This is a list of events from British radio in 1949.

Events

January

• 9 January – The death today in London of comedian Tommy Handley is announced after the Sunday evening repeat of his popular series It's That Man Again by the Director General of the BBC, Sir William Haley, who insists on making the announcement himself; ITMA is immediately cancelled^[1] and succeeded by Ray's a Laugh with Ted Ray,^[2] while Take It from Here takes over its repeat slot.^[3]

February

• 2 February – Parody travelogue "Balham - Gateway to the South", written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, is first broadcast as a comedy sketch narrated by Peter Sellers in the second edition of Third Division on the BBC Third Programme.^[4]

March

• 26 March – The Boat Race 1949 is memorable for a blooper in which BBC commentator John Snagge, on a launch whose engine has failed,^[5] announces "I can't see who's in the lead, but it's either Oxford or Cambridge."^[6]
• 28 March – Astronomer Fred Hoyle coins the term Big Bang during a BBC Third Programme broadcast.^[7][8][9]

April to August

• No events.

September

• 5 September – Wagnerian tenor Walter Widdop makes his last appearance at the BBC Proms, singing an aria from Lohengrin, only one day before his sudden death.

October to December

• No events.

Debuts

• 26 January – Third Division on the BBC Third Programme (26 January–2 March)
• 31 January – A Book at Bedtime (1949–Present)
• 6 March – Billy Cotton Band Show (1949–1968)
• 4 April – Ray's a Laugh (1949–1961)

Continuing radio programmes

1930s

• In Town Tonight (1933–1960)

1940s

• Music While You Work (1940–1967)
• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
• Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)
• Family Favourites (1945–1980)
• Down Your Way (1946–1992)
• Have A Go (1946–1967)
• Housewives' Choice (1946–1967)
• Letter from America (1946–2004)
• Woman's Hour (1946–Present)
• Twenty Questions (1947–1976)
• Any Questions? (1948–Present)
• Mrs Dale's Diary (1948–1969)
• Take It from Here (1948–1960)

Ending this year

• 6 January – It's That Man Again (1939–1949)

Births

• 7 February – Les Ross, né Meakin, midlands DJ
• 12 March – David Mellor, politician and radio presenter
• 2 April – Paul Gambaccini, American-born music presenter
• 11 April – David Stafford, writer and broadcaster (died 2023)
• 20 April – Paul Heiney, broadcaster
• 29 May – Michael Berkeley, composer and music broadcaster
• 7 August – Matthew Parris, South African-born political writer and broadcaster, previously MP
• 2 September – Moira Stuart, broadcast presenter
• 25 November – Isabel Hilton, Scottish-born journalist and broadcaster
• 12 December – Bill Nighy, actor
• Philip Dodd, creative arts academic and broadcaster

Deaths

• 9 January – Tommy Handley, comedian (born 1892)
• 10 June – Sir Frederick Ogilvie, broadcasting executive and university administrator (born 1893)
• 9 July – Peter Waring, comedian and fraudster, suicide (born 1916)