April 1970 highlights  An important month for radio - the BBC's policy paper Broadcasting in the Seventies had just taken effect, which meant further-reaching changes than those of 1967. The aim was to give the four networks more distinct identities, and involved moving plays, discussion, and some quizzes and comedy from Radio 2 to Radio 4, and moving classical music off Radio 4 and onto Radio 3. The plan also resulted in Radio 3 finally losing its (daytime) Music Programme and (evening) Third Programme banners; while the Radio 1 schedule had been tidied up a bit.
Over on the telly, and BBC1 was now transmitting on 625 lines in colour, and was using the first version of the famous 'mirror globe' ident. Nationwide - not in colour - had launched the previous year on 9th September, presented by Michael Barrett, but only on Tuesdays to Thursdays. Basil Brush had gained his own series, with help from Derek Fowlds. Dependable as ever, it was preceded by Blue Peter, which had yet to make the move to colour. Later in the evening, Top of the Pops was given a new look and an unprecedented 45 minutes. Presenter Tony Blackburn (left) said:  'I think pop music is a lot more tuneful now than it has been recently'. There was no avoiding the Party Political Broadcast - it was broadcast on all three channels at 9.00. This meant The Main News had to shift from its usual 8.50 time to 8.45 on this day. It would become the Nine O'Clock News from September of this year. Elsewhere this week, the Saturday evening repeats of Dad's Army we know today had already been established; however Saturday teatime really belonged to Doctor Who, which was starring Jon Pertwee in his first series as the Time Lord. Radio 1's weekend schedule belonged to bearded DJs - Kenny Everett (right), Noel Edmonds, John Peel, Pete Drummond, Mike Raven
and, of course, the hairy monster DLT.
And in Radio Times 25 April-1 May 1970 Price 9d  An all-new RT, totally unrecognisable from the previous look, was introduced the previous autumn. This meant a very neat and tidy layout (right), and formed the basis of the Radio Times look for the next decade-and-a-half. The only criticism would be the programme titles using the same serif typeface as the rest of the text, so they do not really stand out from the page. They changed to a bolder style in 1971.
The new-style RT had a very distinctive masthead; David Vine and Eddie Waring starred on the cover this week for a new series of It's a Knockout - so no laughing Stuart Hall at this point. On the Letters page, most readers were critical of the 'new plan for radio', as described above. 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 Radio Times Covers | 
