1942 in British radio

List of years in British radio (table)
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This is a list of events from British radio in 1942.

Events[]

January[]

• 29 January – The BBC Forces Programme transmits the first edition of Desert Island Discs, presented by Roy Plomley. Vic Oliver is the first castaway.^[1] The series will still be running (on BBC Radio 4) more than 75 years later.

February[]

• 27 February – James Stanley Hey, a British Army research officer, helps develop radio astronomy, when he discovers that the sun emits radio waves.

March[]

• No events.

April[]

• No events.

May[]

• 6 May – The Radio Doctor (Charles Hill) makes his first BBC radio broadcast giving avuncular health care advice to British civilians.
• 19 May – A subsequently famous BBC outside broadcast recording captures the song of the common nightingale with the sound of Royal Air Force Lancaster bombers flying overhead.^[2]

June[]

• 27 June – The BBC resumes sponsorship of the Promenade Concerts.^[3]

July[]

• No events.

August[]

• No events.

September[]

• September – The Brains Trust first broadcast under this title on BBC Home Service radio in the United Kingdom.^[4]

October[]

• No events.

November[]

• 8 November – Aspidistra medium wave radio transmitter goes into service in the south of England for black propaganda and military deception purposes against Nazi Germany.

December[]

• No events.

Debuts[]

• 29 January – Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)

Continuing radio programmes[]

1930s[]

• In Town Tonight (1933–1960)

1940s[]

• Music While You Work (1940–1967)
• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)

Births[]

• 18 July – Dave Cash, DJ (died 2016)
• 12 August – David Munrow, early music performer and presenter (Pied Piper on BBC Radio 3) (suicide 1976)
• 24 October – Frank Delaney, Irish-born novelist and radio presenter (died 2017)
• 24 December – Anthony Clare, Irish-born psychiatrist and radio presenter (died 2007)
• 26 December – Emperor Rosko (Mike Pasternak), American-born DJ

See also[]

• 1942 in British music
• 1942 in British television
• 1942 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1942

References[]