UK - National | format = Adult-oriented Pop Music | owner = BBC | website = [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/ www.bbc.co.uk/radio2] }}BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and is by far the most popular station in the UK. As well as having the most listeners nationally, it ranks first in all regions above local radio stations. On the whole, BBC Radio 2 plays to approximately 27% of the available audience in 2006 Rajar national radio ratings ending December 2006. It broadcasts throughout the UK on FM radio between 88 and 91 MHz from its studios in Western House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. Programmes are also relayed on digital radio via DAB, Sky Digital, Cable TV, Freeview and the Internet. The station's FM reception is well known for exceptional quality; it is broadcast on a network of powerful transmitters of 250 kW or more, the strongest radio broadcast signals in Europe on FM. BBC radio FM transmitters

History

1967-1986

The station started at 7:00am on 30 September 1967, and evolved from the Light Programme, with some of the Light's music shows transferring to the newly-launched Radio 1. The first show however had actually started at 5.30am (on the Light programme) but continued on with Breakfast Special from Paul Hollingdale as Radio 1 split off.In the early years, much programming and music was common to both stations, particularly on the shared FM frequency. Radio 1 was specifically targeted at the audience of the pirate radio stations whereas Radio 2 gradually settled down as a middle of the road station playing a mixture of laid-back pop/rock, folk and country, jazz and big-band music, easy listening, light classics, and 'oldies', with significant amounts of comedy and sport. Notable broadcasters on Radio 2 in the 70s and 80s were Ray Moore on early breakfast, Terry Wogan on breakfast, replaced by Ken Bruce and later Derek Jameson; Jimmy Young and his lunchtime news and current affairs show; 'Diddy' David Hamilton on mid-afteroons, John Dunn on what became known as the 'drivetime' slot. Radio 2 became the first 24-hour radio station in the UK when all-night transmissions commenced in 1979.

Frances Line repositions the station for an older audience: 1986-1996

The station's policy remained fairly stable with only minor lineup changes until April 1986 when Frances Line, then its head of music, repositioned the station (she would become controller in 1990). An increasingly ageing Radio 1 audience was sticking with that station; Line repositioned Radio 2 to appeal exclusively to older listeners and introduced a lineup of older presenters and "light music" pitched squarely at a 50+ audience. Although popular with its target audience, this policy alienated younger listeners who had previously time-shared between Radio 1 and Radio 2; the station's audience fell drastically, taking another hit when sport coverage was moved to Radio 5; the rise of album-rock commercial stations (particularly Virgin Radio), also impacted Radio 2's audience, taking younger listeners away. Radio 2 was neglecting the fact that by the mid-nineties a substantial audience in their forties, fifties and early sixties had grown up with rock and modern pop, and were still listening to contemporary music; they and the generation that had been abandoned by Radio 1 had largely deserted the BBC for commercial stations.

James Moir makes Radio 2 "The Nation's Favourite" - 1996 onwards

Line was replaced by James Moir in 1996. Moir repositioned Radio 2 as a station with a largely AOR/contemporary playlist by day and more specialist broadcasting by respected genre experts in the evenings, moving many popular presenters across from the increasingly youth-oriented Radio 1. The schedule (particularly on Friday evenings and Sundays) still bears some hallmarks of the "easy listening" era, but Radio 2 is now firmly established as "the nation's favourite", a title the BBC has started using to describe it rather than Radio 1.Today Radio 2 is the most listened to radio station in the UK, with its schedule filled with well-known and respected broadcasters like Sir Terry Wogan, Steve Wright, Chris Evans, Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine, Mark Radcliffe, Stuart Maconie, Janice Long, Johnnie Walker, Russell Brand, Bob Harris, and Jonathan Ross.

