Radio 1 AM close

It's difficult to countenance now that good old whiney AM was once the bedrock of UK radio.

When BBC Local radio began in 1967, it was a reluctant FM-only experiment. Our home was one of the few on the road to have an FM set; and that had been built by my clever brother. Shortly afterwards, an AM back-up frequency was added to the Beeb locals, in a bid to lend the fledgling stations a helping hand.

As commercial radio began in 1973; they too had the fancy stereo FM frequencies, with a back-up on AM. As Trent launched in 75, it conducted research to establish FM penetration: 75% of respondents suggested they had FM reception at home, with only 45% in the car. That availability, however, gave few accurate clues to FM usage. Stations would transmit promo trails helping listeners switch to DAB and enjoy stereo reception; and invite them to ‘ask their radio dealer’ for more information.

Radio 1 had no FM frequencies, albeit it squatted on Radio 2's for: the shared David Hamilton afternoon show; Alan Freeman’s Saturday afternoon rock show; and the Sunday chart show.
Accordingly, the launch of commercial radio enjoyed the benefit of no BBC pop music FM rival; in fact, even Radio 1’s original 247m AM wavelength was a bit of a short straw when it came to spectrum allocation.

FM Radio 1 test transmissions began in 1987; and national FM coverage was completed in 1988 The medium wave frequencies (1053, 1089) were then turned off daypart by daypart, with the final one on 1st July 1994, before being handed to the new commercial talk station. Enjoy here the final moments of Radio 1 on AM, as Steve Wright does that one last shove to the waveband knob; and Mark Goodier’s plantive cry for those who woke up a little late to the change.