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36-567: The stations owned by the group were: East Anglian Radio was set up in 1990, following Radio Broadland's takeover of Suffolk Group Radio , which was broadcasting at the time as Radio Orwell and Saxon Radio. The Suffolk group had made an unsuccessful offer to take over Broadland the year before. Orwell was one of the early independent radio stations launched in the UK in 1975, followed by Saxon in 1982. Broadland went on air later in 1984, but quickly established itself as market leader in its area, with some of

72-575: A Lowestoft-based business operating in theatrical production since the mid-1980s. Suffolk Group Radio Suffolk Group Radio was the parent company for two Independent Local Radio stations serving the county of Suffolk in England. Radio Orwell began transmissions from Electric House , Ipswich on 28 October 1975. It was one of the original group of ILR stations set up by the Independent Broadcasting Authority following

108-645: A company owned jointly by ITN , Daily Mail and General Trust , Reuters, and the GWR Group . This new consortium revived the LBC name on 1152AM on 1 July 1996. At the end of 1996, the FM service was relaunched as News Direct 97.3FM. Production for the station was moved to the basement of ITN 's multimedia building in Gray's Inn Road . In 2002, the company was bought for £23.5m by the media company Chrysalis , which trumpeted its purchase with

144-627: A consortium led by the Canadian Selkirk Communications of Vancouver, British Columbia with a 47% stake, LBC was sold in 1987, beginning a turbulent commercial history. The new owners were media company Darling Downs, later renamed Crown Communications, owned by Australian entrepreneur David Haynes. Crown sold the station's original base in Gough Square near Fleet Street in the City of London and relocated to Hammersmith ; and in 1989 split

180-551: A director of Park Radio, a community radio group which eventually launched a Diss-based station for South Norfolk and Mid Suffolk, in November 2017. After leaving GWR, Norman worked for the former Orion group and later Bauer as a station director. A merger between GWR and Capital Radio ( GCap Media ) followed in 2005 and then a further take-over of GCAP by Global Radio . The SGR stations and Broadland had by then lost considerable local input, broadcasting more networked programming with

216-618: A free catch-up service. In September 2006, LBC 97.3 became available in some other parts of the country on the digital DAB platform, after Chrysalis bought out its partners and closed the Digital News Network rolling news station, which had previously been carried on the MXR multiplex. Each multiplex region − the North West, West Midlands, Yorkshire, North East, South Wales, and the West − broadcast

252-512: A new station. Amber Radio was launched to focus mainly on music from the 60's and 70's, leaving Broadland and SGR on FM to play more recent and current chart hits. Amber had split programming at peak times for each area, but programmes were shared at other times, emanating from both the Norwich and Ipswich studios. By the mid-90s, the three FM services were each market leader and the Amber service had one of

288-555: A relaxation of the rules governing broadcasting in Britain. Other stations that were included in the original 19 were LBC , Capital Radio and BRMB . The western side of Suffolk got its own radio station in the form of Saxon Radio , which began broadcasting in Bury St Edmunds on 6 November 1982. The two stations operated with separate breakfast shows and other programmes were networked from either site to both transmitters. Most of

324-518: A rolling news and travel information service on the FM band , and the phone-in-driven service London News Talk 1152 on the MW band . These names were simplified slightly in mid-1995 to News 97.3 and News Talk 1152 respectively, but between October 1994 and July 1996 the LBC name was not used on-air at all. Reuters then brought in additional shareholders, and between 1996 and 2002 LBC was part of London News Radio Limited,

360-688: A shared new strapline of Today's Better Music Mix and similar logos. Eventually, they lost their heritage names and became part of the Heart Network of stations, sometimes referred to as Heart Norwich , Heart Colchester and Heart Ipswich , before Global eventually decided to close down the Ipswich and Colchester studios in 2010. Amber Radio became Classic Gold Amber in 1998, then Classic Gold , then simply Gold . The East Anglian Radio Group had no involvement in East Anglian Radio Services,

396-485: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra . LBC took up the slot previously occupied by Jazz FM (and briefly Birdsong ), and dropped the "97.3" from the station name to reinforce the notion that it now had national coverage. In a 2023 poll by YouGov , 14% of respondents ranked LBC as a trusted news brand. A further 14% of respondents did not trust LBC. The remaining respondents were either neutral or did not answer. As of December 2023, LBC and LBC London broadcast to

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432-569: The Radio Authority announced it would not renew the company's two licences, LBC Newstalk and London Talkback Radio, awarding the frequencies instead to London News Radio , a consortium led by former LBC staff and backed by Guinness Mahon . Staff at the station were in shock, not least because while they had received a tip-off from the Financial Times that they looked set to lose one of their frequencies, they did not expect to lose both. This

