BBC Local Radio

BBC Local Radio is the BBC's regional radio service for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 40 stations. They cover a variety of areas with some serving a city and surrounding areas, for example BBC Radio Manchester; a county, for example BBC Radio Norfolk; an administrative region, for example BBC WM; or a larger region entirely, for example BBC Radio Solent.

The stations were launched progressively starting with BBC Radio Leicester on 8 November 1967 with the last station to launch being the ill-fated BBC Dorset FM on 26 April 1993. Since then, numerous local radio stations have been merged and renamed, however no new stations have been created where no service previously existed.

The popularity of pirate radio changed many things with the BBC, the most prominent being the creation of BBC Radio 1 to satisfy the population's thirst for new, popular music. The other however was the fact that these pirate radio stations were, in some cases, local. As a result, BBC Local Radio began as an experiment.

Initially, stations had to be co-funded by the BBC and local authorities, which only some Labour-controlled areas proved willing to do. Radio Leicester was the first to launch on 8 November 1967, followed by Leeds, Stoke, Durham, Sheffield, Merseyside, Brighton and Nottingham. By the early 1970s, the local authority funding requirement was dropped, and stations spread across the country; many city-based stations later expand their remit to cover an entire county.

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