2 January – Sue Townsend's comic character Adrian Mole is introduced to a national audience in a radio play, The Diary of Nigel Mole Aged 13¾ [sic.], in BBC Radio 4's Thirty-Minute Theatre strand.[1]
27 February – BBC Radio 1 broadcasts the final editions of Junior Choice and Playground.
March
1 March – Chiltern Radio's broadcast area expands when it begins broadcasting to the Bedford area.
6 March – Following the ending of Junior Choice, the BBC Radio 1 weekend breakfast show is renamed The Saturday Show/The Sunday Show. Children's requests continue to be a mainstay of the renamed show and Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin join Tony Blackburn as co-presenters.
9–10 April – BBC Radio 1 broadcasts a non-stop Marathon Music Quiz. Featuring two teams, Radio 1 and the Music Industry, it is scheduled to run continuously for 26 hours and 385 minutes, with Mike Read as quizmaster for the entire quiz. The overnight portion is broadcast live.[3]
28 September – The BBC World Service becomes available to UK listeners for the first time, albeit only in southeast England, following the move of transmissions pf the World Service from Crowborough to Orfordness.[6]
October
1 October – After 32 years on air, Listen with Mother is broadcast for the final time. It is replaced by a shorter five-minute lunchtime programme called Listening Corner.
November
6 November – Saxon Radio begins broadcasting to the Bury St. Edmunds area. This is the first station to network most of its output from another, in this case, Radio Orwell in Ipswich.
November – Christa Ackroyd becomes the UK's first female radio news editor when she takes over the news editor role at Radio Aire.[7][8]
December
3 December – BBC Radio 1 and 2 simulcast for the final time.
4 December – The transmission time that BBC Radio 1 lost in March 1980 is regained. Programmes once again begin at 6am with Mike Smith returning to the station – he had been a presenter and producer in the mid 1970s – to present the new weekday early show. Weekend early shows are introduced, and the station also recommences Saturday evening broadcasting with Janice Long and Gary Davies joining to present the new shows. Programming is also extended by two hours on Sunday evenings with Annie Nightingale's request show returning to the airwaves after a nine-year hiatus. Thus, Radio 1 is now on air daily from 6am until midnight.[9]
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