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LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...
station owned and operated by
Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...
and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
, and began to broadcast on Monday 8 October 1973, a week ahead of
Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...
. The launch of LBC also saw the beginning of
Independent Radio News Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond. The managing director, Tim Molloy, succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been ...
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 the country. It has been available nationwide since 2014. LBC has a like-branded sister station –
LBC News LBC News is a rolling news radio station based in the United Kingdom. It broadcasts in Greater London on AM and UK wide on DAB and online. History The 1152 AM frequency in London has a complicated history of format and ownership. Continuous ...
– which is dedicated to rolling news, travel and weather. For some years, this station operated as a part-time station broadcasting during daytime hours only in London on 1152 AM and DAB. The station was relaunched as a 24-hour station on national DAB+ radio on Monday 28 October 2019. As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a combined weekly audience of 3.8 million, according to
RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was call ...
.


History


Launch and early history

The station was originally based in studios on Gough Square, off Fleet Street in the
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
.
David Jessel David Greenhalgh Jessel (born 8 November 1945) is a former British TV and radio news presenter, author, and campaigner against miscarriages of justice. From 2000 to 2010, he was also a commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Backgro ...
was LBC's original breakfast presenter; he opened the station just before 5am on Monday 8 October 1973. The original station had several presenters who became household names in the British media. These include Adrian Love, Jon Snow, Peter Allen,
Rosie Boycott Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott, Baroness Boycott (born 13 May 1951) is a British journalist and feminist. Early life The daughter of Major Charles Boycott and Betty Le Sueur Boycott, Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott was born in Saint Helier, Jersey. S ...
, and
Bel Mooney Beryl Ann "Bel" Mooney (born 8 October 1946) is an English journalist and broadcaster. She currently writes a column for the ''Daily Mail'', having previously written – mainly as a columnist – for other publications including the ''Daily Mirro ...
. For 10 years from 1975 the breakfast show ''AM'' was presented by
Bob Holness Robert Wentworth John Holness (12 November 1928 – 6 January 2012) was a British-South African radio and television presenter and occasional actor. He presented the British version of '' Blockbusters''. Early life Holness was born in Vryheid, ...
and Douglas Cameron. LBC's late-evening interview and phone-in programme between 9p.m. (later 10p.m.) and 1a.m. was called ''Nightline ''and at various times was hosted by Adrian Love,
Robin Houston Robin Houston (born London, 1947) is a British voiceover artist and former announcer, radio and television newsreader and quiz show host. After starting his career as an announcer and stage manager, he became one of the pioneers of commercial ra ...
,
Monty Modlyn Montague Modlyn (23 May 1921 – 6 May 1994),Anthony Haywar ''The Independent'', 14 May 1994 known as Monty Modlyn, was a British journalist, best known as a radio and TV presenter. Modlyn worked extensively on radio and TV, often as a roving rep ...
,
Jeremy Beadle Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, radio presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s he was a regular face on British television, and in two years appeared ...
and
Tommy Boyd Timothy Leslie Boyd (born 14 December 1952), better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio presenter. Television From 1977 to 1980, Boyd was co-presenter of the ITV children's magazine programme ''Magpie'' replacing Douglas Rae. In 1981, ...
. There 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.


Changes of ownership

Originally owned by a consortium led by the Canadian
Selkirk Communications Selkirk Communications was a Canadian radio and television broadcasting company, which operated from 1959 to 1989. Evolving out of Taylor, Pearson & Carson, a local broadcaster in Vancouver founded in 1934, the company grew to own 14 radio statio ...
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 The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
and relocated to Hammersmith; and in 1989 split 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.


London News Radio

On the morning of Friday, 3 September 1993, the
Radio Authority Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...
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 Guinness Mahon was an Irish merchant bank originally based in Dublin but more recently with operations in London. History Formation The firm was founded as a land agency in Dublin in 1836 by barrister Robert Rundell Guinness, a great-nephew of ...
. Staff at the station were in shock, not least because while they had received a tip-off from the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'' that they looked set to lose one of their frequencies, they did not expect to lose both. This 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 Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
) 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, a rolling news and travel information service on the
FM band The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa (defined as International Telecommunication Union ( ...
, 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.


Return of LBC

Reuters then brought in additional shareholders, and between 1996 and 2002 LBC was part of London News Radio Limited, a company owned jointly by ITN,
Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media company, the owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office i ...
, Reuters, and the
GWR Group GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. O ...
. 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 Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...
.


