2005 in British radio

• 17 January – 268 radio stations, including national stations Classic FM and Virgin Radio, join together to broadcast UK Radio Aid, a twelve-hour event to raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

• 6 February – Les Ross returns to BBC Radio WM to present a weekly Sunday morning show. He had last worked at the station in the early 1970s.

• 6 March – JK and Joel take over as presenters of The Official Chart on BBC Radio 1.

• No events

• 23 May – As BBC staff stage a one-day strike over announced job cuts, Terry Wogan crosses the picket line to present his show.{{cite web | author=O'Carroll, Lisa | author2=Deans, Jason | author3=Day, Julia | name-list-style=amp | title=TV stars: why we crossed BBC picket line | work=Guardian Unlimited | date=23 May 2005 | url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1490230,00.html?gusrc=rss | accessdate = 31 December 2009}} Reportedly, he gives them a smile and wishes them all well. He explains on air that the reason for doing so is that he is contracted to host Wake up to Wogan and hence not directly employed by the BBC, and so cannot legally strike with their employees.

• 5–10 June – BBC Radio 3 clears its airwaves for almost an entire week to broadcast the music of a single composer – Ludwig van Beethoven.[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/dec/17/media.bbc Radio 3 clears the air for Beethoven.] This is followed up at the end of the year with ten days of non-stop Johann Sebastian Bach which is broadcast in the run-up to Christmas.{{cite web |title=Christmas with Bach |date=2005-12-12 |website=The Guardian|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817135030/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/dec/12/classicalmusicandopera.jsbach1 |archive-date=2022-08-17 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/dec/12/classicalmusicandopera.jsbach1}}
• 7 June – London's 102.2 Jazz FM is relaunched as 102.2 Smooth FM.
• 21 June – Emap buys Scottish Radio Holdings.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/jun/21/emap.citynews |title=Emap snaps up Scottish Radio Holdings |first=Stephen |last=Brook |work=The Guardian |date=21 June 2005 |accessdate=28 December 2014}}

• 7 July – 7 July 2005 London bombings: Four terrorist suicide bombings strike London's public transport system during the morning rush hour (killing 56), receiving extensive media coverage. The BBC sticks with initial reports of a power surge on the London Underground until actual events can be corroborated.{{cite news|quote=Some of our competitors talked immediately of 90 dead. They talked about three bus bombs. That was off a range of various wire services and it was complete speculation and we wouldn't go with that. We would be careful – we would try to check things out.|first=Matt|last=Wells|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/sep/12/mondaymediasection.tvnews|title=Interview with Helen Boaden|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|date=2005-09-12|access-date=2014-04-23}}
• 23 July – Les Ross takes over the Saturday breakfast show on BBC WM.
• 25 July – London's 102.2 Smooth FM signs a three-year deal with Chelsea F.C. to provide exclusive match coverage of the club's games until the end of the 2007–08 season.{{cite news|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/chelsea-smooth-fm-broadcast-deal/511320 |title=Chelsea in Smooth FM broadcast deal |publisher=Campaign Live |date=25 July 2005 |accessdate=19 May 2018}}

• 29 August – 106 Century FM is rebranded as Heart 106.

• September – A year after BBC Radio 2 stopped broadcasting a weekly edition of Pick of the Pops, the programme returns as a Sunday afternoon show.
• 8–12 September – BBC Radio 5 Live devotes its daytime schedule to broadcast extensive live coverage of the deciding Ashes cricket match.{{cite web |title=Cricket mania sweeps 5 Live |date=2005-09-02 |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405110035/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/sep/02/bbc.radio |archive-date=2023-04-05 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/sep/02/bbc.radio}} Normally, the station provides reports into its regular programmes.
• 12 September
• Radio Luxembourg returns to the airwaves after more than 12 years, now broadcasting via Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM). During August of that year, the parent operating company of Radio Luxembourg conducted digital test broadcasts to the UK on 7145 kHz using DRM, as well as for a time at 7295 kHz DRM.
• BBC Radio Norfolk switches on the West Runton transmitter, providing FM quality broadcasts of the station for North Norfolk, doing so as part of the station's 25th birthday celebrations. A month or so later, stereo FM broadcasts for West Norfolk begin on 104.4 MHz FM after more than 20 years of broadcasting in mono due to an off-air re-broadcast system which was unable to reproduce a clear noise free stereo signal.

• 13 October – BBC Radio 1 hosts the first John Peel Day, a year after John presented his final show for the station which was two weeks before his death.
• c. 18 October – Pirate radio stations broadcasting to the Handsworth and Lozells districts of Birmingham, most notably Hot 92, discuss an alleged rape, a contributory factor in the 2005 Birmingham riots.{{cite news|first1=Hugh|last1=Muir|first2=Riazat|last2=Butt|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/oct/24/race.ukcrime|title=A rumour, outrage and then a riot. How tension in a Birmingham suburb erupted|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=2005-10-24|accessdate=2023-04-17}}
• 31 October – Actress Mary Wimbush dies, aged 81, at The Mailbox studios of BBC Birmingham shortly after completing work on a recording session for The Archers.{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1853540,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110604015201/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1853540,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 June 2011|title=Mary Wimbush obituary|newspaper=The Times|location=London|date=2 November 2005|accessdate=2015-12-21}}

• November – What is now known as Radio 1 Podcasts launches.
• 3 November – BBC CWR returns as a stand-alone station.
• 25 November – The UK's first Islamic radio station, Islam Radio, is established in Bradford, West Yorkshire.{{cite news|url= http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=10244|title= Islamic radio to be launched|publisher= Muslim News|first= Mark|last= Casci|date= 24 November 2005|accessdate= 19 December 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110927212823/http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=10244|archive-date= 27 September 2011|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}}

• No events

• After being acquired by the CN Group, Kix 96 and its other sister stations in the south Midlands are rebranded as Touch FM.

