Where News Comes First
LBC was the first ILR station to open in the UK. The first words heard at 6am on the 8th October 1973 were "This is London Broadcasting, the news and information voice of independent radio". For an in depth look at the history of UK commercial radio journalism and the various changes of management at LBC, click here (archive of site as it's no longer live). For more information on the history of LBC, click here. You can listen to many LBC recordings (1973 to 1994) here and there's 4 pages of old presenter photos here!
LBC was originally heard on 417 metres (719 kHz) before the MW frequency moved to 261 metres (1152 KHz). The station served London and the surrounding area and was also on 97.3 FM until new owners Crown Communications split the frequencies into two new stations. This was in 1989 and saw the launch of LBC Crown FM and London Talkback Radio on AM. The station then lost many listeners, large amounts of money and finally it's license in 1994. Click here for more information and jingles from the early 90's.
The original LBC format was brought back to the airwaves on 1152 AM around 1996 when ownership changed again. Many familiar LBC/IRN names of the 80's and 90's were also back on LBC: Douglas Cameron, Steve Allen, Peter Deeley, Therese Birch, Tim Crook, Clive Bull, Steve Jones, Brian Hayes and Pete Murray. The FM service was then named News Direct and was a rolling news service.
In January 2003, LBC swapped their AM and FM services. LBC moved from 1152 AM to 97.3 FM. Click here for LBC's current web site. News Direct moved from 97.3 FM to 1152 AM and was renamed LBC News 1152. For the AM programme guide, click here.