The dawn birdsong was recorded in autumn of 1991, on the edge of Salisbury Plain in the Wiltshire garden of Quentin Howard, the chairman of Digital One. The tape was originally made for an amateur dramatics production of When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs, which was in need of countryside sound effects, and was first heard on-air during test transmissions between July and September 1992 prior to the launch of Classic FM. It has featured in a number of TV and radio reports including Countryfile in 2008 and on BBC Breakfast TV.