Robin Scott - First Radio 1 and 2 Controller
Episode 335, Feb 06, 2012, 08:00 PM
Robin Scott was the first Controller of BBC Radio 1. That’s a dream post for anyone, let alone to have been the first in the chair.
So, it was Robin who launched Radio 1 - and indeed 2 - in 1967, by chopping the Light Programme in half. And, in a John Myers sort of way, he was the first voice on air too. A reluctant BBC had been tugged into the Swinging Sixties by a flotilla of pirate radio ships, and Auntie realised it had to swim with the tide and push some bright young things into a tender marked 247.
Robin was appointed to the job and he was sufficiently canny to recognise instinctively which model of pop station would do the business. Although it all seems so simple looking back, there were internal and external political challenges to address; and it was a huge achievement for Robin to have built such a firm foundation for today’s station.
Robin subsequently returned to television, from whence he came. He died on February 7th, 2000.
His legacy in British pop radio is clear. Thank you, Robin.