 | |
| Broadcast area | Norfolk |
|---|---|
| Frequencies | FM: 95.1 MHz (Norwich and East Norfolk) FM: 95.6 MHz (North Norfolk) FM: 104.4 MHz (West Norfolk) AM: 873 kHz (West Norfolk) DAB: 10B (Norfolk) DAB+: 9C (King's Lynn) Freeview: 711 |
| RDS | BBC Nrfk |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Local news and talk |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | BBC Local Radio, BBC East |
| History | |
First air date | 11 September 1980 |
Former frequencies | 96.7 FM 855 MW 1602 MW |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | Ofcom |
| Links | |
| Website | BBC Radio Norfolk |
BBC Radio Norfolk is theBBC's local radio station serving the county ofNorfolk.
It broadcasts onFM,AM,DAB, digital TV and viaBBC Sounds from studios atThe Forum inNorwich.
According toRAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 131,000 listeners and a 6.8% share as of December 2023.[1]
BBC Local Radio originally launched in 1967 but it was not until more than a decade later that local radio in East Anglia was to become a reality. Therefore, the BBC's only radio coverage of the East Anglia throughout this period was a regional weekday breakfast show opt-out fromBBC Radio 4 calledRoundabout East Anglia, plus five-minute summaries at lunchtime and teatime. It covered the same area as the BBC'sLook East regional television news programme.[2] LikeLook East,Roundabout East Anglia also broadcast from BBC East's regional headquarters at All Saint's Green inNorwich.[2]
The BBC's desire to expand its local radio network was stalled in the late 1970s by a governmental review of local radio. However, when expansion was allowed once again, a policy existed whereby only one local station would launch at the same time in any one area so when it came to choosing whetherNorfolk orDevon would receive a BBC or commercial station first, there was contention between the BBC and theIndependent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) as to who would get which area. This was settled by the toss of a coin, with the BBC winning and choosing Norfolk.[2]
BBC Radio Norfolk was the first BBC station in England to launch since 1973 when it went on air at 17:55 on 11 September 1980.[3] The station's first presenter on air wasJohn Mountford and the launch wassimulcast live onLook East. Mountford was one of several formerRoundabout East Anglia personnel who transferred to the new station following that programme's demise.[4] From launch, the station broadcaststereo (though only to east Norfolk; the remainder of the county had to wait until 2005) and was the first BBC Local station to broadcast with stereo sound.
Initially, there was insufficient budget for a full schedule, with broadcasts at first restricted to a breakfast show, a two-hour show at midday and an extended 5pm news and sports bulletin.BBC Radio 2 was carried at all other times.[5] There was, however, a full local service at weekends, when it was assumed more listeners would be available.[5] After Keith Salmon took over as the station's managing editor in 1982, full local programmes began on weekdays.[5]
Originally, Radio Norfolk was at a former carpet showroom inNorfolk Tower on Surrey Street in Norwich and in June 2003 the station moved toThe Forum in Norwich.[6]
Roy Waller presented a weekday afternoon show from the early 1980s until 2009,[7] which led to his being one of the best-known and most popular voices in the county,[8] described by theEastern Daily Press as "a household name."[9] Waller also hosted a Saturday morningcountry music programme,Rodeo Norfolk, which he continued to present following his departure from the weekday show, until ill health forced him to step down.[7] Waller's funeral in July 2010 was held atNorwich Cathedral and was attended by over 1,500 mourners.[10]
From the early days of Radio Norfolk until 2007, Waller was the station'scommentator forNorwich City matches, known as "the voice ofCarrow Road".[7] The station devotes extensive coverage to Norwich City, the county's only professional football team, providing live coverage of all league and cup matches, as well as a post-match phone-in showCanary Call andfanzine showThe Scrimmage, both of which are regarded as amongst the station's most popular programmes.[11] In 2011, when BBC economy measures raised the idea that local radio football commentaries could be cut back, the possibility was criticised by the local press in Norfolk, praising the station for the passion of its commentaries.[12]
