BBC frequency-change memorabilia, 1978!

[Al (astral highway)]

I found this the other day - it's the public information leaflet about BBC radio frequency changes, Nov 23, 1978. Does anyone remember this?

I do! I was just 15 and just bought my first (second hand) transistor radio, a Hacker, from a house clearance place called Gieves Furniture Mart. It was 50p.

Curiously, my parents did not listen to radio at all and our home was very socially isolated. I had been in a strangely cut-off world until building a crystal radio a year earlier to listen to Radio Caroline at night. I didn't even know, until New Year of the same year, what 'the charts' were. So this piece of paper symbolises in some ways catching up with the real world and the normal culture of a teenager that had been a bit hard to access for me.

I remember putting the new frequencies on my Hacker radio dial and being blown away by the new world that was available to me. The Top 40! wow!

So, what does this bring back for you?

(*I had already been looking inside defunct valve radios from the same source for some years, as well as the anatomy of valves, and knew quite a lot more about them from studying hard-bound collections of repair manuals (as well as for TV) in the reference library.)

[mark_in_manc]

Is this when the little diamond stickers came along? I was a little younger - 7 - and getting some free stickers was a bit of a big deal. I think I was allowed to be the one to stick them (in the right places!) on the radio. I'm also reminded of the jingle - sings - '275, 285 - radio one!'

(Your story Al made me think of my eldest (15) who asked me the other day 'Dad, what's Radio 1?'. I was simultaneously sad for her personally, a bit disgusted at how middle-class I've ended up (R4, until I get fed up with speakers promoting themselves, then R3, unless it's opera, then R2 (mostly when I'm out and the missus puts it on!), and a bit sad for R1 than it would now seem to be a sideshow).

[baza100]

My radio still has the diamond stickers on . Thanks Barry

[Stuart R]

I was aged 7 too and remember those very sticky stickers, plus the King's Singers song.

It's featured here, and plenty more memories of the time, if you have an hour to spare. Stick with it for a DAC90 based-cartoon and an alternative song from (presumably) The News Huddlines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7zY7cBO5u0

Regards,

SR

[Andrew2]

Oh yes. I was 25 and working in the 'trade' at the time. We had sheets of stickers to give to every customer and many customers (especially the old ladies) seemed non-plussed by it all. We ended up sticking them on for people.
There are still plenty of old radios about with the stickers still on, in fact they seem positively welded in place!

[stainless]

I was living in Brixton, South London at the time - it was such a rough area, nobody came and delivered the leaflets and diamonds!

[Richard_FM]

Here's a picture of a sticker sheet.

My Dad's Grundig Elite Boy 700 had the diamonds stuck on it.

Years later I did the same with my Grundig Radio Tape recorder using the numbered stickers from a blank tape.

[AmateurRepairer]

I have an absolutely mint one of those wavelength changes stickers, hard to find.

[G6Tanuki]

I remember going to several of the summer Radio1 Road Shows (at coastal towns like Lowestoft, Aberystwyth and Bude) and at a couple of them they were giving out goodie-bags which generally included a Radio1 Road Show balloon or punched-sheet-of-cardboard sun-hat along with the frequency-change listings and little diamond-sticker packs.

Never did get selected to go on-stage for "Bits and Pieces" or "Smiley Miley's Mileage Game" though https://www.vintage-radio.net/images/smilies/angry.gif

[Mach One]

I'm intrigued by your comment of using a crystal set to listen to Radio Caroline at night. I don't remember it being a stong-enough or clear enough signal to potentially be listenable on such a radio or so easily separated from the neighbouring channels? By 1978 the broadcasts had moved from their 259-frequency to what they called 319 - maybe that was easier?

[Al (astral highway)]

Hi MachOne,

It was definitely Radio Caroline. There wasn’t another radio only family and I well remember being blown away by the station when it came in loud and clear on my home-made crystal set. I had never heard of it before this.

I had a long wire that went out of my window, across the garage roof, 30 metres down the lawn and then hurled high into a Copper beech tree in the garden.

Also I lived in the South East of England (Kent near border with london) — perhaps that made a difference?

[mark_in_manc]

Long grain copper beech? (sorry ).

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by mark_in_manc

Long grain copper beech? .

That sounds like a kind of timber? This was a living tree, and protected.

Overall that long wire aerial was probably 60m long and 10 metres high.

