the bbc s regional radio service for england and the channel islands consisting of 40 stations . they cover a variety of areas with some serving a city and surrounding areas for example bbc radio manchester ; a county for example bbc radio norfolk ; an administrative region for example bbc wm ; or a larger region entirely for example bbc radio solent . the stations were launched progressively starting with bbc radio leicester on 8 november 1967 with the last station to launch being the ill fated bbc dorset fm on 26 april 1993 . since then numerous local radio stations have been merged and renamed however no new stations have been created where no service previously existed . contents 1 history 2 current operation 3 stations 3.1 east 3.2 east midlands 3.3 london 3.4 north east and cumbria 3.5 north west 3.6 south 3.7 south east 3.8 south west 3.9 west 3.10 west midlands 3.11 yorkshire 3.12 yorkshire & lincolnshire 3.13 former stations 4 imaging 5 dave and sue 6 references 7 external links history edit the popularity of pirate radio changed many things with the bbc the most prominent being the creation of bbc radio 1 to satisfy the population s thirst for new popular music . the other however was the fact that these pirate radio stations were in some cases local . as a result bbc local radio began as an experiment . initially stations had to be co funded by the bbc and local authorities which only some labour controlled areas proved willing to do . radio leicester was the first to launch on 8 november 1967 followed by leeds stoke durham sheffield merseyside brighton and nottingham . by the early 1970s the local authority funding requirement was dropped and stations spread across the country ; many city based stations later expand their remit to cover an entire county . 1 there were eight stations in the initial experiment which lasted for two years . when this finally finished it was deemed so successful that all of the stations except bbc radio durham remained on air . in addition to this more followed in 1970 ; bbc radio birmingham bristol blackburn derby humberside london manchester medway newcastle replacing bbc radio durham oxford solent and teesside . 2 despite the success of this the original stations were seen as flawed as they originally only broadcast on the fm band and not on the more widely available am band . this was eventually rectified a few years after the creation of these new channels . 2 from 1973 independent local radio launched nationally with a series of nineteen stations with many more to follow in the years to come . as a result many of the bbc local radio stations found themselves in direct competition with commercial competitors who utilised the popular djs from the pirate radio stations and who gained in most cases large audiences . despite this local radio continued to flourish with the majority of the current network in place by 1990 . the network has remained in its current state since . 3 current operation edit the radio stations are operated from stations around the country that usually share with the bbc regional news services and their news gathering bureaux . the stations are operated by the region that the station is based in and are responsible to the bbc english regions department a division of bbc news . the remit for each local radio station is the same to offer a primarily speech based service comprising news and information complemented by music . the target audience of bbc local radio are listeners aged over 50 who are not served as well as other age groups on the bbc . 4 each station produces most of their own programmes however some off peak programming is produced from one station and covering all stations in the region some is simulcast with other neighbouring regions and all stations simulcast bbc radio 5 live overnight when the station is off the air . stations edit a list of the forty local radio stations by region . in addition to these stations there is also an opt out service covering dorset bbc radio solent . there were also formerly opt out services covering milton keynes bbc three counties radio peterborough and the fens bbc radio cambridgeshire plymouth bbc radio devon and swindon bbc wiltshire but these ceased in 2012 due to cutbacks as part of the bbc s delivering quality first programme . east edit bbc essex bbc radio cambridgeshire bbc radio norfolk bbc radio northampton bbc radio suffolk bbc three counties radio east midlands edit bbc radio derby bbc radio leicester bbc radio nottingham london edit bbc radio london north east and cumbria edit bbc newcastle bbc radio cumbria bbc tees north west edit bbc radio lancashire bbc radio manchester bbc radio merseyside south edit bbc radio berkshire bbc radio oxford bbc radio solent south east edit bbc radio kent bbc surrey bbc sussex south west edit bbc radio guernsey bbc radio cornwall bbc radio devon bbc radio jersey west edit bbc radio bristol bbc radio gloucestershire bbc somerset bbc wiltshire west midlands edit bbc wm bbc coventry & warwickshire bbc hereford and worcester bbc radio shropshire bbc radio stoke yorkshire edit bbc radio leeds bbc radio sheffield bbc radio york yorkshire & lincolnshire edit bbc radio humberside bbc radio lincolnshire former stations edit