Why we nearly never got commercial radio in the UK!
To all lovers of commercial radio, a report into the future of television and radio, commissioned by the Labour Party in 1974 makes salutory reading. A criticism of commercial radio in the 1970s was that under tight IBA regulation, Independent Local Radio had to be all things to all people. But critics should reflect on the fact that we were indeed lucky to get commercial radio at all, as this report from the Hartlepool Mail of Wednesday July 10, 1974 makes quite clear:
