1998 in British radio

Events

January

• 21 January – Capital FM mid morning presenter Steve Penk attracts national attention after making a prank call to 10 Downing Street in which he pretends to be William Hague and speaks to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

February

• 16 February – The PopMaster quiz segment of the Ken Bruce Show on BBC Radio 2 is first broadcast.

March

• March – Andy Parfitt replaces Matthew Bannister as controller of Radio 1.
• March – Isle of Wight Radio switches from AM to FM broadcasting. In addition to its main transmitter at Chillerton Down, the station uses three relay transmitters to cover the full island.

April

• 1 April – By way of an April Fool's stunt, Kix 96 breakfast show presenter Nic Tuff calls South African president Nelson Mandela pretending to be British prime minister Tony Blair.
• 4 April – BBC Radio 3's weekday breakfast programme On Air begins broadcasting at the weekend.
• 6 April – Extensive schedule changes are made to BBC Radio 4. These include an earlier start to the day – 5:30am instead of 6am – and an earlier, 6am, start to Today. Many long standing programmes are axed as part of the shake-up and arts magazine Kaleidoscope is replaced by Front Row.
• 12 April – A Sunday evening episode of The Archers is introduced.
• 13 April – After nearly 30 years on air, Dance Band Days is broadcast on BBC Radio 2 for the final time.
• April – After just seven months on air, East Midlands station Radio 106 is rebranded as Century 106 and relaunched with a new team of presenters.

May

• No events.

June

• 1 June – Capital Gold replaces South Coast Radio. 1998 also sees Capital Gold rolled out in Birmingham and Kent, replacing Xtra AM and Invicta Supergold respectively.
• June – Emap purchases London station Melody 105.4 FM.

July

• 9 July – The BBC unveils a new range of digital car stereos that will go on sale in August.

August

• August – Virgin Radio launches a new Saturday afternoon football show called Rock 'n' Roll Football.

September

• September – Kevin Greening leaves the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show, leaving Zoë Ball as sole presenter. She continues to host the show until March 2000.

October

• 2 October – John Dunn presents his final drivetime show on Radio 2 after 22 years.
• 4 October – On Radio 2, David Jacobs presents Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century, a 13-part documentary about the life and career of Frank Sinatra. The series concludes on 27 December.
• 5 October
• *A major overhaul of the BBC Radio 2 schedule sees many new faces joining the network, including the singer Katrina Leskanich and former Radio 1 presenter Lynn Parsons, who present overnight shows on weekdays and weekends respectively. Johnnie Walker also joins Radio 2 as a regular presenter hosting the afternoon drivetime show. Sally Boazman becomes the station's first official traffic presenter.
• *One hour of Virgin Radio's breakfast show starts simulcasting on Sky One. When a track is played on the radio, viewers see the song's video.
• 9 October – Des Lynam joins Radio 2 to present a weekly drivetime programme on Fridays.
• 12 October – Chris Moyles is promoted from the Early Breakfast show to present the Radio 1 Early Drive show, between 4pm and 5:45pm on weekdays. He replaces Dave Pearce, and is replaced on Early Breakfast by Scott Mills.
• 15 October – Launch of In Our Time, a weekly series of historical, scientific, literary or philosophical discussions between a presenter and three academics on BBC Radio 4. It will pass its 1000th edition in 2023 and be chaired by Melvyn Bragg until 2025.

November

• 12 November – TalkCo Holdings, whose chairman and chief executive is former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, purchases Talk Radio.
• 19 November – Mellow 1557 closes and relaunches on FM as Dream 100.

December

• December – Melody Radio is renamed Magic 105.4 FM following the purchase of Melody Radio by Emap.

Unknown

• BBC Local Radio stations start carrying BBC Radio 5 Live instead of the BBC World Service when they are not on air. Consequently, the station is heard regularly on FM for the first time, albeit only during overnight hours.

Station debuts

• 17 January – KMFM Thanet
• 1 March – Huddersfield FM
• 7 March
• *Isle of Wight Radio
• *Isles FM
• 23 March – Star Radio (Cambridge and Ely)
• 27 March – 107 Crash FM
• 10 April – Arrow FM
• 18 May
• *Kestral FM
• *Active FM
• 25 May – Silk FM
• 6 June – Centre FM
• 14 June – Wave 105
• 15 August – QuayWest Radio
• 1 September – Wire FM
• 7 September – CAT FM
• 8 September – Century 105
• 5 October – Kingdom FM
• 7 October – Peak FM
• 18 October – Chelmer FM
• 1 November – Fosseway Radio
• 28 November – RNA Arbroath
• 29 November – The Falcon
• 11 December – Champion FM
• 13 December – Rutland Radio

Programme debuts

• January – Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1
• 4 March – World of Pub on BBC Radio 4
• April – Bussmann and Quantick Kingsize on BBC Radio 4
• 9 April – Material World
• 11 April – The Archive Hour on BBC Radio 4
• 19 April – Broadcasting House on BBC Radio 4
• 20 May – The Alan Davies Show on BBC Radio 4
• 2 July – Puzzle Panel on BBC Radio 4
• 17 July – Like They've Never Been Gone on BBC Radio 4
• 31 July – The Write Stuff on BBC Radio 4
• 13 August – The Very World of Milton Jones on BBC Radio 4
• ? August – Dan and Nick: The Wildebeest Years on BBC Radio 4
• 22 September – The 99p Challenge on BBC Radio 4
• 26 September – The Now Show on BBC Radio 4
• 4 October – Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century on BBC Radio 2
• 5 October – Drivetime with Johnnie Walker on BBC Radio 2
• 9 October – Des Lynam on BBC Radio 2
• 15 October – In Our Time 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

• ''Loose Ends''

1990s

• ''Westway''

Ending this year

• 3 April
• * The Afternoon Shift
• * Breakaway
• * Kaleidoscope
• * Week Ending
• 27 December – ''Frank Sinatra: The Voice of the Century''

Closing this year

• 31 May – Xtra AM
• Unknown – South Coast Radio
• Late 1998 – European Klassik Rock

Deaths

• 2 January – Frank Muir, comedy writer
• 11 April – Francis Durbridge, scriptwriter
• 22 June – Benny Green, jazz saxophonist and radio presenter
• 18 July – Betty Marsden, comedy actress
• 4 August – Charles Maxwell, radio producer
• 2 October
• * Ken Platt, Lancashire comedian
• * Raymond Raikes, radio drama producer
• 20 October – Frank Gillard, broadcaster and executive