Media UK

BBC Radio 2

Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and is the most popular station in the UK.

The station started at 7.00am on 30th September 1967, and succeeded the Light Programme, with some of the Light's music shows transferring to the newly-launched Radio 1. The first show however had actually started at 5.30am (on the Light programme) but continued on with Breakfast Special from Paul Hollingdale as Radio 1 split off. Until the mid-1990s it was mainly known for playing middle of the road music, but under controller James Moir, more contemporary records were added to the playlist and the old easy listening style was phased out. Today Radio 2 is the most listened to radio station in the UK, with its schedule filled with top name presenters like Terry Wogan, Steve Wright, Johnnie Walker, Bob Harris, Richard Allinson, Jonathan Ross, Mark Lamarr and Michael Parkinson. It has a demographic of adult listeners and tends to play music from the 1980s and 1990s as well as contemporary chart and indie music. Perhaps the main reason of Radio 2’s popularity in recent years is due to the desertion of former Radio 1 listeners when that station reverted to the youth audience in the late 90s.

On Sundays it reverts for much of the day to something decidedly closer to its old style, with presenters like Richard Baker and David Jacobs and long-standing programmes like "Sunday Half Hour" and "Your Hundred Best Tunes".

Whilst being adult orientated, it does not broadcast complete works of classical music, the domain of Radio 3, or offer in depth discussion, or drama, the job of Radio 4. It does however carry some half-hour comedy shows. The station does offer many musical documentaries and celebrity interviews and, up until the advent of Radio Five Live, was the BBC's main radio outlet for sports coverage (before becoming Five Live, Radio 5 was originally created by splitting off Radio 2's mediumwave frequencies, leaving Radio 2 on FM only). There is usually a mix of music and discussion of topical issues in the weekday lunchtime show. This slot was the preserve of Jimmy Young for many years but has now been taken over by Jeremy Vine.

Being a BBC station, it is funded by the television licence fee, and does not broadcast commercials.

BBC Radio 2's last closedown was at 0202 GMT on 27 January, 1979. Sarah Kennedy (who, following the fading of her 1980s television career, has been a daily early morning presenter on Radio 2 since 1993) was at the Newsdesk after Brian Newman finished the "Round Midnight" programme. From 0200-0500 GMT the following night onwards, late night listeners could listen to "You and the Night and the Music". Radio 2 has therefore had the longest period of continuous broadcasting of any national radio station in the UK - more than twenty-five years to date.

On this station, the BBC Pips are only broadcast at 6:00 transposed over the Radio 2 news jingle. However, they are also played at 8:00 on weekdays between gaps in Terry Wogan's self-styled banter. When Jonathan Ross sat in for Wogan in 2004, he failed to cut his own banter and consequently spoke over the pips.

Some or all material in this page has been adapted from the BBC Radio 2 entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_2), or others, in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), the free encyclopedia.