Radio London is back!

Yes! Radio London is back!

Exciting times!  Radio anoraks are probably going to have exploding heads!  Yes, Radio London is back.

I remember Radio London from my youth. I remember Tony Blackburn on the air mid-mornings on Radio London.  It was fantastic radio.

Hence my excitement at hearing that Tony Blackburn would be back as a main voice on the opening day of Radio London.  And how great is the news that the station will be broadcasting from the BT Tower in London.

But will Radio London be using the original jingles?

I know that on day one of Radio London‘s return, all the shows will include presenters from ‘back in the day’ alongside the modern day presenters.

I used to listen to Radio London so it will be good to hear all the old voices again.

Yes, my favourite time was Tony Blackburn doing the mid-mornings and flirting with ‘the ladies’ who called in to talk about his ‘12 inchers’.  That was Radio London at its best.

By now the really really old radio anoraks will realise I’m not talking about the return of the 1960s offshore radio station Radio London. That closed down in 1967, and that was that, never to be heard again. It isn’t coming back! Evah!

No, I’m talking about BBC Radio London, which started in October 1970. It grew from strength to strength and slowly evolved into becoming extremely relevant and in touch with modern Londoners.  Its peak was in the 1980s. And, those were the days of the 12 inchers!

Then they killed it and launched the pointless, out of touch and irrelevant “Greater London Radio”.  After a while they realised GLR was a folly.  Another relaunch, and it mutated into “BBC London 94.9”.  A mouthful!

Not only is constantly using the frequency in the title of the radio station no longer necessary, especially since the major radio listening is via digital radio, but equally mentioning the waveband is redundant.  This is why many other stations are dropping ‘FM’ (for example, ‘XFM’ becoming ‘Radio X’), and reverting to using the word ‘radio’ in their title.

So, on the occasion of their 45th birthday they’ve gone back to the name “BBC Radio London” and good luck to them.

As a refuge from London I still listen quite a lot, especially to Duncan Barkes and James Max, who lead the way with good radio that I wish we had up here.  Have a listen from Tuesday!