bbc dorset fm bbc radio durham bbc southern counties radio bbc thames valley fm imaging edit between october 2009 and april 2012 a generic jingle package produced by mcasso music production was gradually rolled out across the network and is now in use by all bbc local radio stations . dave and sue edit dave and sue are two fictional radio listeners created as marketing personas . descriptions of the characters created by the bbc were given to all their local radio presenters as representative target listeners during the 2000s . they were later superseded by the bbc local radio 2010 strategy . the characters were created as part of project bullseye . its stated aim was that to develop great radio programming ... we need to know where the centre of our audience target is and be able to focus on it in all we do . 1 dave and sue are both 55 . sue is a school secretary while dave is a self employed plumber . they are both divorcees with grown up children . the characters shop at asda and wear casual clothes . the couple have little interest in high culture or politics and see the world as a dangerous and depressing place . they hope that radio will be something that will cheer them up and make them laugh . 1 bbc local radio staff were given facts and timelines about dave and sue described as composite listeners . staff were asked to focus on producing something to which the pair would enjoy listening to . 5 the bbc also produced photographs of the couple to encourage presenters to visualise their potential listeners . 1 at the 2005 frank gillard awards for bbc local radio the corporation hired two actors to represent the fictional couple and award a prize to the receptionist of the year . 6 mia costello of bbc radio solent wrote a controversial internal memo in october 2006 restating the importance of these characters . she wrote whatever job you do on station make sure this week you broadcast to dave and sue people in their fifties . only put on callers sounding in the 45 64 range . i don t want to hear really elderly voices . only talk about things that are positive and appealing to people in this age range . only do caller round ups about people in this age range . this was reprinted the following month in the southern daily echo following which a bbc spokesperson commented out of context these notes sound harsh and we apologise if they offend anyone . 7 references edit a b c d dave self meet dave n sue new statesman a b smith mike . uk radio history . mds975 . archived from the original on 18 july 2011 . retrieved 2 august 2011 . smith mike . uk radio history . mds975 . archived from the original on 18 july 2011 . retrieved 2 august 2011 . bbc local radio in england policy 2010 2011 . statements of programme policy . bbc . retrieved 2 august 2011 . peter stewart essential radio skills bbc english regions annual review 2005 2006 you are too old at 65 bbc tells listeners southern daily echo external links edit bbc local radio at bbc online v t e bbc local radio east bbc essex radio cambridgeshire radio norfolk radio northampton radio suffolk three counties radio east midlands radio derby radio leicester radio nottingham east yorkshire and lincolnshire radio humberside radio lincolnshire north west radio lancashire radio manchester radio merseyside north east and cumbria bbc tees bbc newcastle radio cumbria south east radio kent bbc surrey bbc sussex south radio berkshire radio oxford radio solent london radio london south west and the channel islands radio cornwall radio devon radio guernsey radio jersey west radio bristol radio gloucestershire bbc somerset bbc wiltshire west midlands bbc wm bbc coventry & warwickshire bbc hereford and worcester radio shropshire radio stoke yorkshire radio leeds radio sheffield radio york former stations dorset fm radio durham southern counties radio thames valley fm v t e bbc radio bbc uk stations nationwide radio 1 radio 2 radio 3 radio 4 radio 5 live digital only 1xtra radio 4 extra radio 5 live sports extra radio 6 music asian network national dab multiplex nations scotland shetland orkney nan g idheal wales cymru ulster foyle english regions bbc local radio international stations world service albanian arabic bangla nepali brasil mundo persian russian ukrainian urdu defunct stations and services 2lo london 5it birmingham 2zy manchester 5no newcastle 5wa cardiff 5sc glasgow 2bd aberdeen 6bm bournemouth 2fl sheffield 5py plymouth 2be belfast relays 2eh edinburgh 6lv liverpool 2ls leeds and bradford 6kh hull 5ng nottingham 2de dundee 6st stoke 5sx swansea services allied expeditionary forces programme forces programme general forces programme home service light programme national programme radio 4 news fm radio 5 radio 7 rebranded regional programme third programme related topics awards logos bbc music programmes radio orchestra school radio wartime broadcasting service category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bbc local radio & oldid 737216382 categories bbc local radiobbc radiohidden categories use dmy dates from august 2012use british english from august 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch fran aisbahasa indonesiapolski edit links this page was last 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