will return to radio, hosting a weekly Saturday morning show for the GMG Radio's network of stations including London's 102.2 Smooth Radio, Real Radio (Scotland) and the North West's Century Radio.[10] The show will air in direct competition to Jonathan Ross's show on BBC Radio 2. It began on 26 July.

July

August
  • 8 August – Thomas Quirk, the former managing director of Saga 105.2 FM (the predecessor to 105.2 Smooth Radio in Glasgow) criticises parent company GMG Radio's decision to sack six local Scottish presenters in favour of increased networking of shows from Smooth stations in London and Manchester. The station had operated a 24-hour schedule of local programming until August 2008.[11]

September
  • September – An interview on BBC Radio WM between Les Ross and writer and broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli is criticised for its awkwardness in the music magazine The Word and in The Guardian newspaper (suggesting that the interview ends up more like an Alan Partridge tribute act). In the interview, Ross asked Singh about his views on self-identity in terms of race; confused his humorous book on Indian food with a serious radio documentary by Singh discussing genocide during the partition of India; and then mistakenly referred to Singh's book as a TV series. Singh remained polite, if baffled, throughout, before terminating the interview after 4 minutes.[12][13][14]
  • September – After just six months, Classic FM scraps its nightly two-hour jazz programme.
  • 10 September – BBC Radio 4 broadcasts the play Lost Souls, a spin-off from the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
  • 29 September – Virgin Radio changes its name to Absolute Radio.

October
  • 4 October – BBC7 changes its name to BBC Radio 7.
  • 11 October –
  • 14 October – The Radio 4 programme You and Yours undergoes a large change of format, with two presenters being replaced by one. The breadth of topics covered is also extended to global problems as well as those closer to home.
  • 16 October – An episode of the Russell Brand Show, co-hosted by fellow Radio 2 presenter Jonathan Ross is recorded for transmission at a later date. The show includes Brand and Ross leaving four prank messages on actor Andrew Sachs's answerphone including offensive remarks about his granddaughter and use of foul language. The programme is subsequently broadcast on Saturday 18 October, partially censored, having passed the various pre-transmission checks from the programme's editors. Initially the programme only receives a negligible number of complaints regarding Jonathan Ross' bad language; however, after the incident is reported a week later by the Mail on Sunday a public outcry soon ensues. The case is referred to both Ofcom and the BBC Trust and in the interim Ross and Brand are both suspended for 12 weeks from all BBC programmes pending investigation. Soon after these announcements Russell Brand announces his resignation from the BBC shortly followed by Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas. Jonathan Ross is suspended from the BBC without pay for 12 weeks.[16][17]
  • 27 October – Former ITV Central Tonight presenter Joanne Malin joins BBC WM. She will present a mid-morning show from February 2009.[18]
  • 30 October –

November

December
  • No events.

Station debuts

Relaunching this year after a break of one month or more

Closing this year
DateStationDebut
11 January Oneword 2000[23]
11 January Core Radio 1999[23]
26 March Fosseway Radio 1998
Oak 107 FM 1999
26 March theJazz 2006[24]
Capital Life 1999
4 April Virgin Radio Groove 2000
3 May Manchester United Radio 1994
31 July Fen Radio 107.5 1999
23 December Talk 107 2006

Programme debuts

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Ending this year

Deaths
gollark: I thought it was the websockets but actually those work mostly fine.
gollark: This literally metaphorically makes no sense.
gollark: BEE whatever APIOFORM-LIKE ISSUE is causing INEXPLICABLE FAILuRES of the RANDOM STUFF API'S MPD MODULE.
gollark: Why would you? This would involve effort.
gollark: Like TIS-100, ish.

References
  1. "Birdsong proves popular on radio". The Daibly Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. 5 February 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  2. "Birdsong is back". ukdigitalradio. 11 January 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  3. "icBirmingham – Stan to take over from Sarah-Jane". Birmingham Mail. Trinity Mirror. 12 January 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  4. "DAB re-armed with BFBS radio". Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  5. "Emap sells magazines and radio divisions to Bauer for £1.14bn". Campaign Live. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  6. "Classic FM in major schedule overhaul". The Guardian. 13 February 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  7. Lyttleton rites from Radio 2 jazz show
  8. Dorricott, Carmel. "Heart fm Press Centre " A New sound for Heart Breakfast". Heartfmpress.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  9. "Tony Blackburn goes national". Radio Today. 3 June 2008. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  10. Sweney, Mark (30 June 2008). "Tarrant v Ross: let battle commence". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  11. Churchill, Carolyn (9 August 2008). "Criticism for radio station that axed Scots DJs". Glasgow Herald. Newsquest Media Ltd. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  12. Lewry, Fraser (18 September 2008). "When Hardeep met Les". The Word. Development Hell. Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  13. Media Monkey (23 September 2008). "Take it away, Les: Hardeep Singh Kohli terminates BBC radio interview". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  14. "Audio of Hardeep Singh Kohli interview". YouTube. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  15. Plunkett, John (14 October 2008). "The Guardian, News, Media, Radio, Tuesday October 14, 2008 16.52 BST – 4 Digital radio partners in crisis talks". London: Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  16. "The ups and downs of Ross' career". BBC News. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  17. "Ross suspended for three months". BBC News. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  18. "Birmingham – BBC WM – Joanne Malin joins BBC WM". BBC. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  19. John Plunkett and Tara Conlan. "Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas resigns over Brand-Ross phone prank row | Media". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  20. Plunkett, John (21 November 2008). "TV and radio presenter Paul Coia is to replace Martin Collins as the drivetime host of London's Smooth Radio". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  21. Blackaby, Anna (4 August 2008). "Birmingham sees launch of two new community radio stations". Birmingham Post. Trinity Mirror Midlands. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  22. "Farewell, Focal Radio". Radio Today. 28 May 2009. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  23. Plunkett, John (10 January 2008). "Two digital radio stations to close". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  24. Sherwin, Adam (2 May 2008). "Jazz station wins record audience after scrapping DJs". London: The Times. Retrieved 18 December 2009.(subscription required)
  25. "Peter Coke". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. 31 July 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
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