The Norfolk Airline, presented by David Clayton and Neil Walker, was the station's first mid-morning programme, launched in 1983.[13] In April 1986, the programme won theSony Radio Academy Award for Best Magazine Programme, ahead of BBC Radio 4'sA Small Country Living andCapital Radio'sThe Way It Is.[14][15] The programme also made the news itself, whenJames Prior announced his resignation asSecretary of State for Northern Ireland live during a show.[16]
The station won its second Radio Academy Award 28 years later in 2014, for Local Radio Journalist of the Year.[17] The success ofAirline eventually led to Clayton and Walker departing to make programmes for national radio on Radio 4.[18]
From 1995 until his death in 2006, presenter and journalist John Mills presentedMidday With Mills, a consumer affairs programme.[19] The show gained a strong reputation for solving listeners' consumer problems, and in 2000 was given the British Insurance Brokers' Association Media Award for its work in this area.[20]
From 1984 until 2009,BBC Look East presenterStewart White was the presenter of the station's Saturday breakfast show.[21] White was the first presenter to go on-air after the station moved studios from Norfolk Tower to The Forum in the summer of 2003.[22]
BBC Radio Norfolk has had five managing editors. The founding editor was Mike Chaney, appointed at the beginning of 1980 to oversee the setting-up of the radio station.[23] Chaney had previously been working on theToday programme atBBC Radio 4, but lost his role there during a behind-the-scenes shake-up.[23] In recompense for this, Chaney was promised the editorship of aBBC local radio station, and was given the job at Norfolk.[23] Before working onToday, he had been the founding editor ofBBC Radio 1'sNewsbeat programme in 1973, and prior to this had worked as a journalist forThe Sun newspaper.[24]
Chaney was succeeded in 1982 by Keith Salmon, who had been working atBBC Radio Oxford.[5] He had first joined the BBC in 1961,[25] and had also worked at theBBC Radiophonic Workshop, the BBC's famous electronic music and sound effects department inLondon.[26] At Oxford, Salmon had been a presenter and the programme organiser.[27] He remained managing editor of BBC Radio Norfolk for thirteen years, until his retirement in 1995.[25]
Tim Bishop had a background in local newspapers in Norfolk, having worked on theEastern Daily Press and been the news editor for theNorwich Evening News, before joining the BBC in 1994.[28] Immediately prior to becoming the managing editor of BBC Radio Norfolk, Bishop had been the Education Correspondent forLook East.[28] He subsequently returned to the television side of BBC East's operations, and then became the Head of Regional and Local Programmes for the area in 2002.[28] David Clayton became BBC Radio Norfolk's managing editor in 1998, having been a broadcaster at the station since the early 1980s and the Assistant Editor under Salmon and then Bishop since 1991.[29] During Clayton's period in charge of the station, it gained its highest ever listening figures.[30]
Clayton was replaced in March 2016 by Peter Cook, who combines his role as managing editor for both BBC Radio Norfolk andBBC Radio Suffolk.
BBC Radio Norfolk has frequently claimed some of the highest audience figures of any of the BBC's local radio stations in England.[31][32][33] Figures from the radio audience measuring bodyRAJAR have regularly shown that over 200,000 people in Norfolk listen to some part of the station's output in any given week.[34] When criticising proposedBBC local radio cutbacks in December 2011,South Norfolk MPRichard Bacon claimed in a letter toLord Patten, the Chairman of theBBC Trust, that only Radio 2 claimed a bigger audience in Norfolk than BBC Radio Norfolk.[35]
BBC Radio Norfolk has twice won categories at the main industry awards, theRadio Academy Awards (formerly the Sony Awards). The "Best Magazine Programme" category was won byThe Norfolk Airline in 1986, and in 2014, the station won its second Gold Award at the event, when the news team collectively won the "Local Radio Journalist of the Year" category.[17] In 2010, wildlife expert Chris Skinner was runner-up in the Best Specialist Contributor category for his broadcasts as part of Matthew Gudgin's programme.[36] In 2004,Today in Norfolk was nominated in the Best Breakfast Show category,[37] while in 2006, BBC Radio Norfolk as a whole was a nominee for the Station of the Year Award.[38]
BBC Radio Norfolk has also won success at theFrank Gillard Awards, the BBC's own internal awards for its local radio stations. In 2010, the station's Sophie Price won the Original Journalism category for a documentary she had made about teenage pregnancy in Norfolk.[39] In 2002, the station was the runner-up in the Best Radio Feature category forLiberators,[40] and in 2006, took another silver, when David Clayton'sNorfolk Years programme was the runner-up in the Best Interactive Programme category.[41]
