 | |
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom – nationalMW |
|---|---|
| Frequencies | 693 kHz, 909 kHz (990 kHz inWest Wales) |
| Programming | |
| Format | Sports, children's and educational programmes |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | BBC |
| History | |
First air date | 27 August 1990 (1990-08-27) |
Last air date | 27 March 1994 (1994-03-27) |
BBC Radio 5 was a nationalradio station that broadcast sports, children's and educational programmes. It ran from 1990 to 1994 and was transmitted viaanalogue radio on 693 and 909 kHzAM.
On 28 March 1994, three years and seven months after the station started, it was replaced byBBC Radio 5 Live, following the success of rolling news coverage of theGulf War onRadio 4 News FM.[1]
A new fifth national radio station was first announced by theBBC on 9 October 1988.[2] In line with theConservative government's broadcasting policy at the time, the BBC ended its longstanding practice ofsimulcasting its services on bothAM andFM, freeing themedium wave frequencies whichBBC Radio 2 had been using since 23 November 1978 for another use.[3]
On 15 August 1990, Radio 2 began to draw to a close its medium wave transmissions by broadcasting a daytime information service providing advice about how to listen on FM as well as advertisements for the new station. This continued until 2.00 pm on the day before Radio 5's launch, and Radio 2 ended its medium wave transmissions at midnight on Sunday 26 August. Nine hours later, at 9.00 am on Monday 27 August, Radio 5 launched with five-year-old boy Andrew Kelly uttering the words:
Hello, good morning and welcome to Radio 5.
Prior to this, the new station's frequencies broadcast a long sequence of programming trails linked byJon Briggs (one of the station's launch presenting team) and pre-recorded sketches from comediansTrevor Neal and Simon Hickson (consisting of the two larking about in the studio amid the strains of "Sailing By", and Trevor suddenly being cut off while he was reading his so-called "Ode to Radio 5").[4] The official first programme wasTake Five, a pre-recorded programme byBruno Brookes.
Many believed that BBC Radio 5 was a service the four other main BBC stations did not want, reflected in a speech byJenny Abramsky, News International Visiting professor of Broadcast Media 2002 atExeter College,Oxford University. Abramsky described the service,[5]
The sports output from Radio 2 Medium Wave, all the Schools and Continuing Education programmes from Radio 4 FM, theOpen University programmes from Radios 3 and 4 FM, and programmes for children and young people from Radio 4 and some World Service output. This was a network with no audience focus, born out of expediency.
In 1991,Operation Desert Storm was launched, as part of the multinational response to theIraqiinvasion of Kuwait. From 16 January, Radio 4's FM frequencies were used to provide anall-news network for the coverage of the war, dubbed 'Radio 4 News FM' (or more popularly in the media asScud FM),[6] but despite protests mainly received praise for the quality of this service and the speed with which it was established. Following the end of the conflict, Radio 4 resumed its normal schedule but the positive response to commencing review into the possibility of providing a full-time news station, leading to the broadcast of a similar service onlongwave during the1992 general election campaign. Due to the resistance to any use of Radio 4 FM (or LW) frequencies, it was decided that Radio 5, criticised byJohn Birt as "improvised and disjointed", would relaunch as a combined news and sports channel.
The "old" Radio 5 signed off at midnight on Sunday 27 March 1994 with a pre-recordedNigel and Earl sketch at the end of one of the network's Irish music magazine programmeAcross the Line. Ten minutes later, the frequencies closed down for the night following aBBC Radio News and Sport bulletin and the newBBC Radio 5 Live began its24-hour service at 5:00 am on Monday 28 March.
The station was on air daily from 6.00 am until just after midnight although initially, apart from sports coverage, original programming was restricted to key times of the day – breakfast, mid-mornings and on weekdays drive and evening programmes for young people. The rest of the day was filled with simulcasts of other BBC stations and with programmes from theBBC World Service, which were broadcast for several hours each day. World Service programmes were aired at 6.00 am, 11.00 pm and for two hours on weekday afternoons,BBC Radio 3 was broadcast on weekday lunchtimes,[7] withBBC Radio 4 simulcast on Saturday evenings,[8] and on Sunday lunchtime and teatime.[9]BBC Radio 1 andBBC Radio 2 were also simulcast on Sundays – Radio 2 in the afternoon when there was no sports coverage and Radio 1 during the early evening during theOpen University's 1990/91 winter break.[10]
From spring 1991, the station started to expand its original programming and this replaced the rebroadcasting of programmes from other BBC networks. The first to be discontinued, at the end of March 1991, was the 11.00 pm World Service block, followed in autumn by the simulcasts of other BBC stations, and May 1992 saw the removal of the weekday afternoon block of World Service programmes. This meant that, from this point, the station was now producing its own programming every day from 6.30 am until just after midnight. The 6.00 am World Service news bulletin simulcast remained throughout the station's time on air.
The new network allowed the BBC to significantly enhance its sports coverage, especially in its later years. For example, during the1992 Barcelona Olympics, the network devoted its entire output to the event[11] and during the summer months, sports coverage was broadcast all afternoon every day of the week.
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