Radio Newtown

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Radio Newtown plays non-stop music from the 80s, alongside carefully selected 90s and newer songs, timeless hits from the 60s and 70s, and overlooked oldies rarely heard on British radio. Enjoy a mix of classic hits across multiple genres, forgotten favourites and vinyl records being given another spin for a unique listening experience.

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A Brief History Of UK Radio

Radio in the UK goes back over a century and has played a major role in people's lives with news, entertainment and music.Radio technology was pioneered by inventors such as Guglielmo Marconi, who carried out wireless telegraphy experiments in Britain from 1897.The first regular broadcasts were made in 1922, first in Essex by the Marconi Company followed by the British Broadcasting Company in London, Birmingham and Manchester. Various other broadcast stations were then established in different regions by the BBC.Towards the late 1920s the early local stations became part of the BBC's network, using larger and more powerful transmitters. In 1927 the British Broadcasting Corporation was formed through a Royal Charter with a mission to "inform, educate and entertain." Eventually most parts of the country would be able to receive the BBC on Medium Wave.Radio then diversified with the launch of the BBC Light Programme, BBC Home Service, and BBC Third Programme. A few areas were provided with a VHF simulcast of the Medium Wave output starting from the mid-1950s when 87.5 to 95 MHz was put into use.At this time and throughout the early 1960s, the BBC dedicated only a few hours per week to pop music. Instead they chose to focus on light entertainment, classical music, and news. Young audiences increasingly wanted to hear more of the latest music from the many contemporary artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and were regularly tuning in to Radio Luxembourg on 208 metres where British pop music could be heard in the evenings.To meet the obvious demand for more music, offshore pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio London began broadcasting in the mid-1960s from ships anchored outside British territorial waters. They played continuous music, introduced new, younger DJs and attracted millions of listeners, helping to launch the careers of many British artists.In 1967, following the introduction of legislation that effectively ended most pirate broadcasting, BBC Radio 1 was launched. The station was designed to appeal to younger audiences and featured many former pirate DJs, including Tony Blackburn, who presented its first programme. Radio 1 became the UK's national pop music station and was listened to across Britain on Medium Wave.Also from 1967 the BBC began operating local radio stations, starting with BBC Radio Leicester. The VHF band had been widened up to 104 MHz to provide additional coverage. BBC Radio 1 would regularly borrow the national VHF frequencies of Radio 2 for a limited number of hours per week.During the 1970s and 1980s, more BBC local radio stations became available and there was the introduction of Independent Local Radio stations, funded by advertising, providing competition to the BBC who previously had a monopoly on radio broadcasting. The VHF band had by this time been expanded up to 108 MHz.From the 1970s each BBC and ILR station could be heard on FM and AM, simulcasting programmes to their local area and broadcasting a variety of music, news, sport, information, phone-ins, entertainment and community announcements. The choice of music was decided by the station manager and some freedom was also given to the DJs. Music output was generally a mix of contemporary and classic hits. A feature of most local radio stations were weekly specialist programmes, such as reggae, Asian music, rock and country and western music.Unlike the United States where VHF (FM) was developed early on, the UK's FM network was slowly introduced as an improvement to existing services, with nationwide coverage being built up over several decades. It wasn't until 1987 that Radio 1 could finally be heard on its own dedicated FM frequencies, starting in London before coverage was rolled out nationwide. Until then millions of radio listeners had mainly heard pop music on Medium Wave.Later legislation meant ILR had to split frequencies by broadcasting different programmes on AM and FM. Most ILR stations then started to play golden oldies on AM and contemporary pop music on FM.Further legislative changes enabled a proliferation of smaller and more specialised local "incremental" radio stations to commence broadcasting. These small stations included music genres which were previously only a minor feature of earlier radio stations and some of the new incremental stations catered to audiences previously served by FM radio pirates, whose numbers had increased dramatically by the late 1980s.The 1990s saw a large growth in the number of commercial stations, including new national stations such as Classic FM and Virgin 1215 AM, followed by greater use of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), and more specialised formats with stations increasingly targeting specific audiences based on age and musical tastes.During the 1990s large corporations began to buy groups of local radio stations and broadcast the same programmes across the network of frequencies to save costs. This trend continued, bringing to an end independent local radio as originally created in the UK. ILR disappeared and was replaced by quasi-national stations with limited playlists and the same programming for most of the day. All of the traditional commercial analogue stations are now owned by just a couple of huge corporations.Over the last 20 years the internet has transformed how people discover and listen to music. Medium Wave has almost been phased out. Listeners now have a choice on FM and DAB of BBC national and local stations, commercial networks, as well as community radio, online stations, and podcasts across various digital platforms and via smart speakers.While streaming services such as YouTube or Spotify are increasingly used to listen to new music, radio has continued to play an important role. Today, a vast number of music radio stations exist compared to the early days and radio continues to reflect changing musical tastes and the latest trends in British popular culture.From the first wireless experiments on the coastline of England to the many thousands of online and digital services available today, radio is constantly adapting to meet changes in technology. The radio stream linked to this website only exists because the technology is available which makes it possible to simulate a radio station for relatively small music licensing and running costs.

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Radio Newtown is licensed to stream recorded music to the UK.

Legal Notice
This site and radio stream are not affiliated with any other radio station, network or broadcaster. Radio Newtown is not tied to any particular town or locality. All content has been created purely for nostalgia, entertainment and is non-commercial. Any similarity with any other radio station, network or broadcaster is unintentional. Now you've read this, hit the play button and enjoy the music!