Local and regional awards have included a win in the Best Radio Programme category at the 2009 Creative East Awards for the showTreasure Quest.[42] At the 2006 EDF Energy East of England Media Awards, the station's Paul Moseley won the Radio Journalist of the Year award.[43] He repeated this feat in 2007,[44] becoming the first two-time winner of the award. In 2009,Nikki Fox won the title,[45] and at the 2010 ceremony, Nicky Price was joint-winner of the Sports Journalist of the Year category, while the Nick Conrad show took the Radio News / Current Affairs Programme of the Year title.[46]
At theParliamentary Jazz Awards in 2011, presenterPaul Barnes won the Broadcaster of the Year category for his showThe Late Paul Barnes, broadcast from BBC Radio Norfolk, but shared across theBBC East region.[47]
Keith Skipper, a former presenter on the station until he left in 1995, has criticised Radio Norfolk for a lack of local focus to some of its programming.[48] In an article published in theEastern Daily Press in February 2012, Norwich City Independent Supporters Club chairman Robin Sainty described the station's post-match phone-in programmeCanary Call as "audio surrealism", criticising the quality of callers phoning in with their views.[49]
In the early 1980s, BBC Radio Norfolk had a small office for the district reporter based in Great Yarmouth, situated in the premises of the Port and Haven Commissioners on the town's South Quay.[50] A more substantial Great Yarmouth presence opened in the summer of 1984.[51] This was a district office and studio at Whitefriars Court on Stonecutters Way in the town.[52] The studio there was used for live inserts into programmes from Norwich, interviews with guests from the Great Yarmouth area, and the preparation of pre-recorded items by the Great Yarmouth district reporter.[52] The studio was also occasionally used for full live programmes.[52] At one point, the Great Yarmouth office had a staff of three; a receptionist, a producer and a reporter.[53] Latterly, it was a one-person operation staffed only by the district reporter.[53] After 33 years of operation, the office and studio at Stonecutters Way was closed in April 2017.[52]
The station's initial office inKing's Lynn was located in aportable building situated behind the town hall.[54] This was later replaced by a more substantial studio in the town's Tuesday Market Place.[54] The King's Lynn district office and studio later moved to theNorth Lynn Business Village.[54] Some programmes would be broadcast from the King's Lynn studio once a week.[55]
 | This sectionmay containoriginal research. Pleaseimprove it byverifying the claims made and addinginline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.(October 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The 95.1FM signal covers east and SouthNorfolk, 104.4 FM coversWest Norfolk, while 95.6 FM (which came on-air on 12 September 2005) servesNorth Norfolk.
Since 31 March 2003,DAB signals originate from the NOW Digital Norfolk multiplex, originally broadcast on block 11B before moving to 10B on 10 September 2015. DAB coverage in West Norfolk is incomplete but was expanded on 29 February 2024 when the station launched in DAB+ on the King's Lynn small-scale DAB multiplex.
The station also broadcasts onFreeview TV channel 711 in theBBC East andBBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions and streams online viaBBC Sounds.
In January 2020, the BBC announced that Radio Norfolk'smedium wave (AM) service fromPostwick on 855 kHz covering the eastern part of the county, would close later in the year. The transmitter was switched off, after a period of service just short of 40 years, on the morning of 9 April 2020.
Following BBC cuts in 2023 local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC'sNorwich studios from 6 am to 2 pm on weekdays.
Other programming is shared with sister stations in theBBC East andBBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions. The station also simulcasts Sunday evening output fromBBC Essex.
During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Norfolk simulcasts overnight programming fromBBC Radio 5 Live andBBC Radio London.
Of course this used to be a base where it wasn't just one person like I am here on my own now, there used to be a receptionist, a producer and also a reporter
| UK stations | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| International stations | |||||||
Defunct stations and services |
| ||||||
| Related topics | |||||||