468-570: The British media. These include Adrian Love , Jon Snow , Peter Allen , Rosie Boycott , and Bel Mooney . For 10 years from 1975 the breakfast show AM was presented by Bob Holness and Douglas Cameron . LBC's late-evening interview and phone-in programme between 9   p.m. (later 10   p.m.) and 1   a.m. was called Nightline and at various times was hosted by Adrian Love, Robin Houston , Monty Modlyn , Jeremy Beadle and Tommy Boyd . There

504-507: The East stations of GWR and later MD of GWR Digital, Stewart was MD of the SGR group, Norman was MD of Broadland and Young became Sales Director for the East stations. By 2003, only Norman remained of the original EAR team. Mike Stewart and Russell Stuart helped to form the locally-based Norwich Radio Group, which narrowly failed to win a new ILR licence for Norwich, advertised in 2005. Stewart later became

540-413: The Ipswich studio. In 1990, Norwich-based station Radio Broadland took over Orwell and Saxon and to reflect the addition of these new stations, the company became East Anglian Radio . The new group re-launched Orwell and Saxon as one station under the name of SGR FM in 1992 and the following year, the station moved from its original studios in the centre of Ipswich to a brand new base on the outskirts of

576-560: The London LBC transmission, augmented with occasional bulletins of regional news and travel information. In February 2007, Chrysalis confirmed media speculation that it was reviewing the entire radio operation at its investors' request. Further media speculation from The Guardian suggested that the group had little option, due to shareholder pressure, to sell its radio arm, including LBC, raising up to £200 million for new acquisitions, while The Daily Telegraph suggested that it could be

612-490: The audio of the show from his blog, which resulted in its being made available at Wikileaks and elsewhere and the preparation of transcripts of the broadcast. David Aaronovitch in The Times argued for "a class action against LBC for permitting a presenter to inflict her preposterous prejudices on her listeners, to the detriment of someone else's kids." Norman Lamb MP tabled an Early Day Motion criticising Barnett and LBC for

648-541: The caller he would look into his case personally. It later transpired that the caller was in fact Fathers 4 Justice member Ron Davis, who in May of that year was arrested for entering Parliament and throwing a condom containing purple powder over Blair and nearby Cabinet members. Davis said the attack was in response to the Prime Minister's failure to contact him or look into the matters discussed on LBC 97.3. Mark Flanagan ,

684-605: The closure of the Bury St Edmunds studios and a move to new, modern studios opened in Ipswich in 1993. The same year, the group successfully applied for the ILR licence for Colchester, launching SGR Colchester in the town later that year. In 1995, a decision was made by the EAR Group to make better use of its AM frequencies in Norfolk and Suffolk (Colchester was an FM-only service) by creating

720-528: The country. It has been available nationwide since 2014, with the letters now standing for Leading Britain's Conversation . LBC has a like-branded sister station, LBC News , dedicated to rolling news, travel and weather. The station was originally based in studios on Gough Square, off Fleet Street in the City of London . David Jessel was LBC's original breakfast presenter; he opened the station just before 6 a.m. on Monday 8 October 1973. The original station had several presenters who became household names in

756-565: The highest audience reaches for an AM output in the country. In 1996, GWR Group, which had been acquiring large numbers of radio companies for about seven years, made a successful bid of about £25 million for East Anglian Radio. The takeover saw major changes later in the year, with the EAR stations gradually assimilated into the GWR set-up as individual operations and EAR management moving internally to different roles. Stuart became Regional Managing Director for

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792-513: The highest-ever listening figures for an ILR station (50% audience reach and an average of over 17 hours a week per listener in 1989 and 1990). The management team that had successfully launched Broadland in Norfolk and North Suffolk took over the running of the new larger group, with Russell Stuart as Managing Director, Mike Stewart as Programme Director, and Robb Young as Sales Director. Bob Norman became Finance Director. The Suffolk stations were re-vamped and re-branded as SGR in 1992, resulting in

828-475: The likely effect of the broadcast on public health. Towards the end of October 2012, the station ceased DAB broadcasts to some parts of the country as regional DAB multiplexes in England and Wales were shut down. Since 2013 LBC has broadcast a consumer law show, called The Consumer Hour that focused on providing information, advice, and support to listeners on various consumer-related topics, such as personal finance, product safety, and consumer rights. The show

