This is a list of events in British radio during 2011.
Events
January
1 January – Gem 106 replaces Heart 106. 2 January – BBC Radio 4's soap The Archers celebrates its 60th anniversary on air. 3 January – 95.8 Capital FM London launches nationally and becomes a part of The Capital FM Network as part of a merger of Global Radio's Hit Music and Galaxy networks to form the nine-station 'Capital Network'. Other than daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows, the majority of Capital's London-based output will be networked. 4 January – Simon Bates joins Smooth Radio to become its new national breakfast presenter. 11 January – KMFM West Kent and KMFM Maidstone merge their breakfast shows, meaning all programming is shared across both stations. 12 January – Presenter Pat Sharp is appointed as Smooth Radio's Weekend Breakfast presenter with immediate effect. By this time he had been presenting the show since December 2010, having taken over from Graham Dene who had been standing in since Tony Blackburn's departure in October. 13 January – Sam Orford debuts on Seahaven FM. 17 January – Vanessa Feltz joins Radio 2, taking over Sarah Kennedy's old early morning show. 25 January – The BBC World Service is to close five of its language services with the loss of 650 jobs. 28 January – Sir Elton John apologises after using the F word during an appearance on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show. 31 January – BBC Radio 2 announces the cancellation of its annual Electric Proms season after five years, citing financial considerations.
February
1 February – It is reported that Jo Whiley will leave BBC Radio 1 after 17 years in April to move to Radio 2, where she will present an evening show from Mondays to Wednesdays, replacing The Radcliffe and Maconie Show. Radcliffe and Maconie will, in turn, move to 6 Music while Whiley's Radio 1 show will be taken over by Huw Stephens. 7 February - London dubstep, grime, and house music pirate station Rinse FM commences legal broadcasting with a Community radio license. 8 February – Richard Keys and Andy Gray, recently sacked by Sky Sports for sexist comments they made, are signed by talkSport to present a new show.
March
18 March – BBC Radio 1 presenter Chris Moyles breaks the record for presenting the longest radio programme, after hosting a 52-hour live broadcast in aid of Comic Relief 2011. 27 March – Emma B joins Smooth Radio to present a Sunday afternoon programme. Due to budget cuts, transmission of the BBC World Service on 648 kHz MW ends. The transmissions, from the Orfordness transmitting station in Suffolk, had been on air since 1982 and had provided English-language coverage of the World Service to much of northern Europe. 28 March – Celador Radio files a format change request for The Coast to air classic and contemporary rock instead of adult alternative.
April
1 April – Comedian Rob Brydon presents Ken Bruce's Radio 2 show, impersonating the Scottish presenter throughout the two-and-a-half-hour programme as an April Fool's joke. 2 April – BBC Radio 7 rebranded as BBC Radio 4 Extra. 2 April – Fi Glover presents her last edition of Saturday Live. Rev. Richard Coles takes over the role from the following Saturday. 4 April – David "Kid" Jensen joins Smooth Radio to present a weekday afternoon show.
May
3 May – BBC Radio 3 resumes the broadcasting of regular live concerts. This overturns the much criticised 2007 decision to replace almost all of its live broadcasts with pre-recorded concerts. 9 May – It is confirmed that Irish broadcaster Ryan Tubridy will join Radio 2 for eight weeks to present Graham Norton's show from 23 July while Norton is away. He returned to the network later in the year to cover for Ken Bruce over the Christmas period.
June
22 June – Radio 2 hosts 2DAY, a day of 12 hour-long programmes to promote some of the station's specialist output normally reserved for evenings and weekends.
July
21 July – The BBC confirms that Andy Parfitt will step down as Controller of Radio 1 after 13 years to pursue other opportunities from the end of the month. Parfitt will also relinquish the roles of Controller of BBC 1Xtra and the BBC Asian Network. 28 July – GMG Radio announces that the Manchester-based station 106.1 Rock Radio will be re-branded as 106.1 Real Radio XS, and that Glasgow-based 96.3 Rock Radio will be sold.