[cyril-furr]

On BBC Radio Norfolk 8pm tonight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xj165

[Spot]

It's at 1800 hours, which is 6.00 p.m. (You are Captain Mainwaring and I claim my £5 .)

[cyril-furr]

Originally Posted by Spot

It's at 1800 hours, which is 6.00 p.m. (You are Captain Mainwaring and I claim my £5 .)

I'm glad you "Spotted" that Wilson
Yes, quite correct!........
I also should have entitled the thread History of BBC local radio - as there is little about Orwell, Broadland, Saxon & other long gone independant L.R. (I've heard the recording of the prog!) - check the pitch of the ending music, a slight fo-par there.

[ACL777]

Almost forgot thanks for the reminder .

[Andy Walmsley]

In fact its not really about local radio in the area as such but the Radio 4 opt-out programmes that ran during the 1970s whilst the Today programme continued on MW/LW.

[Ex Pat]

Originally Posted by cyril-furr

a slight fo-par there.

Or even a "faux pas"

[MGBCTV]

I enjoyed listening to the programme only thing regarding the pitch at the end is there anything that could really be done about that . I have noticed that past recordings of programmes can sometimes either sound slightly fast or slow compared to original broadcast.

[bluesdiamond]

Though the OP uses East Anglia is it worth listening to if your not from Norfolk? Last I checked East Anglia covered more than Norfolk, though sometimes watching Look East at weekends not sure (or feel) if the BBC remember that.

[Paul_Hayes]

Thanks for your comments about and interest in my documentary Radio in a Roundabout Way. As the person who made the programme I wanted to just address a couple of the points that have been made - unfortunately, it took a couple of weeks for my membership here to be approved, so I was unable to post before now. It's not entirely irrelevant at this stage, however, as the documentary is being repeated on BBC Radio Norfolk on Sunday the 23rd of September at 1pm, and will of course be available again for a week online after that.

Regarding the points raised in this thread...

The reason the programme doesn't cover ILR, or indeed much about BBC Local Radio outside of a couple of mentions, is simply because it's not about local radio, either independent or BBC. Nor is it about East Anglian radio generally - it's very specifically about the BBC East regional opt-outs on Radio 4 VHF in the 1970s.

(Having said that, had there been time I would have liked to include some archive that exists of Roundabout East Anglia covering the launch of Radio Orwell. Sadly, there wasn't enough room in the programme for that).

Regarding the issue of being Norwich-centric or otherwise - this was something I was very keen to cover, and there is a section of the programme discussing this issue, where producer Michael Chapman explains how determined he was to make Roundabout East Anglia a truly regional programme. This was after he'd spent a long time listening to previous regional output when growing up in Chatteris and at university in Colchester, and having the feeling that with the BBC's early efforts at regional radio for the eastern counties "you would have thought that the world ended at the Norfolk border."

Indeed, much - possibly most, although I haven't done a specific breakdown - of the archive material featured in the documentary actually relates to Suffolk.

Hope that clears up a few things. Thanks for your interest, and as I say if you didn't get to catch it, it's on BBC Radio Norfolk again on the 23rd at 1pm.

[number6]

About Norfolk centric/Suffolk centric thing.

On three occasions in the last 20 years, I have worked in Norwich, whilst living in or near Ipswich.
When it comes to local BBC and ITV, those in Norwich feel that programmes are heavily skewed to Suffolk and vice versa, particularly where football coverage is concerned.

As they say "You can't please all of the people....."

[80sfan]

Originally Posted by bluesdiamond

Though the OP uses East Anglia is it worth listening to if your not from Norfolk? Last I checked East Anglia covered more than Norfolk, though sometimes watching Look East at weekends not sure (or feel) if the BBC remember that.

As a Look East viewer in Hertfordshire with connections to Norfolk, I can assure you it's Suffolk I feel gets more coverage than Norfolk

Cambridgeshire is the 'darling' though when it comes to both BBC East & Anglia News.... more stories a week seem to cover that county than the others in the region put together!!

[RadioRob]

In addition to the Today opt out, there would have been further regional news opt outs at 12:55 and 17:55 too, no?

