Timeline of BBC Radio 2

1960s

1967

• 30 September – BBC Radio 2 launches at 5:30am, replacing the BBC Light Programme. Paul Hollingdale, Kenneth Alwyn, Eric Robinson, Cliff Adams, Pat Doody, Barry Alldis, Teddy Johnson, Brian Matthew, David Jacobs, Ray Moore, Alberto Semprini, Humphrey Lyttelton, Sam Costa, Alan Dell, David Gell, Benny Green, Pete Murray, David Hamilton, and John Dunn all join.
• Friday Night Is Music Night, ''The Sunday Hour, Sing Something Simple, Mrs Dale's Diary, Woman's Hour, Round the Horne, Parade of the Pops and Family Favourites are all transferred from the Light Programme to Radio 2. The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' begins.

  1968

• Tom Edwards, Bob Holness, Michael Aspel, Charlie Chester, Katie Boyle and David Allan join.
• 9 June – Round the Horne broadcasts for the final time.
• Parade of the Pops broadcasts for the final time.

  1969

• 25 April – Mrs Dale's Diary broadcasts for the final time.
• 28 April – The first edition of soap opera Waggoners' Walk is broadcast.
• 11 June – The Organist Entertains, presented by Robin Richmond, is broadcast for the first time, as Richmond joins the station.
• Dance Band Days, a weekly half hour programme of predominantly British dance band recordings of the 1920s to early 1940s, is broadcast for the first time. It was introduced, until his death, by Alan Dell. The programmes were recorded off-air from FM broadcasts.

  1970s

1970

• Des Lynam, Peter Clayton, Alan Keith, and Tony Brandon join.
• 5 January – John Dunn becomes the first permanent presenter of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
• 3 April – Any Questions? is broadcast on BBC Radio 2 for the final time.
• 4 April – Following the transfer of BBC Radio's sports coverage from BBC Radio 3 to BBC Radio 2, the first edition of Sport on 2 is broadcast. The programme is much shorter in length than the old Sports Service due to a later start to the programme.
• 5 April – Your Hundred Best Tunes moves to the station from BBC Radio 4.
• The first voice heard on BBC Radio 2, Paul Hollingdale, leaves.
• The first edition of Folk on 2 is broadcast as Jim Lloyd joins the station.

  1971

• August – Eric Robinson hosts Melodies for You for the final time, as he leaves the station.
• 4 November – BBC Radio 2 begin broadcasting in stereo in South East England. Stereo was rolled out to the rest of the country over subsequent years.
• Kenneth Alwyn takes over as host of Melodies for You.
• Pat Doody leaves.

  1972

• 3 April – Terry Wogan joins to present The Radio 2 Breakfast Show. He replaces John Dunn who moves to afternoons. Breakfast Special disappears from the airwaves and a new early morning show is introduced, resulting in BBC Radio 2 starting the day on weekdays and Saturdays 30 minutes earlier, at 5am – Sunday broadcasting still commenced at just before 7am.
• 1 October – Sam Costa replaces Kenneth Alwyn as host of Melodies for You. Kenneth had hosted the show since the start of the year as Kenneth himself leaves the station.

  1973

• 2 July – Woman's Hour is transferred to BBC Radio 4 and Jimmy Young joins the station.
• Colin Berry joins the station as an announcer, newsreader and occasional presenter, and David Hamilton leaves for a while.
• Simon Bates joins, and Barry Alldis leaves.

  1974

• 29 September – David Jacobs replaces Sam Costa as host of Melodies for You.

  1975

• 6 January – Broadcasting hours are reduced due to budget cuts at the BBC. The former 5am to 2am schedule is reduced to a 6am start up Mondays to Saturdays, 6:55 on Sundays, and an earlier closedown time of around 12:33 each day. The cuts also see the weekday afternoon show, presented by David Hamilton, broadcast on both BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2, as Hamilton rejoins the station.
• 29 September
• * The station closes slightly earlier, concluding its day at around 12:10am Mondays to Fridays, and at 12:33am on Saturdays and Sundays.
• * BBC Radio 2 stops being available on VHF/FM for an hour on weeknights when it lends its VHF/FM frequencies to BBC Radio 1 between 11pm and midnight. Previously, it had been available on Long Wave only between 10pm and midnight between October 1971 and December 1974, when various progressive rock shows on BBC Radio 1 were given the higher-quality waveband.

  1976

• January – Simon Bates leaves the station to join BBC Radio 1.
• 4 October – John Dunn replaces Sam Costa as host of the drivetime programme.
• Sarah Kennedy joins.

  1977

• 4 April – From that night, BBC Radio 1 'borrows' BBC Radio 2's VHF/FM frequencies for two hours each weeknight – between 10pm and midnight.
• 28 November – David Hamilton's afternoon show is now heard on BBC Radio 2 only following the withdrawal of the 1975 economy measures.
• Sheila Tracy joins, and David Gell leaves.

