Tony Blackburn had to launch Radio 1 as a pop station in 1967, transforming the image of the BBC from an objective, parental presence in the family home to something switched-on and youthful, when the primary currency of pop music changed from short, radio-friendly hit singles (he opened the station with the Move’s Flowers in the Rain) to long, hard-to-interrupt albums such as the Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed. Once Blackburn moved on, others had to try to match that tone ( Mike Smith, Mark Goodier ) or find other ways to keep the ball in the air. Noel Edmonds and Simon Mayo took a cooler, puckish approach. Dave Lee Travis was avuncular and wacky. Mike Read came across as part fan, part parent (his objection to the lyrics of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax being a rare deviation from the breakfast show’s blanket appreciation of the hits) Pop culture was shifting from psychedelia to prog rock, glam rock to album-oriented rock, disco to punk, and the breakfast show...
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