Chiltern Radio - Launch Day - 15 Oct 1981

It's 6am on Thursday October 15th 1981 and Britain's newest independent local radio station takes to the air - Chiltern Radio, serving Beds, Herts and Bucks.
This recording is taken from "the mighty Sandy Heath transmitter" blasting out on FM as far as my radio-cassette recorder in Oxfordshire! (Apologies for the dip in volume during the opening jingle!)
By 2009, the party was over as far as the "Chiltern Radio" brand was concerned, following mergers/takeovers with GWR, then GCap Media, then Global which spread its Heart network still further.
Many will look back fondly on these days, when every independent station had a distinct and local sound rather than the bland networked output which dominates today's airwaves. Only the smaller (incremental) stations keep that local flag flying in towns like Banbury (Banbury FM) and Aylesbury (Mix 96).
Thanks for watching - and listening! :)

[@Nick-xi9lm]

I use to be able to pick AM signal up by daytime & I lived in Staffordshire. Good old days.

[@sharonbrisbane3747]

I used to listen back in the day, 😀

[@Andy-Robus]

I tuned in on this first day and if my memory serves me correctly the first ever ad was for a Local Window Cleaning Firm and to the tune of "when I'm Cleaning Windows' - a week before launch there was a promo tape on loop which played 'Im lucky, I can walk under ladders' and 'the boxer' by art and garfunkle and Phil Fothergill and Paul McKenna telling you about their shows they were going to do - exciting times having our own Local Radio station in Dunstable.

[@Goodchappy]

It is so sad that Chiltern and all the other actual local stations, no longer exist. I loved a lot of the Chiltern jingles but that first one they played on launch day was awful. 35 years ago, gosh!

[@simonharrisson2837]

I grew up with Chiltern. So sad that local radio no longer exists. National stations, are a disaster

[@RetroRadioUK]

I agree - I was explaining this to a 20 year-old only yesterday... an era when we had a network of individual, distinct and entertaining local independent stations... although I know that many of them struggled to make much money...