LBC Radio (originally the London Broadcasting Company) operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio. The launch of LBC also saw the beginning of IRN's broadcasting, as LBC provided the service to independent local radio stations nationwide. Image File history File links LBC.gif Summary LBC Logo http://www. ... Logo used by the Independent Broadcasting Authority for promoting Independent Local Radio services. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... This article is about the British radio station. ... Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the UK and beyond. ...

In April 2007 a new marketing slogan for LBC 97.3: "London's Biggest Conversation"- a play on the initials.^[1] was introduced. It is currently owned by Global Radio. LBC 97. ... Global Radio is a UK radio company created in 2007 by the sale of Chrysalis Radio by the Chrysalis Group [1] [2]. Senior personnel include Charles Allen and Richard Park. ...

Current services

• LBC 97.3 - talk format
• LBC News 1152 - rolling news format; due to become Sky News Radio in 2008

Both are also transmitted on DAB and via a live stream on the LBC website. LBC 97. ... LBC News 1152 is a 24 hour news and information radio station broadcasting in Greater London. ... Sky News Radio is the name for the new radio station that will be a 24-hour news radio service, operating as a digital radio station in the UK. The service will be a collaboration between BSkyB and Chrysalis. ... Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), also known as Eureka 147, is a technology for broadcasting of audio using digital radio transmission. ...

Launch

The launch in 1973 attracted considerable attention and a sizeable audience, particularly for the pairing of the celebrated journalist Paul Callan and the writer (later national newspaper editor and TV personality) Janet Street-Porter who contrived to create a new form of radio, albeit unintentionally. The pair were pitched as co-presenters of the morning drive-time show.^[2] The intention was to contrast the urbane Callan with the less couth Street-Porter, whose accents were respectively known to studio engineers as "cut-glass" and "cut-froat". To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Janet Street-Porter née Bull[1] (born 27 December 1946) is a BAFTA award-winning British editor, journalist, media personality, television presenter and producer. ...

In the event friction between the ill-assorted pair led to an entertaining stream of one-upmanship that became required listening for many Londoners, the sharper put-downs being blamed for several collisions by motorists incapacitated with laughter. The programme was the first in the UK to combine interviews with celebrities and heavyweight political figures on the same show, blurring the line between classic British comedy and analysis of international affairs. One-upmanship is the systematic and conscious practice of making ones associates feel inferior and thereby gaining the status of being one-up on them, as described by Stephen Potter in his tongue-in-cheek self-help books, and in film and television derivatives from them. ... British Comedy, in film, radio and television, is known for its consistently quirky characters, plots and settings, and has produced some of the most famous and memorable comic actors and characters in the last fifty years. ...

The original station spawned a number of stars who went on to become household names in the U.K. media. They include Jon Snow, Julian Manyon, Peter Allen, Rosie Boycott amongst others. Entertainment personalities included Jeremy Beadle who developed a late night phone-in programme and Mr Nasty - who argued over the telephone with children and went on to star in a Granada Television series.

Expansion

Following Chrysalis' full acquisition of the Digital News Network (which it partly owned alongside other major commercial radio companies) on Friday 28 July 2006, the decision was taken to shut down the station at 5pm that night, and it was announced that the service would be replaced by LBC. is the 209th day of the year (210th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

From September 2006 LBC broadcasts in the North West, West Midlands, Yorkshire, North East, South Wales & The West on the DAB platform. Each region has tailored news & information.^[3] Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), also known as Eureka 147, is a technology for broadcasting of audio using digital radio transmission. ...

In a further show of the company's ambition to extend the brand, Chrysalis Radio made a bid, devised by current Managing Director David Lloyd for the new radio licence in Greater Manchester. The proposed station was GMBC and is based on the LBC format. Lloyd's bid failed with Ofcom awarding the licence to a GMG venture called Rock Talk. In 2003, Chrysalis put together a similar bid for a West Midlands licence, with a proposed station called WBC. This bid, however, was also unsuccessful, losing out to Kerrang 105.2 operated by emap. Ofcom is a regulator for communication industries in the United Kingdom. ... Guardian Media Group plc is a company of the United Kingdom owning various mass media operations including The Guardian, The Observer and the Manchester Evening News. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Kerrang! 105. ... EMAP plc (LSE: EMA) is a British media company, specialising in the production of magazines, and the organization of business events and conferences. ...

Company history

The station has had a turbulent commercial history and almost disappeared completely in the mid-1990s when the original LBC company, then owned by Shirley Porter's Chelverton Investments, failed to have its two licences (LBC Newstalk and London Talkback Radio) renewed. After it lost its licence, they bid for a national AM licence but lost; a consortium, led by Associated Newspapers, was formed with former LBC controller Charlie Cox called Newstalk UK, but this was awarded to Talk Radio UK (now called talkSPORT). Shortly after, incoming radio station London News Radio bought it to make a smooth transition. Dame Shirley Porter (born November 29, 1930) is a controversial British former local government leader. ... talkSPORT is a commercial sports and talk radio station, based in London, broadcasting to the United Kingdom providing sports talk, live commentaries, phone-in discussion and talk shows. ...

