Editing Timeline of the BBC (section)

== 1970s ==
[[File:BBC logo (80s).svg|right|200px|BBC logo between 1970 and 1992]]
* '''1970'''
** A number of [[BBC Local Radio]] stations launch – [[BBC Radio Manchester]] (10 Sept), [[BBC Radio Bristol]] (4 Sept), [[BBC Radio London]] (6 Oct), [[BBC Radio Oxford]] (29 October), [[BBC Radio WM|BBC Radio Birmingham]] (9 Nov), [[BBC Radio Kent|BBC Radio Medway]] (18 December), [[BBC Radio Solent]] (31 Dec) and [[BBC Tees|BBC Radio Teesside]] (31 December).
** 4 April – BBC Radio's sports coverage transfers from [[BBC Radio 3]] to [[BBC Radio 2]].
** 14 September – [[Robert Dougall]] presents the first edition of the ''[[BBC Nine O'Clock News]]''. The programme, launched in response to [[ITN]]'s ''[[ITV News at Ten|News at Ten]]'', was controversially moved to 10{{nbsp}}pm in 2000.

* '''1971'''
** The BBC logo's boxes rounds off the corners and increases the spaces.
** The first programmes for the [[Open University]] are broadcast.
** 2 January - [[BBC Radio Newcastle]] launches
** 26 January – [[BBC Radio Lancashire|BBC Radio Blackburn]] launches.
** 25 February – 
***[[BBC Radio Humberside]] launches.
***The animated children's adventure series ''[[Mr Benn]]'' airs on BBC1 with the copyright year shown from the previous year (1970) in the end credits shortly before the BBC tv logo. However the other regular BBC programmes unlike ''The Trumptonshire Trilogy'' still wouldn't show any copyright years until the following year (1972).
** 29 April – [[BBC Radio Derby]] launches.
** 10 June – The BBC's new [[Pebble Mill Studios]] in Birmingham are opened by [[Princess Anne]].

* '''1972'''
** 4 April – The first edition of ''[[John Craven's Newsround|Newsround]]'' is broadcast.
** 25 August – When the government restricted the BBC to twenty local radio stations, the corporation responds by closing [[BBC Radio Durham]]. Its resources are transferred to [[Carlisle]] where BBC Radio Carlisle, now [[BBC Radio Cumbria]], was formed. 
** 2 October – Following a recent law change, BBC1 and ITV are allowed to begin broadcasting a full afternoon schedule with both broadcasters now broadcasting non-stop from lunchtime. [[BBC1]]'s afternoon schedule launches with the first edition of a new lunchtime magazine programme ''[[Pebble Mill at One]]''. 
** 4 November – Radios 2 and 4 begin broadcasting in stereo in South East England. Stereo was rolled out to the rest of the country over subsequent years.<ref>Brown, Ron [https://books.google.com/books?id=4hD8LSniK3MC&dq=%22new+scientist%22+%22steam+radio+comes+up+to+date%22&pg=PA264 "Steam radio comes up to date"], ''New Scientist'' 2 November 1972, p. 264</ref>

* '''1973'''
** 4 January – The pilot episode of ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'' airs on television. The regular series, which begins on 12 November, becomes the longest-running sitcom in the world, running for 37 years.
** 2 April – BBC2 broadcasts the first programme produced by the BBC's [[Community Programme Unit]]. It had been commissioned the previous year to help members of the public create programmes to be broadcast nationally. 
**24 August – BBC2 broadcasts a [[trade test colour film]] for the final time, having done so during daytime closedowns to provide colour broadcasting in these intervals for use by television shops and engineers (the 'trade') to adjust their television sets.
** 10 September – ''[[Newsbeat]]'' bulletins air on [[BBC Radio 1]] for the first time. 
** 24 November – [[BBC Radio Cumbria|BBC Radio Carlisle]] launches.
** 17 December – The British government imposes early close downs of all three television channels in the UK from this date in order to save electricity during the crisis which culminates in imposition of a [[Three-Day Week]] from 31 December. The restrictions force BBC1 and BBC2 to end their broadcasting day at 10:30{{nbsp}}pm. They are lifted temporarily on Christmas Eve to allow the public to enjoy festive programming, then recommence on Monday 7 January 1974, ending on 8 February 1974.

* '''1974'''
** 7 January – A two-minute mid-afternoon regional news summary is broadcast on [[BBC1]] for the first time. It is transmitted immediately before the start of the afternoon's children's programmes.
** 1 April – [[BBC Tees|BBC Radio Teesside]] is renamed BBC Radio Cleveland.
** 23 September – [[Teletext]] service [[Ceefax]] goes live.
**December – The BBC1 Mirror globe changes colour from blue on black to yellow on blue.

* '''1975'''
** 1 January – [[BBC Radio Ulster]] is launched.
** 4 January – Due to cutbacks at the BBC, BBC Radio 2's broadcasting hours are cut back, with the station now starting their day at 6:00{{nbsp}}am instead of 5:00{{nbsp}}am, and their broadcasting day concluding at around 12:33{{nbsp}}am instead of 2:02{{nbsp}}am.  Later in the autumn of 1975, BBC Radio 2 would end their day slightly earlier at around 12:10{{nbsp}}am, except on Saturdays and Sundays when the station would continue until around 12:33{{nbsp}}am. These cutbacks would remain until 1978, however at Christmas 1975, 1976 and 1977 BBC Radio 2 hours were extended over the festive season.
** 6 January – Due to these cutbacks, [[BBC1]] stops broadcasting regular programmes on weekday afternoons between 2&nbsp;pm and 4&nbsp;pm other than schools programmes and sport. This meant ITV was often the only channel providing afternoon viewing. As an additional economy measure, BBC2 transmitters were turned off for much of the daytime if no programmes were being broadcast.

* '''1976'''
**September – The credits of each programme produced by the BBC reveals the copyrighted years in Roman numerals for the first time since ''[[Chigley]]'' in 1969.

* '''1977'''
** 3 January – [[BBC Radio Cymru]] is launched.
** 9 May – [[BBC Radio Orkney]] and [[BBC Radio Shetland]] launch as opt-out stations from [[BBC Radio Scotland]]. 
** 19 October – The first edition of a new weekly magazine programme for Asian women, ''[[Gharbar]]'', is broadcast. The programme had only been intended to run for 26 weeks but continued for around 500 weeks, finally ending in April 1987.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1977-10-19 BBC Genome Project BBC2 listings 19 October 1977]</ref>
** 25 December – ''[[The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968–1977)|The Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show]]'' on [[BBC1]] attracts an audience of more than 28 million, one of the highest ever in UK television history.

* '''1978'''
** The BBC organises its first [[BBC Young Musician of the Year|Young Musician of the Year]] competition.
** 24 May – ''[[Nationwide (TV series)|Nationwide]]'' airs the famous [[Skateboarding duck]] report.
** 23 November –
*** All BBC national radio stations change their medium or long wave transmission wavelength as part of a plan for BBC AM broadcasting in order to improve national AM reception, and to conform with the [[Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/History_Transmission.pdf|title = History of Radio Transmission in the UK|publisher= Frequency Finder}}</ref> [[BBC Radio 1|Radio 1]]'s transmission wavelength is moved from 247m (1214&nbsp;kHz) to 275 & 285m (1053 & 1089&nbsp;kHz) medium wave.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/transmitter.htm|title= Radio 1 History – Transmitters|publisher= Radio Rewind|access-date= 18 February 2010}}</ref> [[BBC Radio 2|Radio 2]]'s wavelength is moved from 1500m (200&nbsp;kHz) long wave to 433 & 330m (693 & 909&nbsp;kHz) medium wave.  [[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]] is moved from 464m (647&nbsp;kHz) to 247m (1215&nbsp;kHz) medium wave.  [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] is moved from various medium wavelengths to 1500m (200&nbsp;kHz) long wave.
*** The [[shipping forecast]] transfers from [[BBC Radio 2]] to [[BBC Radio 4]] so that the forecast can continue to be broadcast on [[long wave]].
*** The [[Radio 4 UK Theme]] is used for the first time to coincide with the network becoming a fully national service for the first time and to underline this the station officially becomes known as Radio 4 UK, a title that remains until mid 1984.
** November – Due to Radio 4's transfer from medium wave to long wave, [[BBC Radio Scotland]] and [[BBC Radio Wales]] launch as full-time stations on Radio 4's former Scottish and Welsh medium wave opt-out wavelengths of 370m (810&nbsp;kHz) and 340m (882&nbsp;kHz) respectively, albeit initially with very limited broadcast hours due to very limited coverage of [[BBC Radio 4]] on FM in both countries.
** 21–22 December – The BBC is crippled by its most famous strike, which leads to record viewing figures for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]. BBC1 and BBC2 television are off the air on 21 and 22 December. On 22 December the unions called out their radio colleagues on strike, meaning BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 were "collapsed" into one emergency "All Network Service" from 4:00{{nbsp}}pm until the end of their broadcasting day at 2:05{{nbsp}}am.  The strike was settled by 10:00{{nbsp}}pm on 22 December with a pay increased awarded to BBC staff. BBC Television and Radio stations resumed normal broadcasting on 23 December.
** The [[BBC]] Film and Videotape Library is created as a permanent archive for its television programmes. Prior to this the BBC had no central archive and material stored in the BBC's various libraries were often either [[Lost television broadcast#Wiping|wiped]] or discarded so that new programmes could be recorded as videotape was expensive, and also because the BBC Film Library and the Engineering Department, which had handled videotape, had no mandate to retain material.<ref name=dampw/>

* '''1979'''
** 27 January – [[BBC Radio 2]] becomes the first national 24-hour radio station in the UK.
** 1 March – [[BBC2]] unveils its [[BBC Two 'Computer Generated 2' ident|computer generated ident]], the first computer-generated ident in the world. The second such ident is unveiled by US broadcaster [[NBC]].
** 27 August – The murder of [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]] by the IRA sets a record audience of 26 million for a news bulletin. Strike action at [[ITN]] led to the record viewing figures.
** 11 September – [[BBC Radio Foyle]] launches as an opt-out station from [[BBC Radio Ulster]].
** 25 September – The first edition of ''[[Question Time (TV series)|Question Time]]'' is broadcast.