Oh and we shouldn't forget the brief appearance of Radio East Anglia. Very brief indeed. Less than an hour in total, on Saturday 1 April 1967. It faded in, it faded out, and Keith Skues nearly got the sack for it.

[Andy Walmsley]

Originally Posted by RadioRob

In addition to the Today opt out, there would have been further regional news opt outs at 12:55 and 17:55 too, no?

That's right, the regional news bulletins continued until September 1980. Only East Anglia and the South West had Today opt-outs simply because there was no local radio in those areas.

[barnacle]

Originally Posted by Andy Walmsley

That's right, the regional news bulletins continued until September 1980. Only East Anglia and the South West had Today opt-outs simply because there was no local radio in those areas.

I remember here in Essex we could get the East Anglia news from Tacolneston and South East news from Wrotham, whilst at the same time Long Wave carried the shipping forecast .

When regional news was dropped it was replaced by programme details.

[old pilot]

Originally Posted by Paul_Hayes

Thanks for your comments about and interest in my documentary Radio in a Roundabout Way. As the person who made the programme I wanted to just address a couple of the points that have been made - unfortunately, it took a couple of weeks for my membership here to be approved, so I was unable to post before now. It's not entirely irrelevant at this stage, however, as the documentary is being repeated on BBC Radio Norfolk on Sunday the 23rd of September at 1pm, and will of course be available again for a week online after that.

Regarding the points raised in this thread...

The reason the programme doesn't cover ILR, or indeed much about BBC Local Radio outside of a couple of mentions, is simply because it's not about local radio, either independent or BBC. Nor is it about East Anglian radio generally - it's very specifically about the BBC East regional opt-outs on Radio 4 VHF in the 1970s.

(Having said that, had there been time I would have liked to include some archive that exists of Roundabout East Anglia covering the launch of Radio Orwell. Sadly, there wasn't enough room in the programme for that).

Regarding the issue of being Norwich-centric or otherwise - this was something I was very keen to cover, and there is a section of the programme discussing this issue, where producer Michael Chapman explains how determined he was to make Roundabout East Anglia a truly regional programme. This was after he'd spent a long time listening to previous regional output when growing up in Chatteris and at university in Colchester, and having the feeling that with the BBC's early efforts at regional radio for the eastern counties "you would have thought that the world ended at the Norfolk border."

Indeed, much - possibly most, although I haven't done a specific breakdown - of the archive material featured in the documentary actually relates to Suffolk.

Hope that clears up a few things. Thanks for your interest, and as I say if you didn't get to catch it, it's on BBC Radio Norfolk again on the 23rd at 1pm.

I've lived in the region for part of the year for 21 years but never listened to the local BBC station which has focused on Norwich. However while living here I've worked elsewhere in BBC and Agency radio and tv in the UK and abroad.

Norfolk and Yorkshire are very big rural area's that offer challenges that I don't think have been addressed by the current BBC local radio model.

In my opinion the output of BBC Radio Norfolk should be spread with the daily strands based in Kings Lynn,Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Diss.

I enjoyed the programme and if you want to discuss where I think the future is please pm me Paul.

[danblanchflower]

Thankyou Paul for joining the forum. It is nice to hear the inside story of this programme. I missed half of the original broadcast, so I will listen again on 23rd. Sadie Nine's programme afterwards on the board games we play(ed) was equally enjoyable. I am an East Anglian ex-pat who will miss the varied regional evening programmes via my internet radio, when BBC local goes 'all- England' in January.
Dan

[Donald Dallas]

Originally Posted by old pilot

I've lived in the region for part of the year for 21 years but never listened to the local BBC station...

....In my opinion the output of BBC Radio Norfolk should be spread with the daily strands based in Kings Lynn,Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Diss.

So you have no idea what the station currently broadcasts, but would make a massive change incurring unsustainable costs?

Great plan!

[old pilot]

Originally Posted by Donald Dallas

So you have no idea what the station currently broadcasts, but would make a massive change incurring unsustainable costs?

Great plan!