  1978

• Bill Rennells joins.
• Brian Matthew takes BBC Radio 2's Round Midnight for the first time.
• 1 April – Broadcasting hours are extended to a 5am and 2am schedule when the budget restrictions were eased and the pre-1975 broadcasting hours are reintroduced.
• 23 November
• * Radio 2 moves from 1500m long wave to 433 & 330m medium wave as part of a plan to improve national AM reception, and to conform with the Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975.
• * The Shipping Forecast transfers from BBC Radio 2 to BBC Radio 4 so that the forecast can continue to be broadcast on long wave.
• 22 December – Industrial action at the BBC by the ABS union, which started the previous day, extends to radio when the radio unions join their television counterparts by going on strike, forcing the BBC to merge its four national radio networks into one national radio station from 4pm and called it the BBC All Network Radio Service. The strike is settled shortly before 10pm on Friday 22 December 1978, with the unions and BBC management reaching an agreement at the British government's industrial disputes arbitration service ACAS.

  1979

• Steve Jones joins.
• 27 January – BBC Radio 2 closes down for the final time and at 5am, Radio 2 begins continuous broadcasting 24-hours with You and the Night and the Music filling the overnight hours.
• September – Big Band Special broadcasts for the first time.

  1980s

1980

• 13 January – Family Favourites is broadcast for the final time.
• 3 March – Nigel Ogden replaces Robin Richmond as host of The Organist Entertains, as Ogden joins the station.
• 30 May – The final edition of soap opera Waggoners' Walk is broadcast.
• Ed Stewart joins the station to present the weekday afternoon programme.
• Robin Richmond leaves.

  1981

• 3 October – Kenny Everett rejoins Radio 2 to present a Saturday morning programme.
• 4 October – All Time Greats with Desmond Carrington is broadcast for the first time, as Desmond joins the station.
• 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.
• Sam Costa leaves.
• Gloria Hunniford and Charles Nove join.

  1982

• Stuart Hall joins, and Alberto Semprini leaves.
• 3 December – BBC Radio 2 is simulcast on BBC Radio 1 for the final time.

  1983

• 4 January – BBC Radio 2 revives Music While You Work.
• 12 February – Sounds of the 60s is broadcast for the first time a new programme dedicated to hits of the 60s, The show is presented by Keith Fordyce.
• December – Kenny Everett leaves the station. His departure comes a couple of weeks after he made a risqué on-air joke about Margaret Thatcher.
• Peter Dickson joins.
• Ed Stewart & Sarah Kennedy both leave for a while.

  1984

• 15 January – Pete Murray presents his final show as he leaves the station.
• 20 January – Ahead of changes to the schedule, following the decision not to renew the contract of long-standing presenter Ed Stewart, the year-long revival of Music While You Work ends and Gloria Hunniford takes over Ed's slot the following week. Steve Jones replaces Hunniford on the lunchtime show.
• 21 January
• * The overnight schedule is revamped. The station's original overnight show, You and the Night and the Music, is replaced by the return of Nightride and a new 60-minute programme, A Little Night Music which is presented by that night's duty newsreader rather than having a regular, named presenter.
• * Ken Bruce becomes a regular presenter as he joins the station when he takes over as the new host of the Saturday late-night show.
• 22 January – Sounds of Jazz moves to BBC Radio 2 from BBC Radio 1.
• 29 April – BBC Radio 2 launches a summer sports and entertainment programme. Called Summer Sounds, the programme mixes sports coverage with music, guests and entertainment. The programme is broadcast MW only with the usual Sunday afternoon schedule continuing on VHF/FM. Previously, Sunday sports coverage had been restricted to a 30-minute early evening round-up programme most weeks, but in the previous few years, as more summer sport moved to Sunday, special longer programmes had been broadcast increasingly frequently.
• 28 December – Terry Wogan ends his first run as presenter of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, as he leaves the station for a while.
• Tom Edwards leaves, and Martin Kelner and Canon Roger Royle join.

  1985

• 7 January – Ken Bruce takes over The Radio 2 Breakfast Show from Terry Wogan, and David Jacobs, who had presented Melodies for You since 1974, launches a new weekday lunchtime programme consisting mainly of tracks from musical theatre called My Kind of Music. He replaces Steve Jones who takes over the Saturday late show slot vacated by Bruce although by July, Martin Kelner had taken over the slot.
• 13 January – Robin Boyle replaces David Jacobs as host of Melodies for You.
• 28 September – A Little Night Music is broadcast for the first time. Airing daily between 3am and 4am, it replaces repeats of programmes previous broadcast on Radio 2. Instead of having a regular or named host, the programme is presented by that night's newsreader.
• BBC Radio 2 changes the format of Sounds of the 60s. The show is no longer hosted by a single presenter and instead a different artist from the era presents the programme each week.
• Steve Jones and Tony Brandon leave, and Chris Stuart, Steve Madden, Derek Jameson, and Angela Rippon join.