The colour of the government would change back to blue in 1979. The Conservatives were keen to resume expansion of the ILR stations and therefore the IBA was granted a mandate to further develop the ILR network. The first of seven new stations authorised by the Home Secretary was Cardiff which came on air on 11th April 1980 quickly followed by Mercia Sound.
An IBA map of the ILR Areas. Solid black arrows represent stations on air by 1984, the outline arrows represent stations due to be on the air from 1985.