Not at all.
Quite the reverse. The whole BBC local network has never been planned but has just evolved. So big counties and small counties are lumped together with county boundaries dictating the output. In most cases this means all the output comes from wherever the station is located.

What is needed is a split between a regional sustaining service for the non high peaks when the output should be news based from smaller focused area's such as Kings Lynn or Hereford. There is no BBC Rutland and no BBC Cheshire from Chester for example but there is a BBC Shropshire but no BBC Hereforshire.

The sustaining service outside breakfast, lunchtime and drive is bland phone in's,down the lines interviews plugging books movies etc and some pretty dire competitions interspersed with a boring playlist.

BBC Local Radio actually has a massive budget but the money is badly spent on poor bland stereotype output.

[Donald Dallas]

Originally Posted by old pilot

Not at all.

What do you mean by 'not at all'?

We've established that you don't listen to Radio Norfolk.

I've lived in the region for part of the year for 21 years but never listened to the local BBC station...

Although clearly, this contradicts your criticism of the Broads murder story coverage (and it's noteable that on the thread you raised that issue, you never answered my question about what you felt was missed - please feel free to reply in that thread).

So you have no idea what the station does, but what automatically prescribe massive changes.

And you don't see any flaw in that reasoning?

Quite the reverse. The whole BBC local network has never been planned but has just evolved. So big counties and small counties are lumped together with county boundaries dictating the output. In most cases this means all the output comes from wherever the station is located.

Wouldn't disagree with that.

What is needed is a split between a regional sustaining service for the non high peaks when the output should be news based from smaller focused area's such as Kings Lynn or Hereford. There is no BBC Rutland and no BBC Cheshire from Chester for example but there is a BBC Shropshire but no BBC Hereforshire.

You're not comparing like with like. A BBC Radio King's Lynn is very different from a BBC Radio Cheshire or Herefordshire.

The sustaining service outside breakfast, lunchtime and drive is bland phone in's,down the lines interviews plugging books movies etc and some pretty dire competitions interspersed with a boring playlist.

By talking about breakfast, lunchtime and drive - you're covering almost all the daytime output. So are you saying that is fine now?

As an aside, BBC Local stations tend to steer clear of competitions since they require ludicrous reams of paperwork.

Ultimately, you've completely failed to address my point.

You say that Radio Norfolk - which you say you don't listen to - would be better if it's daily programmes were split between King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Norwich and Diss (quite how the people of North Norfolk would feel at this snub is another question) - yet you fail to explain how this would serve the audience better or be achievable.

BBC Local Radio actually has a massive budget but the money is badly spent on poor bland stereotype output.

I'm sorry, but I can only conclude the following:

Old Pilot actually has a massive amount of spare time to prattle on about local radio, but that time is badly spent delivering the same bland statements which fail to recognise reality.

[crusher19860138]

I remember holidaying in Great Yarmouth in the 80's,and listening to Radio Broadland on 261/1152MW,is sounded a good station,with interesting shows,and a great selection of music.

[Aggelon]

Originally Posted by Ex Pat

Or even a "faux pas"

I thought so too

[80sfan]

Originally Posted by old pilot

In my opinion the output of BBC Radio Norfolk should be spread with the daily strands based in Kings Lynn,Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Diss.

Norfolk can be split into two - East and West.

King's Lynn and the west have their own distinct parts, as does Norwich and Yarmouth in the east. Draw a line from Cromer southwards. The transmitters would also allow for this split, even if funds do not.

Would enough happen around Diss to actually fill a slot???

[Paul_Hayes]

For anyone interested in hearing the documentary, following its repeat earlier today it's now available online for another week here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xj165

Due to the news at 1pm overrunning because of a breaking story, I'm afraid the end is chopped off the Listen Again here - but it's only missing the end credits.

[wavy-davy]

Originally Posted by 80sfan

Would enough happen around Diss to actually fill a slot???

I hope you're not dissing Diss there.

[Brightonelectri]

I sometimes listen to BBC Norfolk, on the web, as I can imagine how Alan Partridge would deal with some of the callers-in!