BBC Radio 2 (UK radio station)

***BBC Radio 2*** is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is adult contemporary or AOR, although the station also broadcasts other specialist musical genres. Radio 2 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between 88.1 and 90.2 MHz from studios in Wogan House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. Programmes are relayed on digital radio via DAB, Sky, Cable TV, IPTV, Freeview, Freesat and the Internet.

The station was launched at 05:30 on 30 September 1967, and evolved from the Light Programme, with some of the Light Programme's music shows transferring to the newly launched BBC Radio 1. The first show had started at 05:30 am (on the Light Programme) but continued with Breakfast Special from Paul Hollingdale as Radio 1 split.

In early years, much programming and music was common to both stations, particularly on the shared FM frequency. Radio 1 was targeted at the audience of pirate radio stations whereas Radio 2 settled down as a middle-of-the-road station playing 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-afternoons, John Dunn at what became known as drivetime. Radio 2 became the first national 24-hour radio station in the UK on January 28, 1979.

The station's audience is now mainly adults over the age of 35 (82% of listeners) although in recent years it has attracted more younger listeners. Its daytime playlist features music from the 1960s to various current chart hits, album and indie music. The station's appeal is broad and deep, with accessible daytime programmes and specialist programmes of particular types or eras of music.

Weekday evenings feature specialist music, including jazz, folk music, blues, country and western, reggae, classic rock, showtunes and biographies and documentaries on musical artists and genres. This specialist programming typically runs from 19:00 to 20:00, and from 22:00 to midnight. Radio 2 hosts both the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Big Band.

"Sounds of the Sixties" remains a regular fixture on the Saturday schedule, as does Johnnie Walker's "Sounds of the Seventies" on a Sunday. In 2013, these two shows were joined by "Sounds of the Eighties", which is hosted by Sara Cox and broadcast on Friday between 2200 and midnight.

On Sundays, the schedule reverts closer to its old style, with a focus on easy listening, Jazz and show music, with presenters like Clare Teal and Don Black and long-standing programmes like The Sunday Hour.

Radio 2 does not broadcast complete works of classical music (the domain of Radio 3) or offer in-depth discussion or drama and although some book readings, comedy and arts coverage still remains on the station this is the remit of Radio 4. Jeremy Vine's weekday lunchtime show covers current and consumer affairs informally, a style pioneered by Jimmy Young. Until the launch of Radio 5 in August 1990, Radio 2's medium wave frequencies carried the BBC's sports coverage.

Like all BBC radio stations broadcasting to UK audiences, Radio 2 is funded by the television licence fee, and does not broadcast adverts.

Sarah Kennedy (who later became a daily early-morning presenter from 1993 until her departure in August 2010) was at the Newsdesk after Brian Matthew finished "Round Midnight". From 02:00 to 05:00 the following night, listeners heard "You and the Night and the Music". Radio 2 has the longest period of continuous broadcasting of any national radio station in the UK.

In April 1986 when Frances Line, head of music, repositioned the station. She would become Controller in 1991. An ageing Radio 1 audience which had grown up with the station was sticking with it into their 40s and beyond; Line repositioned Radio 2 to appeal exclusively to the over-fifties and introduced older presenters and based the playlist around nostalgia, easy listening and light music. As a result, David Hamilton quit the station at the end of 1986, claiming the music policy had become "geriatric"; Terry Wogan's replacement Derek Jameson also appealed to an older, down-market demographic. Although popular with its target audience, the policy alienated many younger listeners who had listened to both Radio 1 and Radio 2 and the station's audience fell.

It took another hit in 1990 when it lost its medium wave frequencies to a new network, BBC Radio 5 and BBC radio's sports coverage moved from Radio 2 to the new station at the same time. Further blows were struck by the rise of album-rock commercial stations (particularly Virgin Radio) and 'gold' spinoffs from Independent Local Radio stations playing classic pop and rock. With the station's audience in decline a change of emphasis was needed.

Line was replaced by James Moir in 1996. Moir repositioned Radio 2 with a largely AOR/contemporary playlist by day, aimed at a more mature audience than Radio 1 (which, post-Britpop, was again starting to focus on a young audience) but still embracing new music, and more specialist broadcasting by recognised genre experts in the evenings. Unlike the early-1990s repositioning of Radio 1 in which the BBC lost many well-known names, many former Radio 1 presenters stayed with the BBC and moved across to Radio 2.

Radio 2 is now termed "the nation's favourite", a title the BBC formerly used for BBC Radio 1. It is the most listened-to station in the UK, its schedule filled with broadcasters such as: Steve Wright, Chris Evans, Simon Mayo, Tony Blackburn, Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine, Mark Radcliffe, Jo Whiley, Paul Gambaccini, Johnnie Walker and Bob Harris.

#### Selected former presenters of the 20th Century

* Pete Murray (1967–83)
* Ray Moore (1967–88)
* Humphrey Lyttelton (1967–2008)
* David Jacobs (1967–2013)
* Brian Matthew (1967–2017)
* Bob Holness (1968–74, 1985–98)
* Michael Aspel (1968–74, 1986–99, 2009)
* Katie Boyle (1968–96)
* Wally Whyton (1969–96)
* Des Lynam (1970–80, 1998–99)
* Terry Wogan (1972–84, 1993–2015)
* Simon Bates (1973–76)
* Jimmy Young (1973–2002)
* David Hamilton (1975–86)
* Sarah Kennedy (1976–2010)
* Ed Stewart (1980–83, 1991–2006)
* Gloria Hunniford (1981–95)
* Desmond Carrington (1981–2016)
* Stuart Hall (1982–88)
* Derek Jameson (1985–97)
* Richard Baker (1986–2007)
* Alan Dedicoat (newsreader) (1986–2015)
* Adrian Love (1987–94)
* Alex Lester (1987–2017)
* Simon Dee (1988–89)
* Anne Robinson (1988–93, stand-in for Jimmy Young in 1996)
* Judith Chalmers (1990–92)
* Don Maclean (1990–2006)
* Canon Roger Royle (1991–2007)
* Mo Dutta (1994–2009)
* Debbie Thrower (1995–97)
* Pam Ayres (1996–99)
* Alan Freeman (1997–2000)
* Andy Peebles (1998–2002)
* Janice Long (1999-2017)

#### Notable 20th Century programming or features

* Sunday Half Hour (1940-2013)
* Friday Night Is Music Night (1953-present)
* Pick of the Pops (1955-72, 1997-present)
* The Organist Entertains (1969-present)
* Big Band Special (1979-2013)
* Sounds of the '60s (1983-present)
* Sunday Night at 10 (1995-2013)

Find out more at bbc.co.uk/radio2.