This book is the first comprehensive account of classical music on all British radio stations
BBC and commercial between 1945 and 1995. It narrates the shifting development of those
services from before the launch of the Third Programme until after the start of Classic FM
examining the output from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives as well as recounting
some of the stories and anecdotes which enliven the tale. During these fifty years British
classical music radio featured spells of broad multi-channel classical music radio with
aspirational and mainstream culture enjoying positive interactions followed by periods of more
restricted and exclusive output in a paradigm of the place of high culture in UK society as a
whole. The history was characterised by the recurring tensions between elite and popular
provision and the interplay of demands for highbrow and middlebrow output and also sheds new
light on the continuing relevance of class in Britain. It is an important and unique resource
for those studying British history in the second half of the twentieth century as well as
being a compelling and diverting account for enthusiasts for classical music radio.
