1981 in British radio

Events

January

• 2 January – Dave Lee Travis presents his final edition of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show after two and a half years at the helm.
• 5 January – Mike Read succeeds Dave Lee Travis as presenter of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show.

February

• 11 February – BBC Radio London begins broadcasting in stereo, and begins carrying BBC Radio 1 during its mid-evening downtime on weekdays between 20.00 and 22.00. It reverts to BBC Radio 2 when Radio 1 begins its nightly 'borrow' of Radio 2's VHF frequency.
• 19 February–9 April – BBC Radio 3 makes the unusual move of broadcasting a sitcom when it airs campus comedy serial Patterson.

March

• March – Garry Richardson first presents sports news on BBC Radio 4's Today programme; he will continue in this role until 2024.

April

• No events.

May

• No events.

June

• 6 June – BBC Radio 1 broadcasts a live sporting event as a one-off occurrence. The kick-off time is during Radio 1's 'borrow' of Radio 2's VHF frequencies. Radio 1 would normally be off the air on Saturday evenings, and simulcasting Radio 2, so by broadcasting the game on Radio 1's frequencies, Radio 2 is able to broadcast both the sporting event and its usual 19.00 programme.

July

• 4 July – BBC Radio Blackburn expands to cover all of Lancashire and is renamed accordingly.
• 27 July – Northsound Radio launched in Aberdeen from studios at 45 King's Gate.
• July – The Home Secretary approves proposals for the creation of Independent Local Radio services in 25 more areas.

August

• No events.

September

• 21 September – Steve Wright in the Afternoon is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 for the first time.
• 24 September – John Lade presents BBC Radio 3's Record Review for the final time. His last broadcast is the programme's 1,000th edition. Paul Vaughan takes over the programme the following week.

October

• October – BBC Radio Deeside is expanded to cover all of north east Wales and is renamed BBC Radio Clwyd
• 3 October – Kenny Everett rejoins the BBC to present a Saturday morning programme.
• 4 October – The first edition of All Time Greats, presented by Desmond Carrington, is broadcast on BBC Radio 2. The programme, broadcast on Sunday lunchtimes, remains on air until the late 2000s.
• 6–31 October – For four weeks, Radio 2’s overnight show, You and the Night and the Music, is replaced by 2’s Company with features a blend of music, drama, talks and documentaries from all the radio networks.

November

• 2 November – CB radio in the United Kingdom becomes legal.
• 23 November – BBC Radio Birmingham expands to cover the West Midlands, South Staffordshire, north Worcestershire and north Warwickshire and is relaunched as BBC Radio WM.

December

• Three months after launching, Essex Radio expands into mid-Essex when it starts broadcasting from transmitters located near Chelmsford.

Station debuts

• 27 July – Northsound Radio
• 1 September – Radio Aire
• 7 September – Centre Radio
• 12 September – Essex Radio
• 15 October – Chiltern Radio
• 27 October – Radio West
• 4 December – West Sound Radio

Programme debuts

• 19 February – Patterson, BBC Radio 3
• 8 March – The Lord of the Rings, BBC Radio 4
• 21 September – Steve Wright in the Afternoon, originally billed as Steve Wright, BBC Radio 1
• Tom Menard's Local Tales, BBC Radio 2

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

• ''A Book at Bedtime''

1950s

• ''Your Hundred Best Tunes''

1960s

• ''The Organist Entertains''

1970s

• ''Science in Action''

1980s

• ''Radio Active''

Births

• 13 January – Des Clarke, Scottish comedian and broadcast presenter
• 25 May – Huw Stephens, Welsh radio presenter
• 1 July – Clemency Burton-Hill, classical music presenter
• 3 September – Fearne Cotton, broadcast presenter

Deaths

• 7 January – Alvar Liddell, 72, BBC Radio announcer and newsreader
• 10 February – Leonard Plugge, 91, commercial radio promoter and politician
• 15 March – Derek Roy, 58, comedian
• 13 April – Gwyn Thomas, 67, Welsh writer and broadcaster
• 23 September – Sam Costa, 71, crooner, voice actor and disc jockey
• 30 November – Val Gielgud, 81, pioneer director of broadcast drama