The LBC name was not used on-air at all between October 1994 and July 1996.

LBC was owned between 1994 and 1996 by Reuters who, for most of that time, operated the station as London News 97.3, 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. Reuters Group plc (LSE: RTR and NASDAQ: RTRSY); pron. ... In telecommunications, frequency modulation (FM) conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency. ... Mediumwave radio transmissions serves as the most common band for broadcasting. ...

Between 1996 and 2002, LBC was part of London News Radio Limited, 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. ITN may refer to: Independent Television News In the news, a section on the Main Page of English Wikipedia This is a disambiguation page, a list of pages that otherwise might share the same title. ... Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) is one of the UKs largest media companies and has interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio. ... GWR Group was a British radio company, until its merger with Capital Radio Group in May 2005 to form the new company GCap Media. ... is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

Chrysalis trumpeted their purchase with the promise that they lift the listenership to at least one million from around 700,000 (LBC enjoyed an audience of more than two million in the early 1980s) but an array of presenters including Boy George, Henry Kelly, Caroline Feraday, Dr. Pam Spurr, Sandi Toksvig, (all no longer with the company) an array of on-air gimmicks and two managing directors has seen the audience remain largely static. LBC's 97.3FM's increase in audience has been at the expense of its AM service. George Alan ODowd, better known as Boy George or Boi-Jorge (born June 14, 1961 in Eltham) is a rock singer-songwriter. ... Henry Kelly (born 17 April 1946) is an Irish television presenter and radio DJ. // Henry Kelly was educated at University College Dublin where he was the auditor of the Literary and Historical society. ... Caroline Feraday (born May 25, 1977) is a British television and radio broadcaster. ... Sandi Toksvig, official photograph Sandi Toksvig (IPA: ) (born 3 May 1958 in Copenhagen) is a Danish comedian, author, and radio presenter based in the United Kingdom. ...

In 2005, the station's Managing Director Mark Flanagan left Chrysalis to set up a political consultancy company and was replaced by David Lloyd. Some claimed he held no previous experience in the talk and chat radio genre which overlooked the almost two years he spent with the Century FM brand in its Border TV ownership days where the station was a 50/50 music/talk service. David introduced a number of programme changes to mixed reactions - these included a 'Drive Time' slot presented by Iain Lee (since replaced by Paul Ross), a daily 'Big Quiz' which promises (but has yet to deliver) huge cash prizes (and has since been cut down to one show a week) and a number of weekend repeats. He also introduced a 'podcasting' service, now called LBC Plus and a number of premium rate promotional opportunities to boost falling advertising revenues experienced by the radio sector. Mark Flanagan is a Welsh television actor best known for playing the character of Jinx in the Welsh soap Pobol y Cwm. ... Century FM is the name of a number of UK regional radio stations mostly owned by GCap Media. ... Iain Lee (born 9 June 1973) is a radio and television presenter. ... Paul John Ross (born John Ross on December 31, 1956 in Leytonstone, London) is an English journalist, television editor, and media personality. ...

In February 2007, Chrysalis confirmed media speculation that they were '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 £200,000,000 for new acquisitions while The Daily Telegraph suggested that it could be the subject of a 'management' buyout. The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... This article concerns the British newspaper. ...

In March 2007, Chrysalis announced that they will launch Sky News Radio next year, in collaboration with BSkyB, and LBC's AM station, will become 'Sky News Radio for London' ^[4] Sky News Radio is the name for the new radio station that will be a 24-hour news radio service, operating as a digital radio station in the UK. The service will be a collaboration between BSkyB and Chrysalis. ... British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB - formerly two companies, Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, which merged) is a company that operates the most popular subscription television service in the Ireland. ...

Chrysalis Radio Sold

On the 25th June 2007 it was announced that LBC along with its sister stations The Arrow, Heart and Galaxy network were to be sold for £170 million to Global Radio by Chrysalis Radio.^[5] (Redirected from 25th June) June 25 is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 189 days remaining. ... Four-hour miniseries produced for CBC Television in 1996, starring Dan Aykroyd as Crawford Gordon, experienced wartime production leader during World War II and president of A. V. Roe Canada during its attempt to produce the Avro Arrow supersonic jet interceptor. ... The heart and lungs, from an older edition of Grays Anatomy. ... Galaxy is a network of radio stations operated in the United Kingdom by Chrysalis Group. ... Global Radio is a UK radio company created in 2007 by the sale of Chrysalis Radio by the Chrysalis Group [1] [2]. Senior personnel include Charles Allen and Richard Park. ... Chrysalis Group is a UK media company with music and radio divisions. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Press Gazette, formerly known as UK Press Gazette (UKPG), was for 41 years a British media trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 209th day of the year (210th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• Oatts, Joanne, "LBC becomes 'London's Biggest Conversation', Digital Spy, Tuesday, April 3, 2007.

Digital Spy (or DS as it is often known by its users) is a leading British media and entertainment website, noted for its extensive Big Brother coverage and forums. ...

External links

• LBC Official Site