News and Events

BU launches UK’s first commercial radio archive

13 December 2007

A unique online sound archive has been launched, featuring material from local commercial radio stations broadcast during the 1980s.

Professor Sean Street, from our Media School has launched the ‘Independent Local Radio Sharing Archive – the Felicity Wells Memorial Collection’ – the UK’s first commercial radio sound archive.

The archive includes material from Capital Radio, Radio Clyde, Red Rose Radio, LBC and 2CR during a decade of political and social change.

Included are documentaries such as ‘AIDS – The Facts’ (LBC, 1987) and ‘Heroin – the Killing of Christopher’ (Mercia Sound, 1985), as well as plays, phone-ins and interviews.

The collection is named in memory of Felicity Wells, an influential figure in commercial radio programming during the period. It was launched at the RadioCentre, the UK’s trade body for today’s commercial radio industry.

Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive of RadioCentre says it will be a great education and research resource: “The UK’s first online commercial radio sound archive is a fantastic resource which will enable schools, colleges, researchers and broadcasters to access easily and listen to commercial radio programmes from the 1980s.

“These programmes capture the mood of the time and ensure commercial radio has its rightful place in broadcasting history.”

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Council, the project was a partnership between the Centre for Broadcasting History Research in our Media School, and the British Library Sound Archive.

Project Director, Professor Sean Street says: “This is only the first part of a three-part online project to make available UK Commercial Radio's history for educational purposes. We are grateful to our partner, the British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC), on whose site our collections will be hosted for future generations of radio scholars and historians.”

Audio Samples

We’ve included two audio samples from the archives you can listen to (below).

These programmes are significant because they reveal the media’s response to two social, cultural and political issues of the 1980s – a pivotal decade in British (and radio) history. They also demonstrate how commercial radio programme ideas were developed and produced during this key period.

AIDS – The Facts

AIDS – The Facts, was produced by LBC, London, and broadcast in 1987 across a range of ILR stations, when the UK death toll from this newly recognised disease was 300 people.

The programme was made alongside a huge Government leaflet campaign, sent to every household in the UK, to put the record straight on issues such as prevention and infection.

Heroin – The Killing of Christopher

Heroin – The Killing of Christopher, was a documentary produced by Mercia Sound, Coventry, broadcast in 1985.

The programme tells the story of a young heroin addict and discussed the efforts made by police, customs and Government to combat the UK’s growing heroin problem.

Listen to samples from the Archive:

> Download the Press Release for this article (Word 79KB)