United Biscuits was affected by this trend; Hector Laing, the managing director in the 1960s, needed to reduce the costs of high staff turnover.
UBN broadcast from Osterley to UB factories in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow 24 hours a day.
[5][6] The first Programme Director when the station opened in 1970 was Neil Spence, the former pirate Radio London DJ known as Dave Dennis.
[10] As the UBN was the only independent "broadcaster", operated 24 hours a day, and had high quality equipment and musical sources, it was an excellent opportunity for entertainers to rise from small-scale DJ-ing to radio broadcasting; the network was music-oriented, and hosts were allowed a free rein, within reason.
Graham Dene, who became a well-known presenter after UBN, was on air on the opening day, 1 September 1970, and later said he "could not believe his luck": "It was like a radio university.