The Radio Academy has launched its UK radio Hall of Fame by honouring Tony Blackburn, Alan Freeman, Alistair Cooke, Noel Edmonds and John Humphrys – and making twenty posthumous inductees including Tony Hancock, Richard Dimbleby, Kenny Everett, the Goons, Brian Redhead and Arthur Askey. The new programme to honour lifetime achievement in UK radio was launched last night at London's Shaw Theatre – further additions will be made at a similar event each year.
The event followed a Radio Academy conference where the key address came from BBC Radio 2 programming chief Lesley Douglas who warned the new media regulator OfCom to not come down too hard on BBC radio. Some in commercial radio are unhappy that under the existing system BBC radio is governed by different guidelines (ie not the Radio Authority), meaning they can get away with more 'risqué content'. They hope that if BBC is regulated by the same organisation as them (ie OfCom) there will be more equality. But Douglas wants to ensure that this doesn't mean the BBC is prevented from broadcasting ground breaking programming. She said she hoped OfCom would "support rather than penalise daring" radio warning that overly-harsh regulation of edgy talent could lead to the "stagnation" of UK radio. She said she wanted a radio industry that supported the Kenny Everetts and Jonathan Rosses of the future.