2004 in British radio

This is a list of events in British radio during 2004.

Events

• 5 January - Lesley Douglas succeeds Jim Moir as Controller of Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music.
• 5 January - Chris Moyles takes over the breakfast show on Radio 1.
• 6 January - The BBC announces that veteran broadcaster Barbara Sturgeon will leave Radio Kent at the end of the month to pursue other projects after two decades at the station.^[1]
• 10 February - Dave Lincoln, a well-known radio personality in Northwest England, and former Radio 1 presenter Andy Peebles will head the line-up when 100.4 Jazz FM is relaunched as 100.4 Smooth FM in March.^[2]
• 12 February - 100.7 Heart FM presenter Tushar Makwana dies in hospital following a hit-and-run incident during a botched robbery attempt at his home in Birmingham a few days earlier. Four teenagers were later convicted of his murder and given 10-year jail terms.^[3]
• 20 February - BBC Radio 4 airs the final Letter from America. The weekly 15-minute programme ran for 2,869 shows from 24 March 1946, making it the longest-running speech radio programme in history.
• 1 March - Johnnie Walker returns to his Radio 2 drivetime show following a nine-month break while he received treatment for cancer.^[4]
• 1 March - 100.4 Jazz FM is relaunched as 100.4 Smooth FM.
• 26 March – Mark and Lard (Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley) present their final show on BBC Radio 1 after 11 years and one failed eight-month stint on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show.
• 2 April - Chris Tarrant presents his final Breakfast show on London's 95.8 Capital FM after 17 years in the chair. He is succeeded by Johnny Vaughan.^[5]
• May - Saga 105.7FM presenter Brendan Kearney is sacked from the station for using an office computer to access pornigraphy.^[6] The incident had occurred at BBC Radio Cleveland where Kearney was the breakfast show presenter. Bosses reprimanded him, and after he quit the station alerted Saga who initially suspended him while an investigation was conducted.^[7]
• 7 June - Scott Mills takes over as presenter of the drivetime show on BBC Radio 1.
• 20 September - Mark Damazer succeeds Helen Boaden as controller of BBC Radio 4.
• December - Les Ross leaves Birmingham's Saga 105.7 FM following differences with station bosses. He claimed the station management was guilty of sending "nannying" e-mails which were turning him into a "robo-jock".

Station debuts

• 1 March - 100.4 Smooth FM
• 1 May - km-d (now KMFM Extra)
• 10 June - Kerrang! 105.2
• 7 September - Saga 105.2 FM

Closing this year

• 13 February - 100.4 Jazz FM (1994–2004)

Deaths

• 12 February - Tushar Makwana, 37, award-winning Birmingham based radio presenter
• 30 March - Alistair Cooke, 95, journalist, television personality and broadcaster, longtime presenter of Letter from America^[8]
• 30 March - Hubert Gregg, 89, BBC broadcaster
• 13 April - Caron Keating, 41, radio and television presenter
• 25 October - John Peel, 65, broadcaster and journalist^[9]
• 27 November - John Dunn, 70, broadcaster^[10]

References