1982 in British radio

Events

January

• 2 January – Sue Townsend's comic character Adrian Mole is introduced to a national audience in a radio play, The Diary of Nigel Mole Aged 13¾, in BBC Radio 4's Thirty-Minute Theatre strand.
• 10 January – Tommy Vance replaces Tony Blackburn as host of Radio 1's Top 40 show.
• 18 January – Gloria Hunniford joins BBC Radio 2 to host the lunchtime show.

February

• 27 February – BBC Radio 1 broadcasts the final editions of Junior Choice and Playground.

March

• 1 March – Chiltern Radio's broadcast area expands when it begins broadcasting to the Bedford area.
• 6 March – Following the ending of Junior Choice, the BBC Radio 1 weekend breakfast show is renamed The Saturday Show/The Sunday Show. Children's requests continue to be a mainstay of the renamed show and Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin join Tony Blackburn as co-presenters.

April

• April – At the start of the Falklands War, Portsmouth-based Radio Victory begins 24-hour broadcasting.
• 9–10 April – BBC Radio 1 broadcasts a non-stop Marathon Music Quiz. Featuring two teams, Radio 1 and the Music Industry, it is scheduled to run continuously for 26 hours and 385 minutes, with Mike Read as quizmaster for the entire quiz. The overnight portion is broadcast live.

May

• 25 May – BBC Radio Carlisle expands to cover all of Cumbria and is renamed accordingly. As part of the expansion, BBC Radio Furness launches as an opt-out service.
• 30–31 May – BBC Radio York is permitted to provide a temporary service to cover Pope John Paul II's visit to York. The service, which runs for just over 24 hours, operates on what will become BBC Radio York's MW frequency when the station launches in July 1983, and is simulcast on BBC Radio Newcastle, BBC Radio Cleveland, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Humberside and BBC Radio Sheffield.

June

• No events.

July

• No events.

August

• No events.

September

• 20 September – Former BRMB presenter Ed Doolan joins the lineup at BBC Radio WM.
• 28 September – The BBC World Service becomes available to UK listeners for the first time, albeit only in southeast England, following the move of transmissions of the World Service from Crowborough to Orfordness.

October

• 1 October – After 32 years on air, Listen with Mother is broadcast for the final time. It is replaced by a shorter five-minute lunchtime programme called Listening Corner.

November

• 6 November – Saxon Radio begins broadcasting to the Bury St. Edmunds area. This is the first station to network most of its output from another, in this case, Radio Orwell in Ipswich.
• November – Christa Ackroyd becomes the UK's first female radio news editor when she takes over the news editor role at Radio Aire.

December

• 3 December – BBC Radio 1 and 2 simulcast for the final time.
• 4 December – The transmission time that BBC Radio 1 lost in March 1980 is regained. Programmes once again begin at 6am with Mike Smith returning to the station – he had been a presenter and producer in the mid 1970s – to present the new weekday early show. Weekend early shows are introduced, and the station also recommences Saturday evening broadcasting with Janice Long and Gary Davies joining to present the new shows. Programming is also extended by two hours on Sunday evenings with Annie Nightingale's request show returning to the airwaves after a nine-year hiatus. Thus, Radio 1 is now on air daily from 6am until midnight.
• 31 December – Regional programming on BBC Radio 4 ends with the final edition of Morning Sou'West, which broadcasts ahead of the launch of BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Cornwall.

Station debuts

• 23 February – Moray Firth Radio
• 15 March – BBC Radio Guernsey
• 16 March – BBC Radio Jersey
• 1 May – BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
• 25 May – BBC Radio Furness
• 4 October – Radio Wyvern
• 5 October – Red Rose Radio
• 12 October – Wiltshire Radio
• 6 November – Saxon Radio

Programme debuts

• December – Paddington Bear on BBC Radio 4

Continuing radio programmes

1940s

• ''A Book at Bedtime''

1950s

• ''Your Hundred Best Tunes''

1960s

• ''The Organist Entertains''

1970s

• ''Science in Action''

1980s

• ''Radio Active''

Ending this year

• 27 February – Junior Choice
• 1 October – ''Listen with Mother''

Births

• 4 May – John Robins, comedian and radio presenter
• 25 September – Matt Chorley, political journalist and broadcaster
• Unknown – Susanne Courtney, singer and radio personality

Deaths

• 26 June – Sandy Powell, comedian
• 16 November – Arthur Askey, comedian