A fond farewell to the father of independent radio

Radiocentre was saddened to hear of the sudden death of John Thompson CBE last week. He would have been 89 in June.

John was selected to establish the operative framework for the new independent radio service, working first within Whitehall and then at the Independent Broadcasting Authority. An experienced broadcaster, editor and businessman, his brief was to co-ordinate and push forward the plans for radio on a commercial basis. He has often been called “the father of independent radio”. As director of the IBA, he was firm but fair with pirate broadcasters. He once wrote: “The pressures from pirates are, in one sense, a tribute to the power and attraction of radio in the mid 1980s.”

We send our condolences to his family and friends.