Timeline of breakfast radio programmes in the UK facts for kids

This is a timeline of the history of morning radio shows on national stations in the United Kingdom. These shows are often called "breakfast radio" because they are broadcast early in the morning when people are waking up and getting ready for their day.

The 1950s

Starting Morning Radio

• 1957
  • 28 October – The Today show began on the BBC Home Service. It offered "topical talks" instead of just music, giving listeners something new to listen to in the mornings.

The 1960s

New Shows and Stations

• 1965
  • 25 October – Breakfast Special started on the BBC Light Programme. It took the place of a show called Morning Music.

• 1967
  • 30 September – A famous DJ named Tony Blackburn launched BBC Radio 1 by hosting its very first Radio 1 Breakfast show.
  • Just before that, BBC Radio 2 also started broadcasting. Its morning show was a continuation of Breakfast Special, hosted by Paul Hollingdale.

• 1968
  • January – Tony Blackburn stopped hosting the Saturday morning show on Radio 1. Instead of a new host, Radio 1 started playing The Radio 2 Breakfast Show at the same time as Radio 2.

The 1970s

Changes and New Voices

• 1970
  • 5 January – John Dunn took over from Paul Hollingdale as the host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
  • 6 April – The first Thought for the Day was broadcast on the Today programme. It replaced an older segment called Ten to Eight.

• 1972
  • 3 April – Terry Wogan joined BBC Radio 2 to host The Radio 2 Breakfast Show. He replaced John Dunn. A new early morning show also started, making Radio 2 begin its day earlier at 5am on weekdays and Saturdays.

• 1973
  • 1 June – Tony Blackburn presented his last Radio 1 Breakfast show after hosting it since the station began.
  • 4 June – Noel Edmonds became the new presenter of Radio 1 Breakfast.

• 1977
  • 2 May – BBC Radio 4 launched a new morning show called Up to the Hour. Because of this, the The Today Programme was split into two shorter parts.

• 1978
  • 28 April – Noel Edmonds presented his final Radio 1 Breakfast show.
  • 2 May – Dave Lee Travis took over as the presenter of Radio 1 Breakfast.
  • 3 July – Up to the Hour on Radio 4 was cancelled. The Today programme went back to being a continuous two-hour show. A new 6am News Briefing also started.

The 1980s

More Presenter Changes

• 1981
  • 2 January – Dave Lee Travis stepped down from hosting Radio 1 Breakfast.
  • 5 January – Mike Read became the new presenter of Radio 1 Breakfast.

• 1982
  • 27 February – Radio 1's weekend morning show was renamed Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show. Maggie Philbin and Keith Chegwin joined Tony Blackburn as co-hosts.

• 1984
  • 29 September – The weekend morning show on Radio 1 changed again. Peter Powell replaced Tony Blackburn as the host.
  • 28 December – Terry Wogan finished his first time as host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show as he left the station for a while.

• 1985
  • 7 January – Ken Bruce took over The Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

• 1986
  • 7 April – Derek Jameson became the host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, taking over from Ken Bruce.
  • 18 April – Mike Read presented his last Radio 1 Breakfast show after five years.
  • 5 May – Mike Smith returned to Radio 1 to take over Radio 1 Breakfast from Mike Read.
  • 24 December – John Timpson presented The Today programme for the last time.

• 1987
  • 3 January – The Today programme started broadcasting six days a week, with a new Saturday edition. John Humphrys joined as a new presenter.

• 1988
  • 23 May – Simon Mayo became the new presenter of Radio 1 Breakfast, replacing Mike Smith. His new show introduced co-hosts and new features, a style sometimes called a "zoo format".
  • 1 October – Mark Goodier and Liz Kershaw took over Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show from Peter Powell.

• 1989
  • 1 April – Bruno Brookes replaced Mark Goodier as presenter of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.

The 1990s

Expanding Radio and New Voices

• 1990
  • 28 August – The first Morning Edition show was broadcast on BBC Radio 5. It was hosted by Sarah Ward and Jon Briggs.

• 1991
  • 1 May – BBC Radio 1 started broadcasting 24 hours a day. This meant the Simon Mayo Breakfast Show began and ended 30 minutes earlier, running from 6am to 9am.
  • 20 December – Derek Jameson left The Radio 2 Breakfast Show after five years.

• 1992
  • 6 January – Brian Hayes became the host of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show for the year.
  • 17 February – Danny Baker replaced Sarah Ward and Jon Briggs as the presenter of Morning Edition on BBC Radio 5.
  • 9 March – Gary Davies took over as host of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.
  • 13 July – BBC Radio 3 made big changes to its programmes, including a new weekday morning show called On Air.
  • 7 September – Classic FM launched, with Nick Bailey hosting its first morning show at 6am.

• 1993
  • 4 January – Terry Wogan returned to BBC Radio 2 with his new show, Wake Up to Wogan.
  • 3 September – Simon Mayo left Radio 1 Breakfast after five years.
  • 6 September – Mark Goodier took over as presenter of Radio 1 Breakfast until the end of the year.
  • November – Michele Stevens replaced Danny Baker as the presenter of Morning Edition on BBC Radio 5.

• 1994
  • 10 January – Steve Wright became Radio 1's newest morning show presenter.
  • 27 November – Clive Warren joined BBC Radio 1 and took over the Weekend Breakfast show.

