Sounds of the Sixties

Facing fleets of pirate radio stations and teenagers hungry to hear the latest hits, the BBC had to change its tune. David Hendy explores how the corporation attempted to reach new audiences in the 1960s

- By David Hendy. Photographs by Getty Images

At 7 am on Saturday 30 September 1967, in a windowless studio in London, a pop revolution was ignited. Watched by his producer, the 24-year-old disc-jockey Tony Blackburn switched on his microphone, welcomed listeners across Britain to “the exciting new sound of Radio 1” and placed it onto his turntable 'Flowers in the Rain', the latest single from The Move. “It wasn't one of my favorite records, Blackburn later confessed, but “I wanted something nice and happy, something that reflected that era.

As the Summer of Love - a season of flower-power, love-ins, and teach-ins reached its psychedelic close, the BBC unveiled a new radio station dedicated to the latest tunes. The newspapers were agog. The Sunday Telegraph talked of a “gimmick-ridden corporation sending the nation's teenagers into orbit. The Observer declared it “Auntie's first freak-out”.

Never had a freak-out been so widely advertised in advance or so meticulously prepared for. Back in 1964, the fleet of unlicensed “pirate” radio ships that suddenly began beaming non-stop chart hits to mainland Britain from just outside its territorial waters had prompted a flurry of activity both within the BBC, understandably anxious about losing millions of listeners, and in the corridors of government, which worried about copyright and its obligation to enforce international laws over wavelengths. By August 1967, legislation initiated by Tony Benn in his previous role as postmaster general had effectively sunk Radio Caroline, Radio London, and the rest, paving the way for the BBC to provide a replacement service.