The Station's Current Position

The station now has a demographic of adult listeners, generally from 30 and up, and its daytime playlist tends to feature music from the 1960s to the 1990s as well as contemporary chart, album and indie music. The station's appeal is both broad and deep, with a mixture of accessible daytime programming and specialist programming for enthusiasts of particular types or eras of music.Weekday evenings tend to feature specialist music programmes -- a range of genres are covered including jazz, folk music, blues, country and western, reggae, classic rock, showtunes and also biographies and documentaries on various musical artists and genres. This specialist programming typically runs between 7 pm and 8pm, and from 10 pm until 12.30 am.Brian Matthew's "Sounds of the Sixties" remains a popular fixture on the Saturday schedule, with Steve Harley's shorter "Sounds of the Seventies" running midweek.On Sundays the schedule reverts for much of the day to something decidedly closer to its old style, with presenters like Malcolm Laycock and David Jacobs and long-standing programmes like Sunday Half Hour.Whilst being adult-oriented, Radio 2 does not broadcast complete works of classical music, the domain of Radio 3, or offer in-depth discussion or drama, the job of Radio 4 (Jeremy Vine's weekday afternoon show does cover current and consumer affairs in a relatively informal way, in a style pioneered by his predecessor, Jimmy Young). Until the advent of Radio Five Live, Radio 2's medium wave frequencies were the BBC's main radio outlet for sports coverage (before becoming Five Live, Radio 5 was originally created by splitting off Radio 2's mediumwave frequencies, leaving Radio 2 on FM only).Like all BBC radio stations broadcasting to UK audiences, Radio 2 is funded by the television licence fee, and does not broadcast commercials.BBC Radio 2's last closedown was at 02:02 GMT on 27 January 1979. Sarah Kennedy (who, following the fading of her 1980s television career, has been a daily early morning presenter on Radio 2 since 1993) was at the Newsdesk after Brian Matthew finished the "Round Midnight" programme. From 02:00-05:00 GMT the following night onwards, late-night listeners could listen to "You and the Night and the Music". (Although, throughout the 1980s and early 90s, a programme called "Nightride" also broadcast at this time). Radio 2 has therefore had the longest period of continuous broadcasting of any national radio station in the UK - more than twenty-five years to date.On this station, the BBC Pips are broadcast at 07:00 and at 08:00 on weekdays between gaps in Terry Wogan's self-styled banter, then again at 1700 at the end of Steve Wright's afternoon show. When Jonathan Ross sat in for Wogan in 2004, he failed to cut his own banter and consequently spoke over the pips.BBC Radio 2 moved its studios from Broadcasting House to the adjacent Western House in 2005 [1], although many shows are broadcast from Birmingham (e.g. Janice Long) or Manchester (Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie).Radio 2 has recruited Jeff Smith, currently director of UK and International programming at Napster and a former head of music at Radio 1, as its new head of music. [2]

Current Presenters and shows

Mainstream shows

• Janice Long: Weekday Overnights
• Alex Lester: The Best Time Of The Day
• Sarah Kennedy: The Dawn Patrol
• Terry Wogan: Wake Up to Wogan
• Ken Bruce including the Popmaster quiz
• Jeremy Vine current affairs; successor to Jimmy Young
• Steve Wright Steve Wright in the Afternoon (The Big Show)
• Chris Evans Drive Time
• Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie Monday - Thursday Evenings
• Simon Mayo: The Radio 2 Music Club (Monday Late Night)
• Steve Lamacq: Wednesday Late Nights
• Mark Lamarr: Friday Night/Saturday Mornings
• Pete Mitchell: Late Friday/Early Saturday & Late Saturday/ Early Sunday
• Mo Dutta: Early Saturday & Sunday Mornings
• Jonathan Ross: Saturday Mid-Mornings
• Dermot O'Leary: Saturday Afternoons
• Stuart Maconie: Saturday Evenings
• Paul Gambaccini: America's Greatest Hits
• Russell Brand: Saturday nights
• Bob Harris:Saturday Late nights
• Clive Anderson; "Sunday Mornings" (Until end of January 2008)
• Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs (request show)
• Dale Winton Pick of the Pops (nostalgia)
• Johnnie Walker: Sunday Evenings

Specialist shows

Mondays

• Paul Jones Blues
• Clare Teal Big Band Special
• Humphrey Lyttelton Jazz
• Jools Holland: Jazz