• 1995
  • 24 April – Chris Evans took over Radio 1 Breakfast from Steve Wright.
  • BBC Radio 3 started broadcasting an hour earlier on weekdays at 6am, and its morning show On Air became three hours long.
  • 21 October – Johnnie Walker left BBC Radio 1. Clive Warren moved from the weekend morning show to a weekday early show.

• 1996
  • 18 March – Mike Read replaced Nick Bailey as host of Classic FM’s morning show.

• 1997
  • January – Chris Evans left Radio 1 Breakfast and the station.
  • 17 February – Mark and Lard became the new presenters of Radio 1 Breakfast.
  • 13 October – Mark and Lard left the Radio 1 morning show. Zoe Ball joined the station to co-host the show with Kevin Greening.
  • 13 October – Chris Evans took over the Virgin Radio morning show.

• 1998
  • 4 April – The morning show On Air on BBC Radio 3 started broadcasting on weekends too.
  • 6 April – Weekday editions of The Today programme on BBC Radio 4 were extended by 30 minutes, making them three hours long.
  • 25 September – Kevin Greening left Radio 1 Breakfast, leaving Zoe Ball as the only presenter.

The 2000s

New Millennium, New Voices

• 2000
  • 10 March – Zoe Ball presented Radio 1 Breakfast for the final time.
  • 3 April – Sara Cox took over as presenter of Radio 1 Breakfast.

• 2001
  • 28 June – Chris Evans was dismissed from Virgin Radio. He was replaced by Steve Penk.

• 2002
  • 28 January – Daryl Denham took over Virgin Radio’s morning show from Steve Penk.

• 2003
  • 6 January – Pete and Geoff became the new presenters of Virgin Radio’s weekday morning show.
  • 13 January – Nicky Campbell became a new co-host of the morning show on BBC Radio 5 Live.
  • 9 June – Simon Bates replaced Henry Kelly as Classic FM's weekday morning show presenter.
  • 19 December – Sara Cox presented her final Radio 1 Breakfast show.

• 2004
  • 5 January – Chris Moyles took over Radio 1 Breakfast with his own show, bringing back the "zoo format" with co-hosts.

• 2005
  • 16 December – Pete and Geoff presented Virgin Radio’s morning show for the final time.

• 2006
  • 23 January – Christian O'Connell presented the first edition of The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio.
  • 23 September – Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates became the new presenters of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.

• 2007
  • 17 September – BBC Radio 3's morning programme was renamed from Mornings on 3 to Breakfast.
  • 13 October – Nihal replaced Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates as the host of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.

• 2008
  • 25 October – Nick Grimshaw took over Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.

• 2009
  • March – Frank Skinner joined Absolute Radio to host the Saturday morning show.
  • 26 September – Edith Bowman became the permanent presenter of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.
  • 18 December – After 28 years in two different periods, Sir Terry Wogan presented his final breakfast show.

The 2010s

Modern Morning Radio

• 2010
  • 11 January – Chris Evans took over from Sir Terry Wogan as presenter of the breakfast show on Radio 2.

• 2012
  • 7 April – Gemma Cairney replaced Edith Bowman as presenter of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.
  • 29 June – Tim Lihoreau replaced Mark Forrest as host of the weekday morning show on Classic FM.
  • 14 September – Chris Moyles hosted his final show as he left BBC Radio 1 after 15 years.
  • 24 September – Nick Grimshaw took over Radio 1 Breakfast.

• 2013
  • April – Tony Livesey became the new BBC Radio 5 Live weekend morning show host.
  • 16 July – Mishal Husain joined the presenting team of The Today programme on BBC Radio 4.
  • 2 December – Clemency Burton-Hill replaced Sara Mohr-Pietsch as presenter of Radio 3 Breakfast.

• 2014
  • 29 March – Dev replaced Gemma Cairney as presenter of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.

• 2015
  • 21 September – Chris Moyles relaunched The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X.
  • 16 December – After 21 years, James Naughtie presented the Today programme for the final time.

• 2018
  • 4 February – Good Morning Sunday on Radio 2 was relaunched and extended. It was presented by Kate Bottley and Jason Mohammad.
  • April – Martha Kearney and Sarah Montague swapped roles, with Sarah leaving the Today programme.
  • 18 May – Christian O'Connell presented Absolute Radio’s morning show for the final time. He was replaced on 4 June by Dave Berry.
  • 9 August – Nick Grimshaw presented Radio 1 Breakfast for the final time.
  • 20 August – Greg James became the 16th person to present Radio 1 Breakfast.
  • 26 October – BBC Radio 1 announced that Matt Edmondson and Mollie King would co-present the Radio 1 Weekend Breakfast Show.
  • 24 December – Chris Evans presented the final edition of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 as he left to join Virgin Radio UK.

• 2019
  • 14 January – Zoe Ball took over as presenter of The Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
  • 19 September – John Humphrys presented his final edition of Radio 4's Today programme after 32 years.

The 2020s

Recent Changes

• 2021
  • 9 January – Adele Roberts replaced Matt Edmondson and Mollie King as the presenter of Radio 1's Weekend Breakfast Show.
  • 5 November – Nicky Campbell presented his final Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 5 Live after 18 years.
  • 8 November – Rick Edwards joined Rachel Burden to present a new morning show on BBC Radio 5 Live.