United Biscuits Network
United Biscuits Network was an internal radio station serving the factories of United Biscuits. It was in operation from 1970 to 1979.About
UBN broadcast from the United Biscuits factory in Osterley to United Biscuits factories in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow 24 hours a day. Presenters who later achieved wider public recognition included Roger Scott, Adrian Love, Steve Allen, Nicky Horne, Graham Dene and Dale Winton.
The first Programme Director, when the station opened in 1970, was Neil Spence the former Radio London DJ known as Dave Dennis.
Because there were few non-BBC radio stations in the 1970s, the network became notable in breaking new acts.
It was closed in 1979, when the decision was taken to play Independent Local Radio stations in the factories instead.
The Chris Petit film Radio On was partly filmed at the UBN studio. The protagonist is a DJ at an industrial radio station similar to UBN.
Distribution of the 'radio' from the Osterley studios to the various factories was via GPO landlines, then 100 V loudspeaker systems in each factory. Each pair of workers had their own loudspeaker and volume control. To accommodate the already high ambient noise levels in the factories, the audio was highly compressed.
UBN's programme content was similar to contemporary commercial radio, except that 'commercials' were to encourage safe work practice, among other subjects, and music requests were, for example, from Fred on the Chocolate Digestive line to Doris on the Jaffa Cakes.
Programmes were similar to BBC Radio 1 and 2, but there were specialist programmes for Asian listeners and Country and western fans in Liverpool and Glasgow
