January - Mike Read succeeds Dave Lee Travis as presenter of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show.
Station debuts
12 September - Essex Radio (South Essex) on 96.4 MHz FM and 1431 KHz AM - rebranded as Heart Essex on 22 June 2009. An additional service for mid-Essex was added in December 1981 on 95.3 MHz and 1359 kHz
Deaths
7 January - Alvar Liddell, 72, BBC Radio announcer and newsreader
