BBC Radio 2 frequency changes - Nov 1978

It's Wednesday November 22nd 1978, the eve of a major shake-up of frequencies for the BBC's national radio networks.

Radio 1 will lose its appalling 247m (1215 kHz) medium wave frequency (to Radio 3) and gain two much stronger places on the dial; 275 & 285 metres, 1053 & 1089 kHz AM.

Radio 2 is about to say goodbye to it's long wave (1500 metres / 200kHz) coverage of western Europe (to be taken over by Radio 4) and is moving to 433 & 330 metres medium wave, 693 & 909 kHz AM.

The FM (VHF) frequencies are left unchanged. Radio 1 still doesn't have its own dedicated FM network at this stage - there isn't space on the dial as half the band is taken up by emergency service transmissions like police and ambulance!

It's easy to forget that not everyone has access to FM at this time (especially in the car) and so medium & long waves are still very important. Another point is that many UK radio dials still used "metres" as the measurement and so the station jingles typically reflected that. It would be some time before we adopted the US standard of talking about "AM" (with the frequency given in kilohertz) and "FM".

Here's a selection of clips from Radio 2 on that final day of long wave transmission with plenty of jingles, presenter and celebrity announcements and a comical song. You'll also hear part of the trail for the new Radio 2 (433 & 330) car sticker competition - all part of the effort to ensure they don't lose their audience overnight!

Presenters/announcers include; Jimmy Young, Tim Gudgin, Pete Murray, Colin Berry, David Hamilton & Paddy O'Byrne.

Thanks for watching - and listening! :)