2017 in British radio

This is a list of events in British radio during 2017.

Events

January

• 3 January –
  • Bauer Radio's Cash for Kids appeal has raised £15.5 million for charity.^[1]
  • Former Free Radio presenter Gemma Hill joins Ed James as co-presenter of Heart Breakfast at Heart West Midlands, replacing Rachel New, who left the station in December 2016.^[2]
• 5 January – LBC have hired former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage to present an hour-long weeknight show for the station starting from 9 January.^[3]
• 6 January – Bed retailer Dreams have signed a long-term sponsorship deal with the Heart network to air features offering listeners advice on how to maximise their sleep.^[4]
• 8 January – Simon Bates confirms he has left BBC Radio Devon after presenting their breakfast show for two years.^[5]
• 9 January – BBC Radio 2 announces changes to its overnight schedule from the end of January. The After Midnight programme, presented by Janice Long and Alex Lester will be axed in favour of repeats of shows such as Sounds of the 60s and Pick of the Pops, while an automated service titled Radio 2 Playlists will air in the 2am–5am slot.^[6]
• 12 January – Talkradio announces the launch of its own version of Woman's Hour–Badass Women's Hour–which will air on Saturday evenings at 8pm from 14 January.^[7]
• 13 January – Channel 5 weather presenter Sian Welby will join Heart to present the weekday evening show from 16 January.^[8] A number of other presenters are also subsequently announced, all of who will be part of Heart's Feel Good Weekend; Annaliese Dayes will present Club Classics, while Anna Johnson and James Stewart will present shows on Sundays.^[9]
• 17 January – Cross Counties Radio announce plans to launch an online radio station for the 9,000 workers based at the Magna Park distribution centre in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.^[10]
• 18 January – Absolute Radio presenters Geoff Lloyd and Annabel Port announce their departure from the station.^[11]
• 19 January – The Armed Forces radio station BFBS announces it will cease broadcasting on the Digital One platform from March because of the cost of transmitting content through DAB.^[12]
• 21 January –
  • The BBC launches an investigation after a Twitter account belonging to BBC Northampton was hacked, and a fake news story posted claiming that US President Donald Trump had been shot.^[13]
  • Dermot O'Leary presents his final Saturday afternoon show for BBC Radio 2, having hosted the programme for twelve years.^[14]
• 28–30 January – Absolute Radio 90s is temporarily renamed Absolute Radio Frank to celebrate the 60th birthday of its presenter Frank Skinner.^[15]
• 29 January – Former England captain David Beckham is the castaway on the 75th anniversary edition of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.^[16]
• 30 January – London Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands is appointed editor of Radio 4's Today programme, replacing Jamie Angus; Sands becomes the second woman to take the role after Jenny Abramsky was appointed to the position in 1986.^[17]

February

• 1 February – Clare Teal presents Desmond Carrington – All Time Great, a special Radio 2 show celebrating the music played by Desmond Carrington during his time with the network.^[18] The programme airs on the day that Carrington's death is announced.^[19]
• 25 February – Brian Matthew presents his final edition of Sounds of the 60s for Radio 2, having taken the decision to retire from the weekly show because of ill health.^[20]

March

• 4 March – Tony Blackburn succeeds Brian Matthew as presenter of Radio 2's Sounds of the 60s. The two-hour show also moves to the earlier time of 6.00am.
• 29 March – BBC Radio 4 broadcasts the magazine programme Midweek, presented by Libby Purves, for the last time after 30 years.

April

• 10 April – BBC Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams announces that the arts programme Saturday Review will be axed in the autumn as part of cost-cutting measures; instead Front Row will get a Saturday highlights edition.^[21]
• 28 April – BBC Media editor Amol Rajan will succeed Steve Hewlett as presenter of Radio 4's The Media Show following Hewlett's death in February.^[22]

May

• 22 May – A light-hearted quiz concerning Moors murderer Ian Brady which appeared on Nathan Turvey's BBC Radio Leeds breakfast show the previous day is described by the BBC as "unacceptable".^[23]
• 26 May – London-based LBC announces that Katie Hopkins, who had presented a Sunday morning programme since April 2016, will leave the station immediately following a post she made on Twitter in the aftermath of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing in which she talked of the need for a "final solution".^[24]

June

• 9 June – Following a three week trial at Warwick Crown Court, former BBC radio presenters Tony Wadsworth and Julie Mayer are convicted of indecently assaulting under-age boys during the 1990s, and each jailed for five years.^[25]
• 14 June – BBC Radio 4 announces that Malawian comedian and Britain's Got Talent finalist Daliso Chaponda will have his own show on the network, titled Daliso Chaponda: Citizen of Nowhere.^[26]

July

• 24 July – The BBC announces a new music festival for 2018, which it is hoped will fill the gap left by Glastonbury, which is taking a year off. The Biggest Weekend will run from 25 to 28 May, and take place at four venues, one in each of the Home Countries. Coverage will be shown on BBC radio and television.^[27]
• 27 July – The BBC reverses its decision to axe the Radio 4 arts programme Saturday Review.^[28]

August

• 10 August – Radio 4 defends its decision to include an interview with Nigel Lawson in a segment of The Today Programme about climate change after the Green Party accused the former Chancellor of making "false claims" on the topic. Radio 4 says it has a duty to represent all sides of the climate change debate.^[29]

Station debuts

• 14 March – Heart 80s

Deaths

• 1 February – Desmond Carrington, 90, broadcaster (BBC Radio 2)^[30]
• 4 February – Howard Philpott, 63, newsreader (BBC Radio 4)^[31]
• 13 February – Sara Coward, 69, actress (The Archers)^[32]
• 20 February – Steve Hewlett, 58, broadcaster (BBC Radio 4)^[33]
• 8 April – Brian Matthew, 88, presenter Sounds of the 60s (BBC Radio 2)^[34]

References