BBC Radio Durham was a BBC local radio station set up in 1968.

Background

BBC Radio Durham was part of the BBC's original plan to have nine sites where local radio experiments would be carried out. It is the only one of the original stations to have fully closed down.

It opened on 3 July 1968,[1] but after the government restricted the BBC to twenty local radio stations, the corporation responded by ceasing transmissions on 25 August 1972. Its resources were transferred to Carlisle where BBC Radio Carlisle, now BBC Radio Cumbria, was formed.

It was the only one of the original stations to cover a county rather than a city. When the BBC opened Radio Newcastle which covered the north of the county and Radio Teesside (later Radio Cleveland and now BBC Tees) covered the south, it was sandwiched between the two. Although, in effect the radio station itself was moved to Carlisle to create the new service there.

County Durham is now covered by BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Radio Tees.

Former BBC News correspondent Kate Adie worked at Radio Durham, before joining BBC Radio Bristol in 1970.[2] Other presenters included Mike Hollingsworth,[3] Eileen McCabe[4] and Barbara Bailey.[5]

References

  1. ^ "The origins of BBC local radio". BBC. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Kate Adie: Where is Kate when her country needs her?". The Independent. 14 October 2001. Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
  3. ^ Kate Adie (25 October 2012). The Autobiography: The Kindness of Strangers. Headline. pp. 37–. ISBN 978-0-7553-6449-7.
  4. ^ David Whetstone (6 January 2015). "Former TV presenter Eileen McCabe from South Tyneside dies aged 69". Evening Chronicle Live. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  5. ^ James Entwistle (24 May 2018). "The Girls in the VHF Set". Evening Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
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