BBC Radio Lincolnshire

BBC Radio Lincolnshire radio car from the 1980s, preserved at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life in Lincoln.

Launched on 11 November 1980 at 7 am with a commissioned peal of bells from Lincoln Cathedral. The first words spoken on BBC Radio Lincolnshire came from Nick Brunger: "And it's a warm welcome for the first time to the programmes of BBC Radio Lincolnshire."

In 1988 the station commissioned UK jingle producer Alfasound to compose a jingle package based on the traditional English folk song The Lincolnshire Poacher, continuing on this theme until 2006.

Until the end of the 1980s, BBC Radio Lincolnshire did not broadcast during the evening and simulcast BBC Radio 2 from around 7pm on weekdays and 5pm at the weekend. However, the end of the 1980s saw BBC Local Radio beginning weeknight programmes with stations broadcasting a mostly regional rather than local with the same programme networked on all the stations in that area. BBC Radio Lincolnshire broadcast its own programmes until 9pm before joining with the other East Midlands stations to air a late show which broadcast from 9pm until 12midnight. However evening programming at the weekend didn't begin until many years later and the station still handed over to BBC Radio 5 Live mid-evening at the weekend until well into the 2000s.

In 2006 BBC Radio Lincolnshire conducted a six-month trial of XDA pocket-PCs for the BBC, using Technica Del Arte's Luci mobile (on the hoof) interviewing application.[2]

It used to have a BBC Bus,[3][4] until licence fee cutbacks in early 2008 forced budget priorities to be streamlined.

On 15th January 2018, BBC Radio Lincolnshire stopped broadcasting on MW.[5]

Management

Under its first manager, Roy Corlett, the station achieved record audience figures as its programming of news, music and chat became very popular. Corlett left to found BBC Radio Devon and was replaced briefly by Laurie Bloomfield, who also left to launch a new BBC local station, BBC Radio Shropshire.

After Bloomfield's brief stay, the station was managed for 14 years by David Wilkinson, one of the founding team, and a local radio pioneer from his days at BBC Radio Nottingham in 1968. Upon Wilkinson's retirement in 1999, the station was taken over by BBC Radio Leicester managing editor, Charlie Partridge. In 2004, the station recorded record audience figures – according to RAJAR, listeners were tuned into BBC Radio Lincolnshire for longer ("hours") than any other radio station in the country.

The Lincolnshire flag was chosen by listeners in 2005

The main signal on 94.9 FM comes from the Belmont transmitting station near Donington on Bain in the north of the county, which, until the height reduction carried out in September/October 2009, was the tallest mast in Europe.

Neither the FM nor the MW signals cover the southern edge of the county, including Bourne, Holbeach, Stamford, Market Deeping and Spalding. Likewise, most of northern Lincolnshire cannot receive the station, including Barton upon Humber and Immingham.[7] As such, Radio Lincolnshire only covers central Lincolnshire.

The Grantham signal, from just south of the town, is a filler transmitter with low power. Radio Lincolnshire was the only local radio station in Lincolnshire until 1992, when Lincs FM began, also broadcast from Belmont.

Monks' Dyke Technology College in Louth is used for the East Lindsey reports. District outposts are important due to the time taken on Lincolnshire's ill-equipped roads.

BBC Radio Lincolnshire broadcasts seven days a week from 6 am until 1 am. The station also simulcasts some programming with counterpart BBC Local Radio stations and during its overnight downtime, Radio Lincolnshire simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live.

Radio Lincolnshire broadcasts full commentary on all Lincoln City football matches with additional commentary of Boston United and Gainsborough Trinity matches online.

It is the only BBC local station to have a dedicated farming programme

The station is one of few to have a dedicated farming programme which is broadcast on Sundays at 7 am which the station has broadcast since it first went on air. Radio 4's Farming Today is the only national BBC Radio programme to routinely feature stories from the county.

Since the early 1980s, a race had been held at the Market Rasen Racecourse, the BBC Radio Lincolnshire Novice's Hurdle. In recent years, this has become the Mike Molloy Memorial Handicap Chase, named after a former sports presenter who died of Myeloma.

In 1983 it formed a charity trust, thought to be the first in the UK for a radio station. This became known as Going for Gold. Originally GOLD stood for Give Our Lincolnshire Defibrillators. Since then, money has been raised for a number of other local causes.

It holds an annual folk song competition called "Song For Lincolnshire".

• Boothby Graffoe, comedian who presented a two-hour programme on Friday evenings on the station, and briefly on Radio Nottingham, in the late 1980s.
• John Inverdale, presenter of national sports programmes on BBC Television and BBC Radio Five Live, started his radio career as a morning presenter from 1982 until 1985, having worked for two years at the Lincolnshire Echo. He has claimed it is the most enjoyable job he has ever had, despite the early mornings. He was replaced by Dave Bussey.
• Sky News weather forecaster Jo Wheeler worked for a number of years as a Saturday afternoon programme presenter at BBC Radio Lincolnshire.
• BBC Director of Sport, Roger Mosey, began his career at the station.
• Sky News's Washington correspondent Emma Hurd, who also presented on East Midlands Today.
• BBC News Washington correspondent, and former Newsround presenter, Matthew Price, was a reporter with BBC Radio Lincolnshire in the mid-1990s.[8]

• BBC Radio Lincolnshire, includes presenter profiles
• History of local radio in Lincolnshire.
• MDS975's Transmitter Map.
• Belmont transmitter.
• Grantham transmitter.