[HamishBoxer]

I thought Radio Atlantic was on 319??

[dsergeant]

Remember it well, as well as all the publicity beforehand. Almost as much as we had for digital TV changeover! Looks like I was a tad older than the rest of you, 29 at the time and well esconced in work and in my first home. Still see the odd radio come this way with the little stickers on.

Dave

[mark pirate]

I remember these stickers coming through the door and promptly stuck them on my bedroom set, an old Ace A50, purchased from a jumble sale for 20p!

There are still plenty of old radios about with the stickers still on, in fact they seem positively welded in place!

They are certainly a pain to remove, the last Hacker set I restored had a full complement, including the square one, It took ages to remove them all!


Mark

[Max Power]

I remember this very well. Much publicised at the time ofcourse. After much discussion; I was finally entrusted with the task of attaching them to my Nan's ITT.

I always used to avidly remove them from a newly-acquired radio, but now leave them be; as they are part of a set's heritage. They also provide an 'MOT time-stamp' - you know a radio was still in use in Nov 1978; as I have seen them attached (usually very badly!!) to all sorts of radios, including many valve radios.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by Al (astral highway)

Hi MachOne,

It was definitely Radio Caroline. There wasn’t another radio only family and I well remember being blown away by the station when it came in loud and clear on my home-made crystal set. I had never heard of it before this.

I had a long wire that went out of my window, across the garage roof, 30 metres down the lawn and then hurled high into a Copper beech tree in the garden.

Also I lived in the South East of England (Kent near border with london) — perhaps that made a difference?

Caroline South came in very well in Kent. The mid 60s pirates were very regional, with fairly feeble transmitters operating from knackered old freighters and abandoned WW2 forts. Initially most of them were primarily interested in reaching London, but they soon spread out around the coast. Most of the Midlands had pretty poor service being a long way from the sea - I remember that 270 from just off Whitby was the strongest pirate when I was growing up in Stoke, which said a lot. I always used to enjoy visiting my cousin in Blackpool, as Caroline North from the IoM came in clear as a bell.

[hamid_1]

I recall seeing a cartoon 'public information film' on TV around the time of the frequency changes. It showed cartoon images representing several BBC radio listeners switching on their radios, only to hear the wrong station or nothing at all, and being confused. The narrator then explained it all.

The BBC said the changes were due to an international treaty on radio frequencies. I understand that international agreements resulted in all AM frequencies in Europe becoming multiples of 9KHz. This eventually affected the BBC long wave frequency which changed from 200 to 198KHz - but that happened some years after 1978. And the 247m / 1215KHz frequency never changed either - it just carried Radio 3 instead of Radio 1. I'm still not sure exactly why that change had to happen. I do recall that my mum (an avid Radio 3 listener) found it more difficult to receive Radio 3 on her Hacker RP17 Mini-Herald after the change. On the other hand, I could easily pick up Radio 1 on my ElfTone Meridian pocket radio (made in Hong Kong) so I was happy.

Eventually in the 1990s the BBC had to give up some of its AM frequencies to commercial broadcasters. My mum was forced to replace her beloved Hacker radio as it could no longer receive Radio 3.

Originally Posted by Max Power

I always used to avidly remove them from a newly-acquired radio, but now leave them be; as they are part of a set's heritage. They also provide an 'MOT time-stamp' - you know a radio was still in use in Nov 1978; as I have seen them attached (usually very badly!!) to all sorts of radios, including many valve radios.

Yes, I've noticed those stickers on some old radios I've come across. It's surprising just how many valve radios must have been in use in 1978, more than 20 years after the first transistor sets appeared. I do recall seeing a few valve radios in use in the late 1970s and even into the 80s but they were disappearing fast, usually ending up in junk shops or jumble sales once they had stopped working. That's when I got hold of some and started fiddling with them, and the hobby began.

Oddly enough, I have an Amerex music centre (8 track tape + record player and radio) with one of those BBC Frequencies stickers on it. The sticker mentions BBC Radio 4 Long Wave but the radio in the music centre only has MW + FM so in that case the sticker wasn't so useful. I've left it on as part of the set's history.

[stevehertz]

Seemingly every late 70s radio, tuner or receiver that I buy seem has the darned diamond stickers on them albeit in a tacky, ugly state now. They come off easily enough though.