BBC Radio Surrey

BBC Radio Surrey was a BBC Local Radio station covering the county of Surrey in England which broadcast from 1991 to 1994. [cite web| url=http://www.tvradiobits.co.uk/radio/surrey.htm | title=TV & Radio Bits- Radioland- BBC Radio Surrey| accessdate=2007-06-04] The station officially commenced broadcasting on 14 November 1991.

History

In the late 1980s, with the BBC Local Radio network nearing completiton, a management team was appointed for 'BBC Radio Surrey and Berkshire', the plan being to have two separate stations with their own identities, but with shared resources, and some shared programming. But then in 1990, as part of a plan to save £3 million, the BBC announced that BBC Radio Surrey would instead launch as an opt-out service of BBC Radio Sussex, with BBC Radio Berkshire an opt-out of BBC Radio Oxford. (The station for Dorset was cancelled altogether).

BBC Radio Surrey went on air initially on Saturday 6th September 1991 for coverage of a cricket match between Surrey and Hampshire - this was simply a relay of Radio Solent's coverage. The station finally went on air officially at 6.00am on Thursday 14th November 1991. At launch it broadcast 43 hours a week of its own programming from its studios on the campus of the University of Surrey in Guildford. The remainder of the output came from either its sister station BBC Radio Sussex, or from the BBC South & East network.

Just over a week after launch BBC Radio Surrey presented its first Children in Need programme, and breakfast presenter John Terrett and travel reporter Christina King also made a brief appearance on the South East section of the television coverage. However the station was to receive little more in the way of promotion thereafter.

Over its two years on air BBC Radio Surrey struggled to build a substantial audience; in fact audience figures reached a maximum of only 29,000, or 7 per cent reach, in 1993. One factor in this was that the output was broadcast by only one transmitter at Guildford, covering West Surrey on 104.6 FM, meaning listeners in East Surrey could not hear the station properly. Another was the fact that the county's ILR stations were already long-established, making it difficult for the new station to establish itself.

Following schedule changes in July 1993, BBC Radio Surrey was gradually wound down. From September the station was identified on air as 'BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey', although some programmes remained split between the two counties. The merger was complete on 7 January 1994 when BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey officially became a single station. The name was then changed to BBC Southern Counties Radio on 1 August 1994.

The original programming line-up

Weekdays

*0600-0900 John Terrett
*0900-1200 Julian Clegg (simulcast with BBC Radio Sussex)
*1200-1300 Steve Watts
*1300-1400 Ian Collington (simulcast with BBC Radio Sussex)
*1400-1600 Miranda Birch (simulcast BBC Radio Sussex)
*1600-1900 Claire Paul
*1900-2200 Steve Riches ("BBC South & East Network")
*2200-0000 Brian Hayes ("BBC South & East Network")

aturday

*0700-1000 Stewart Macintosh (simulcast with BBC Radio Sussex)
*1000-1300 Steve Watts
*1300-1800 "BBC Radio 5" simulcast
*1800-0000 "BBC Radio Sussex" simulcast

unday

*0700-0900 Sunday Best with Margaret Collingwood
*0900-1200 Nick Simmons
*1200-0000 As BBC Radio Sussex

John Terrett hosted the breakfast show from launch, which featured regular reports from the station's own dedicated travel presenter Christina King. It was followed by Julian Clegg's mid-morning phone-in , which was simulcast with BBC Radio Sussex - although news and travel bulletins were split between the two stations every hour throughout the day. The joint output avoided mentioning the name of either station; instead full use was made of split jingles. At midday Steve Watts hosted the hour-long 'Watts for Lunch' which featured celebrity guests, local topics, and the Weather Wardens, made up of listener-correspondents from across the county, who also brought unusual facts and history about their corner of Surrey. Following Miranda Birch's consumer show from Brighton, the final daily programme from Guildford was Drivetime with Claire Paul, although since she was also station editor she was absent from the show more often than not. Charles Carroll, Mike Carson and Radio Sussex's Stewart Macintosh were the usual stand-ins. In the early days Christina King also presented travel reports during this show as well.

There were three weekend programmes from Guildford - Steve Watts's light-hearted Saturday show which included a pub team quiz; the religious programme Sunday Best; and Nick Simmons's laid back Sunday morning show of music and chat.

In October 1992, John Terrett and Claire Paul left, so Stewart Macintosh took over the lunchtime show (while continuing to present BBC Radio Sussex's breakfast show) and Tim Humphrey moved to breakfast, while Steve Watts moved to Drivetime. Jonathan Wills, later a presenter on ITV's London Tonight, joined the station, first as a travel presenter, before moving on to news reading and then sports presenting. During 1993 Phil Kennedy became a regular stand-in on BBC Radio Surrey's Drivetime and lunchtime shows, shortly before the station's demise.

Although the BBC Radio Surrey name has not been used since 1993, BBC Southern Counties Radio now provides six hours a day of localised output for Surrey, North-East Hampshire and Crawley. Unlike in the BBC Radio Surrey era, this programming can be heard right across the county as it is broadcast from both Surrey transmitters at Reigate and Guildford, on 104.0 and 104.6 FM. However only the Sussex variant of BBC Southern Counties Radio is streamed online.

References