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Broadcasters celebrate 40 years since radio launch

Lewis Adams
BBC News, Bedfordshire
The BBC Radio Bedfordshire team had five weeks of training before the big launch

Broadcasters involved with the launch of BBC Radio Bedfordshire have been celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The station, founded on 24 June 1985, covered major events including a failed IRA bomb attack in St Albans in 1991 and Luton Town winning the Littlewoods Cup in 1988.

Also serving parts of Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, it rebranded as BBC Three Counties in 1993 to reflect the wider reach.

Mike Gibbons, the managing editor who oversaw the launch, said: "The target was get on air and get on air well - that was the most important thing."

A black and white picture of the above named people. They are all dressed smartly and smiling. All are standing up except for Gavin McCoy, who is sitting.
Members of the original team included (from left) Chris Burns, Gerald Main, Gavin McCoy, Tony Gillham, Mary Sharp and John Smith
A man and a women sitting at a large desk with a huge pile of paperwork in front of them. The woman is on the phone and reaching for a cup of tea. The office is messy.
Staff had to quickly build a rapport with audiences tuning in for the first time

Gibbons' voice was the first heard on air as he welcomed new listeners, followed by the news bulletins and then breakfast presenter Gareth O'Callaghan.

Reflecting on that first day, Gibbons said: "On that morning, we were all in early and there was an air of anticipation before we started."

Gavin McCoy is wearing a V-neck jumper over a white shirt and tie. He is speaking into a microphone while wearing headphones.
Gavin McCoy presented mid-mornings, but also voiced Sid the Manager on the Radio 1 show Steve Wright in the Afternoon
The Man Ezeke singing into a microphone in front of a tent outside. Behind him people are joining in with the music. He has his arm in the air and his eyes closed.
The Man Ezeke went on to become the first black presenter to front BBC Radio 1's weekly chart show on a Sunday

"We were really, really pleased with the response we got from the audience that day," Gibbons continued.

"It all went well, the technology held up and we were really grateful to be there."

A black and white picture of a BBC van and truck on a street in Luton. They are part of an outside broadcast. A banner advertises the radio station for being a good place for music, news and talk shows.
The 1990 Luton Carnival was covered by the station during an outside broadcast in George Street

Chris Burns, who was the first afternoon presenter, said she and her colleagues had five weeks of training before launch day.

They carried out countless dummy runs and delivered leaflets to people advertising the station.

"There was a real feeling of camaraderie around the station," Burns said.

"I think it immediately struck with listeners because that hadn't been there previously."

Chris Whitehead sitting next to a woman, who is standing, inside a studio. The desk behind him has various buttons and dials to manage the output. Whitehead is wearing headphones around his neck, a white shirt and a tie. The woman is wearing a white shirt and has her arms crossed
Chris Whitehead, pictured with Lizzie Downton, presented The Ideal Breakfast alongside John Radford
Chris Whitehead wearing a white jacket, headphones and large glasses with thick rims. he is speaking to a person whose face cannot be seen.
Whitehead presented The Ideal Breakfast alongside John Radford

Staff involved in the station's first day met in Clophill, Bedfordshire, on Sunday, to mark the anniversary.

They included John Terrett, who went on to become the BBC's business correspondent in New York, US, after leaving Radio Bedfordshire.

"In those days, having a good voice was pretty much everything," he explained. "It was almost the number one consideration."

Gerald Main holding a microphone while standing next to a cardboard cutout of the yellow BBC Children in Need teddy bear and a uniformed police officer. They are on the street in a town centre.
Gerald Main is another familiar name for listeners

Terrett once recorded his Back Home show while onboard a flight from Spain to Luton Airport.

"A friend of mine who lives in Stopsley, right under the flight path, said to me 'I was looking out for that plane and it never came over', and I said 'That's because we recorded it three days earlier'," he added.

Pam Spriggs wearing headphones and a blue polo shirt speaks into a microphone.
Pam Spriggs presented during the Bedford River Festival in 1990
A small white boat sails along a river. It has people onboard and lots of trees as well. It has a banner advertising BBC Radio Bedfordshire.
It was not just airwaves that BBC Radio Bedfordshire dealt with

Another of the major stories covered by the station came in 1987, when campaigners fought to stop nuclear waste being stored at Elstow in Bedfordshire.

When it came to sport, commentator John Smith had no fonder memory than Luton's triumph over Arsenal in 1998.

He spent three nights holed up in the Hastings Street studio as Wembley fever swept through the town.

The large cream-coloured building that once housed Radio Bedfordshire. It has lots of windows and is about three storeys tall. It faces onto a road and has a large antenna on the roof.
Radio Bedfordshire once broadcasted from studios in Hastings Street, Luton

"The whole energy and enthusiasm of the public in Luton, it was like you were being held up by a bubble of enthusiasm," Smith recalled.

"We were a local radio station and we had the most incredible team."

Mike Gibbons Nine men, all wearing either shirts or polo shirts, and two women, wearing dresses, pose outside for a picture. They are all smiling while standing on lawn in front of a bush.Mike Gibbons
The original team reunited in Bedfordshire on Sunday

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