• 21 February – Chill
• 7 June – 102.2 Smooth Radio
• 3 October – KMFM Ashford
• 1 November – Aston FM
• 25 November – Islam Radio
• 5 December – 102.6 & 106.8 Durham FM

• 7 January – Ed Reardon's Week on BBC Radio 4 (2005–Present)
• 4 August – The Ape That Got Lucky on BBC Radio 4 (4–25 August 2005)
• 15 September – Another Case of Milton Jones on BBC Radio 4 (2005–2010)
• 3 October – The Dream Ticket with Nemone on BBC 6 Music (2005–2006)

• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
• Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)
• Woman's Hour (1946–Present)
• A Book at Bedtime (1949–Present)

• The Archers (1950–Present)
• The Today Programme (1957–Present)
• Your Hundred Best Tunes (1959–2007)

• Farming Today (1960–Present)
• In Touch (1961–Present)
• The World at One (1965–Present)
• The Official Chart (1967–Present)
• Just a Minute (1967–Present)
• The Living World (1968–Present)
• The Organist Entertains (1969–2018)

• PM (1970–Present)
• Start the Week (1970–Present)
• You and Yours (1970–Present)
• I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (1972–Present)
• Good Morning Scotland (1973–Present)
• Newsbeat (1973–Present)
• File on 4 (1977–Present)
• Money Box (1977–Present)
• The News Quiz (1977–Present)
• Feedback (1979–Present)
• The Food Programme (1979–Present)
• Science in Action (1979–Present)

• Steve Wright in the Afternoon (1981–1993, 1999–2022)
• In Business (1983–Present)
• Sounds of the 60s (1983–Present)
• Loose Ends (1986–Present)

• The Moral Maze (1990–Present)
• Essential Selection (1991–Present)
• No Commitments (1992–2007)
• Wake Up to Wogan (1993–2009)
• Essential Mix (1993–Present)
• Up All Night (1994–Present)
• Wake Up to Money (1994–Present)
• Private Passions (1995–Present)
• Parkinson's Sunday Supplement (1996–2007)
• The David Jacobs Collection (1996–2013)
• Drivetime with Johnnie Walker (1998–2006)
• Sunday Night at 10 (1998–2013)
• In Our Time (1998–Present)
• Material World (1998–Present)
• Scott Mills (1998–2022)
• The Now Show (1998–Present)
• It's Been a Bad Week (1999–2006)
• Jonathan Ross (1999–2010)

• Dead Ringers (2000–2007, 2014–Present)
• BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (2000–Present)
• Sounds of the 70s (2000–2008, 2009–Present)
• Big John @ Breakfast (2000–Present)
• Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections (2001–2007)
• Jammin' (2001–2008)
• Go4It (2001–2009)
• The Jo Whiley Show (2001–2011)
• Kermode and Mayo's Film Review (2001–2022)
• The Big Toe Radio Show (2002–2011)
• A Kist o Wurds (2002–Present)
• The Day the Music Died (2003–2007)
• Fighting Talk (2003–Present)
• Jeremy Vine (2003–Present)
• Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music (2004–2006)
• Trevor's World of Sport (2004–2007)
• The Chris Moyles Show (2004–2012)
• Annie Mac (2004–2021)
• Elaine Paige on Sunday (2004–Present)

• 18 May – Puzzle Panel (1998–2005)
• 29 September – Jane Gazzo's Dream Ticket (2004–2005)
• October – Westway (1997–2005)
• 18 October – Think the Unthinkable (2001–2005)
• 9 November – Whispers (2003–2005)

• 2 January – Cyril Fletcher, 91, comic monologuist
• 6 March – Tommy Vance, 63, disc jockey{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4323345.stm|title=DJ Tommy Vance dies after stroke|publisher=BBC News|date=6 March 2005|accessdate=15 January 2010}}
• 19 March – John Ebdon, 81, radio broadcaster, Graecophile, author and director of the London Planetarium
• 7 November – Harry Thompson, 45, comedy producer, lung cancer
• 19 November – John Timpson, 77, news presenter (Today (BBC Radio 4)){{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4452358.stm|title=Broadcaster Timpson dies aged 77|publisher=BBC|date=19 November 2005|accessdate=2 November 2019}}
• 20 November – Jonathan James-Moore, 59, former BBC Radio head of light entertainment, cancer
• 21 December – Hallam Tennyson, 85, radio producer (great-grandson of Alfred, Lord Tennyson), suspected murder

{{reflist}}

Radio

British Radio, 2005 In

Category:Years in British radio