Competition on All Fronts: The BBC and Commercial Radio

The 1990s saw the arrival of the first independent national radio stations in the UK—Classic FM, Talk Radio, Virgin Radio—thus opening up a new arena of competitiveness beyond the local. By this time other radio actors had also made their mark on a national and local level including Atlantic 252 and Kiss FM. This ultimately led to a realignment of the BBC services directly affected by this new level of competition. Television as a form of competition for radio also entered a new dynamic era with growth of multi-channel cable and satellite television. Devlin illustrates how a competitive radio industry now existed on both a national and local level and describes how commercial radio achieved its ultimate goals while BBC Radio entered a period of crisis.