A Level Playing Field: The BBC and Independent Radio

Abstract

In the early 1970s government policy instigated legalised, local commercial radio in the UK. It would be unlike previous illegal incarnations however and became known as independent radio rather than commercial radio. Some other competitive elements persisted, including Radio Luxembourg and an eventual re-emergence of pirate stations in a different form. Television too would remain a continued threat to radio. Also two BBC channels and ITV, a fourth channel, Channel 4, could only dent radio even further, but it was the arrival of breakfast television on both BBC1 and ITV which was felt most acutely, impacting on radio breakfast shows. The BBC also introduced a local radio service which would compete directly with commercial radio. Devlin describes how a new radio industry was created and how it impacted on both the BBC and its new radio competitors.