LBC London News

LBC London News
Broadcast area London
Slogan London's news. All the time.
Frequency Online
DAB Digital Radio
1152 AM kHz
First air date 5 October 1994
Format News/Talk
Owner Global
Sister stations LBC (national)
The Arrow, Capital, Chill, Classic FM, Gold, Heart, Jazz FM, Smooth Radio, Radio X
Website lbc.co.uk

LBC London News is London's only rolling news radio station. It broadcasts in Greater London on AM, DAB, Sky, Virgin Media and online.

History

The 1152AM frequency has a complicated history of format and ownership. The history of continuous news radio in London dates back to the early 1990s. In September 1993 London News Radio was awarded the FM and AM licences previously held by LBC. They proposed a continuous news service on FM and a news/talk format on AM.

By the time the licence was due to start in October 1994 London News Radio had been through several upheavals, first acquiring LBC and then itself being bought up by Reuters. At launch on 5 October 1994 the company was known as London Radio Services and it operated London News 97.3FM and London News Talk 1152AM. London News initially operated on a 20-minute wheel. The first presenters on air were Michael Wilson and Clare Catford. The morning sequence was presented by LBC veteran Jonathan Staples with Nicky Broyd the afternoon presenter. Drivetime was in the hands of Christopher Terry and Brenda Ellison. John Terrett was the evening host.

By spring 1995, the rolling news format gave way to a more traditional schedule of news sequences and magazine programmes. The station name was shortened to News 97.3 in the summer. In 1996, Reuters sold London Radio Services to the newly formed London News Radio (unrelated to the previous LNR company), in which ITN, DMGT, Reuters and GWR Group held equal shares. In summer 1996, the station reverted to a rolling news format, initially with no name (the station was branded as 97.3FM). In the autumn, following a move to ITN's headquarters, the station was relaunched as News Direct 97.3FM and Chris Mann was appointed editor.

In 2000 the station was renamed ITN News Direct 97.3FM. In late 2002, following the sale of the station to Chrysalis Radio, the station dropped the ITN prefix and returned to its previous name until the rebrand as LBC News 1152. During Christmas and New Year 2002/03 an LBC News-branded rolling news service was carried on both 97.3FM and 1152AM prior to the full launches of LBC 97.3 and LBC News 1152, swapping the frequencies of the news and talk stations.

In Spring 2007, it was announced that the station will be replaced by Sky News Radio.[1] This move comes alongside Channel 4's 4 Digital Group second DAB multiplex bid. On 18 October 2007, the station's new owners Global Radio announced that they and Sky had scrapped a joint venture to turn LBC News 1152 into a 24-hour Sky News branded station.[2]

In Summer 2008, the 1152 service was substantially cut back. The overnight automated service was abandoned and replaced with a simulcast of LBC 97.3. The daytime service became semi-automated, with much greater reliance on recorded audio from LBC's FM talk station and Sky News. LBC's five-and-a-half-year relationship with business news provider Bloomberg was also abandoned in favour of business updates from CNBC. On 15 November 2010, LBC News 1152 was added to the Sky and Virgin Media EPGs, with the station using channel slots formerly occupied by Galaxy Yorkshire.[3] This came six weeks ahead of Galaxy's rebranding to Capital FM.

In January and February 2012, the station reverted to live presentation throughout the day with a format of headlines every 15 minutes. For the previous four years parts of the daytime schedule had been automated.

In January 2015, LBC News 1152 changed its name to LBC London News and moved to a 20-minute wheel of news, with headlines at :00, :20 and :40.

Programming

The station broadcasts between 7 am and 7 pm (weekdays), 7 am and 6 pm (Saturday) and 7 am to 5 pm (Sunday). The evening and overnight service is a simulcast of sister station LBC.

The station broadcasts continuous 20 minute segments which include business, sport and weather updates with travel news updated on the "ones." Weekend features include an events guide.

The station's suppliers include Sky News Radio and Trafficlink.

Notable presenters

Present notable presenters include Glen Thompsett.

Notable past presenters include Luisa Baldini and Peter Deeley, Former Sky News anchorman Bob Friend was a guest presenter on the station at the time of the 2005 British general election.

Listenership

LBC London News has 477,000 listeners every week, who listen for around 5.6 hours a week. Since 2005, the station has shown consistent moderate growth in terms of people listening, and roughly static total hours.

In terms of competitors, it falls short of sister station LBC 97.3, which achieves 1.2 million listeners (who listen for 8.9 hours a week) but does better than BBC London, which achieves 454,000 listeners (who listen for 4.6 hours a week).

(Source: RAJAR Q1 2018; )

See also

References

  1. ↑ "LBC News to become Sky News Radio". Radio Today. 3 April 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
  2. ↑ Radio Today with United Radio..: Sky News Radio complications Archived 11 June 2009 at WebCite
  3. ↑ "LBC News replaces Galaxy on digital TV". The Airwaves. 15 November 2010. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
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