Sounds of Your Life: A History of Independent Radio in the UK

Since the mid-1970s, Independent Radio in the United Kingdom has touched the lives of millions of listeners. Stations in big cities and smaller towns provided music, news, and cultural programming that accompanied the changing patterns of life in the UK. The initial attempts to harness the power of popular radio and to provide local public service were characteristic of the times. The later decline into mere commercial music radio illustrates the failure of those hopes on a wider front. Sounds of Your Life is the first comprehensive history of Independent Radio. With unique access to those who made and marred the system, and to the formal and informal archives which cover more than 30 lively years, Tony Stoller describes how Britain moved from a social to a market economy, while also telling the tales of the people who shaped this national resource.