864-523: The programmes came from the Electric House studios in Ipswich and a few came from Bury St Edmunds' Long Brackland studios. In 1984-85, the stations experimented with a drive-time news and current affairs programme ("The Home Run") which had presenters in both studios - Allan Lee in Ipswich and Adrienne Rosen in Bury. This proved too expensive to continue for long and the programme was cut back to one presenter in

900-505: The promise that it would lift the listenership to at least one million from around 700,000 (LBC had enjoyed an audience of more than two million in the early 1980s). Production was moved to Chrysalis's base in North Kensington , and the formatting of the two frequencies was swapped, the talk format moving to FM and the news format to AM. On 13 January 2004, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair presented an hour-long phone-in show on

936-478: The station into two separate services, the news and comment station LBC Crown FM, and the phone-in London Talkback Radio on AM. The transition was not initially well received, and substantially increased costs, pushing the company into the red. In 1993, the company was sold to Shirley Porter 's Chelverton Investments, after Crown fell into financial difficulties. On the morning of Friday, 3 September 1993,

972-428: The station's Managing Director, left Chrysalis in 2005 to set up a political consultancy company, and was replaced by David Lloyd. He introduced a podcasting service called LBC Plus, and a number of premium-rate promotional opportunities to replace falling advertising revenues experienced by the radio sector. In January 2006, LBC Plus launched as a paid subscription service providing podcasts ; eventually this became

1008-408: The station, taking pre-booked calls from LBC 97.3 listeners. His appearance was part of the "Big Conversation" initiative to promote government as being more accessible and in touch with the people. During the 10–11   a.m. show, a caller said that he had been denied access to his children for five years and asked what Blair was planning to do about other fathers in a similar situation. Blair assured

1044-598: The subject of a management buyout. Subsequently, it was announced on 25 June 2007 that LBC along with its sister stations The Arrow , Heart , and Galaxy network were to be sold for £170 million to Global Radio by the Chrysalis Group , whose Chrysalis Radio operation closed down. In December 2008 the station moved to the Capital London studios in Leicester Square. In April 2007, a new marketing slogan for (what

1080-414: The town. The studio and offices in Bury St Edmunds were then closed. EAR also launched a sister station to SGR in 1993 named SGR Colchester after successfully applying for the broadcast licence. The Ipswich station provided programmes which were shared during offpeak times with SGR Colchester. In 1995, the decision was made by East Anglian Radio to make better use of its AM frequencies and Amber Radio

1116-461: Was also a character called "Mr Nasty" (played by John Forrest ), who argued over the telephone with children. Beadle and Forrest went on to star in the Granada Television series Fun Factory . Bob Holness, Douglas Cameron, Peter Allen, Jon Snow, Brian Hayes and Jeremy Beadle, among others, were promoted by Ron Onions , Editorial Director of LBC Radio and IRN 1974–84. Originally owned by

East Anglian Radio - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-719: Was created to play 60s and 70s music from its studios in Ipswich and also Norwich. Amber operated on the AM transmitters previously used by the SGR stations to simulcast. Then in 1996, the East Anglian Radio was bought by the GWR Group , which later became GCap Media and then Global Radio . LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company ) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It

1188-403: Was initially hosted by Clive Bull with listeners' questions answered by guest consumer lawyer Dean Dunham ; since 2020 Dunham has solely presented the show. On 30 January 2014, LBC announced its intention to begin broadcasting nationally on DAB at 7   a.m. on 11 February 2014 under a new slogan, "Leading Britain's Conversation", with new jingles composed by David Arnold and performed by

1224-497: Was one of only a handful of times the UK media regulator had declined to renew the licence of an incumbent station. The prospective loss of the franchise brought Chelverton to the brink of collapse, and London News Radio (soon itself taken over by Reuters ) bought LBC to keep it on air until the official handover date of October 1994. London News Radio operated the station from LBC's former studios in Hammersmith as London News 97.3,

1260-420: Was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station , and began to broadcast on Monday 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio . The launch of LBC also saw the beginning of Independent Radio News broadcasting, as LBC provided the service to independent local radio stations nationwide. LBC broadcast only to London until 2006, at which time it became available, via digital radio, in some other parts of

1296-623: Was then called) LBC 97.3 was introduced − "London's Biggest Conversation", a play on the station's initials. The radio station became involved in the MMR vaccine controversy after a broadcast by Jeni Barnett on 7 January 2009 in which she debated the alleged dangers of MMR vaccine with callers. It became the subject of media controversy, first because her views were criticised as irresponsible by medical journalist Dr Ben Goldacre , and then because LBC and Global Radio threatened legal action against Goldacre for copyright infringement after he refused to remove

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