Tuesdays

• Desmond Carrington The Music Goes Round
• Nigel Ogden: The Organist Entertains

Wednesdays

• Mike Harding Folk Music

Thursdays

• Bob Harris Country
• Rockin with Suzi Q
• Steve Harley: Sounds of the 70's

Fridays

• Friday Night is Music Night: light music
• Listen to the Band
• Matthew Wright: The Weekender (arts programme)

Saturdays

• Brian Matthew:Sounds of the 60s

Sundays

• Aled Jones: Good Morning Sunday (religious-themed breakfast show)
• Elaine Paige - show tunes
• Alan Titchmarsh Melodies for You (from 28th January)
• Brian D'Arcy: Sunday Half Hour (hymns)
• Russell Davies: Sunday Evening (from 28th January)
• Malcolm Laycock - Celebrating The Age of Swing
• David Jacobs The David Jacobs Collection (musicals, film music)

Others

• It's Been a Bad Week - Comedy series starring Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis.
• The Day the Music Died - Topical Music Comedy series starring Jon Holmes and Andrew Collins
• Book Sequence

Radio 2 breakfast show presenters

• John Dunn - September, 1967 to April, 1972
• Terry Wogan - April, 1972 to December, 1984
• Ken Bruce - January, 1985 to March, 1986
• Derek Jameson - March, 1986 to December, 1991
• Brian Hayes - January to December, 1992
• Terry Wogan - January 1993 - present

Other Past presenters

• Jimmy Young: 1967-2002
• John Dunn: 1967-1998
• Alan Dell: 1967-1995
• Gloria Hunniford: 1981-1995
• Debbie Thrower: 1995-1997
• Benny Green
• David Hamilton1975-1986
• Anne Robinson 1988-1993
• Jim Lloyd: "Folk on 2" (1970-1997)
• Ray Moore 1980-1988
• Ed Stewart 1980-1984 & 1991-2006
• Des Lynam 1998-1999

Newsreaders and Travel Reporters(current)

Weekday mornings

• Fran Godfrey
• Alan Dedicoat (Nicknamed "Deadly" and "Voice of the Balls" by Terry Wogan)
• Charles Nove
• John Marsh (Nicknamed "Boggy" by Terry Wogan, recently retired, now freelance)
• Lynn Bowles

Weekday Afternoons and evenings

• Fenella Fudge (formerly Fenella Hadingham)
• Susan Rae
• Sally Boazman

Weekends afternoons and evenings

• Ricky Salmon
• Andrew Peach (Nicknamed 'Peachy' by Chris Evans)
• Andrea Simmons
• Tom Sandars
• Bobby Prior

Overnight weekdays

• Colin Berry (recently retired from the BBC but still appears occasionally as a freelance)
• Charles Carroll
• Jim Lee
• Alan Smith

Overnight weekends

• Dominic Cotter
• Chandrika Chevli

Controllers of BBC Radio 2

• 1967–1968: Robin Scott
• 1968–1976: Douglas Muggeridge
• 1976–1978: Derek Chinnery
• 1978–1980: Charles McLelland
• 1980–1984: David Hatch
• 1984–1990: Bryant Marriott
• 1990–1995: Frances Line
• 1996–2003: James Moir
• 2004–present: Lesley Douglas

Logo History

Image:BBC Radio 2logo 1967.jpeg|1967-1970Image:BBC Radio 2logo 1970.jpeg|1970-1980Image:BBC Radio 2logo 1985.jpeg|1980-1990Image:BBC Radio 2logo 1992.jpeg|1990-1994Image:BBC Radio 2logo 1996.jpeg|1994-1997Image:BBC Radio 2logo 1998.jpeg|1997-2000Image:BBC Radio 2.png|2000-2007Image:BBC_Radio2.png|2007-presentLogo images from TV & Radio Bits

References

External links

• Media UK's BBC Radio 2 site including scheduled programming
• R2OK! the Radio 2 Preservation Society
• Radio 2 Timeline/History

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