National Broadcasting School

National Broadcasting School London

National Broadcasting School logo 1980-85
Type	Professional training
Established	1980
Parent institution	Independent Broadcasting Authority
Principal	Michael Bukht (1980-1985)
Academic staff	Neil Spence, Martin Campbell
Address	London, England

The National Broadcasting School began operating in 1980 as an independent organization supported by the UK's Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to provide professional training in radio presentation, production and journalism for Independent Local Radio (ILR). NBS's chairman was Peter Baldwin, deputy director of radio at the IBA, and one of the three governors appointed by them.

The need for a unified training scheme for ILR stations was established the previous year in a report by the Radio Consultative Committee. The school was an aspirational project favored by Capital Radio managing director John Whitney, who shortly afterwards became director general of the IBA.

The IBA's National Broadcasting School operated in London from 1980 to 1985. After a break of 18 years, a National Broadcasting School was established in 2003 in Brighton by former staff member Rory McLeod. In 2015 a National Broadcasting School operates in Liverpool and is associated with the long-established ILR station Radio City, continuing in a similar tradition to the NBS of the 1980s.

In the early 1980s professional radio training was provided almost exclusively by the BBC. Those independent stations who did train their staff, particularly journalists, found they moved quickly to ITV or the BBC. Music presenters came up through the UK's network of hospital radio and student radio stations, or from the very few other opportunities available, such as the corporately run United Biscuits Network, UBN, and some larger ILR stations managed to attract talent from pirate radio.

However, ILR stations had specific obligations in order to hold their licences. They were independent stations, not commercial stations, required to produce local output, including strong local news, information and features, plus a wider range of music than a commercial station would be prepared to sustain. They required a particular style of presenter, far less staid than BBC local radio, but still in touch with a local audience rather than having a full-on commercial approach. Smaller stations in particular had to grow their own talent, unable to rely on well-known names from the BBC or pirate radio joining them.