Chrysalis

In 2002, the company was bought for £23.5m by the media company Chrysalis, which trumpeted its purchase with 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 North Kensington is an area of west London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green and in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The names North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove describe the same area. North Kensington is wh ...
, and the formatting of the two frequencies was swapped, the talk format moving to FM and the news format to AM. Mark Flanagan, 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 A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
service called LBC Plus, and a number of premium-rate promotional opportunities to replace falling advertising revenues experienced by the radio sector. In September 2006, the LBC 97.3 station 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 the London LBC transmission, augmented with occasional bulletins of regional news and travel information.


Global Radio

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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' 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 ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' suggested that it could be the subject of a management buyout. Subsequently, it was announced on 25 June 2007 that LBC along with its sister stations The Arrow,
Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...
, and Galaxy network were to be sold for £170 million to Global Radio by the
Chrysalis Group Chrysalis Group was a UK media company that was founded by Chris Wright, chairman, and Terry Ellis. Wright was named in ''Sunday Times Rich List 2009'' of the 1,000 richest persons in the UK. Previously having interests in television, books an ...
, whose Chrysalis Radio operation closed down. In December 2008 the station moved to the
Capital London Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...
studios in Leicester Square. In April 2007, a new marketing slogan for (what was then called) LBC 97.3 was introduced: "London's Biggest Conversation", a play on the station's initials. Towards the end of October 2012, the station ceased DAB broadcasts to some parts of the country. On 30 January 2014, LBC announced its intention to return to the DAB platform and began broadcasting nationally at 7am on 11 February 2014 under a new slogan, "Leading Britain's Conversation". LBC took up the slot previously occupied by Jazz FM (and briefly
Birdsong Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by func ...
), and dropped the "97.3" from the station name to reinforce the notion that it now had national coverage.


Podcasting

LBC claimed to be the first radio station in the world to provide full-length
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
s for all its major shows, plus podcast-only shows and other things such as backstage interviews and mp3s sent to the show, under the name ''LBC Plus''. Most of their podcasts required a small subscription fee. Some shows, including 'best of' programmes, podcast-only shows and 'bitesize' versions of programmes, were free. The full length, paid podcast service has now ceased, and shows are now available for 7 days on Global Player.


Controversies


Tony Blair appearance

On 13 January 2004, then British
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
presented an hour-long phone-in show on 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 1011am 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 the caller he would look into his case personally. It later transpired that the caller was in fact
Fathers 4 Justice Fathers 4 Justice (or F4J) is a fathers’ rights organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, the group aims to gain public and parliamentary support for changes in UK legislation on fathers' rights, mainly using stunts and protest ...
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.


Jeni Barnett and MMR vaccine controversy

The radio station became involved in the
MMR vaccine controversy Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 ''Lancet'' MMR autism frau ...
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 Ben Michael Goldacre (born 20 May 1974) is a British physician, academic and science writer. He is the first Bennett Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford ...
, and then because LBC and Global Radio threatened legal action against Goldacre for copyright infringement after he refused to remove 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 David Morris Aaronovitch (born 8 July 1954) is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He is a regular columnist for ''The Times'' and the author of ''Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country'' (2000), ''Voodoo ...
in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' 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 In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House a ...
criticising Barnett and LBC for the likely effect of the broadcast on public health.


Call-in shows

LBC has held call-in shows for politicians
Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicep ...
,
Jacob Rees-Mogg Jacob William Rees-Mogg (born 24 May 1969) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Somerset since 2010. Now a backbencher, he served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council f ...
and
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
. In 2016, it was announced that
Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...
would be taking part in a weekly call-in show. This show ran from 13 January to 30 March that year. Salmond was then given a three-hour Sunday afternoon show, starting on 17 September 2017, after he lost his seat in the 2017 general election. LBC launched a call in consumer law show, called 'The Consumer Hour' in 2013. The show was hosted by
Clive Bull Clive Bull (born 23 January 1959) is an English radio talk show host, best known for presenting a late-night show on LBC in London. Background Bull was educated at Dulwich College in south east London, between 1970 and 1977 where he was a leadi ...
with listeners' questions answered by guest consumer lawyer Dean Dunham. The show ran until September 2020. In September 2020 LBC relaunched The Consumer Hour, hosted solely by celebrity lawyer Dean Dunham on Friday evenings at 9pm, which is regarded as amongst LBC's most popular shows.


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lbc Radio stations in London News and talk radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 1973 British radio networks 1973 establishments in England