It’s been three decades of sharing the world’s greatest music with the nation and the world. Here’s a look at some of the things we’ve done, championed and changed since 7 September 1992.
It all started with birdsong
In the beginning, the music was one with nature. To trial Classic FM’s soon-to-be frequency, the sound of birdsong, recorded in the Wiltshire countryside, was piped to the nation’s FM radios.
Prior to September 1992 the UK radio and media landscape was very different, dominated by regional stations and the licence fee-funded public service networks.
The Broadcasting Act of 1990 had paved the way for independent national radio, and Classic FM was granted one of the three licences. Classic FM was also the first commercial station to be playing classical music exclusively.
In the early…
