history – Teacher Joseph Podcast

1062 The History of LBC Radio (podcast transcript)

Hi, everyone. Welcome again to another Teacher Joseph podcast….

…and today, we’re going to look at the history of LBC radio, now LBC… I’m always telling you all that you should listen to LBC because it’s a natural flowing radio station.

It’s a call-in 24 hour service where anyone can call them and discuss anything that they want. So Leading Britain’s Conversation is LBC radio. It wasn’t always like that. When I was a boy listening to LBC, it was the London Broadcasting Company and it wasn’t even national. It was just a London radio station. It’s very influential and and it’s kind of evolved into a national platform for people to have their views but of course, you know the kinds of people who call radio stations during the night are always a little bit strange. So some of the opinions that come up aren’t always reflecting how the people feel but its history reflects the changing landscape of British radio, shifting away from the very posh, uptight BBC “Hello” into something much more usable and practical because up until 1990, in any radio station in the UK you had to have the Queen’s English, whereas now anybody can produce a programme on radio if they are employed to do so. It doesn’t matter what they sound like, as long as they sound fairly clear. LBC was launched on October the 8th, 1973. Apparently it was the first legal commercial radio station in the UK. Well, I’m not sure about that because I know Radio Clyde here in Scotland was also launched around that time. I’d have to check to see which one was actually first. Yeah, in those days we had AM and FM.. and to be honest with you, I think I might be buying a radio after the power failure in Spain last week. I want to make sure I have one just in case …

I remember it’s early presenters Douglas Cameron, Bob Holness. Oh, they had very, very Polish accents. Yes. “Hello yes. LBC here”. Yes, very unlike today and it also pioneered the use of rolling news because it set up some kind of news service that other radio stations could use. They… they kind of like all joined LBC on the hour for the news through a service which was called the Independent Radio News network. Very interesting. However, with LBC, its journey with radio wasn’t always smooth. There was a time when it had financial difficulties and it was sold off to different companies and was split up but eventually I think it reformed and regrouped back into one station… very interesting though, if you like radio as I do, it’s fascinating thing.

…and then in 1996, it actually lost its licence, because here you have to bid money to operate a radio station…if you want to be on air in our AM and FM spectrum and they lost their licence and I don’t know exactly how they got it back. I know it was rebranded as News Direct and then (in)2003 I think it came back again, but it had been bought over again by that point by Chrysalis Radio and they decided to make it just 24 hour call-in.

Then it was bought by Global Media, which its owned by today. They have a lovely app. If you download the Media app, Global, you can see and hear all kinds of podcasts from all of their radio stations. They have dozens of the things. It’s really exciting if you like British accents and Global also own Capital Radio, Heart, Radio, Classic FM. Oh, there’s tons of them… tons. Yeah, I think in 2014 they changed from being London only into a national broadcaster yeah, so they they were known as the London Broadcasting Company, then they became London’s Biggest Conversation. Then they became Leading Britain’s Conversation but we were all listening to them online anyway. I mean, it was known that it was one of the best. People like me who enjoy English media, I used to listen to them all the time and many people do.

So it became the UK’s first National talk radio station. But again, I would dispute that because there was one before. Which didn’t last long. I think it was….. It eventually became a sport radio station, but it used to have a 24 hour call-in and I can’t remember the name. Of it but I don’t think LBC was Britain’s fast National Call-in station. I could be wrong.. If you don’t know it…. It has names like Nick Ferrari, James O’Brien very very well known people. And yes, they’re always interviewing prime ministers and these these kind of people. And so yeah, it’s a vital part of the UK’s media ecosystem that has space for robust debate, critical journalism. Participation. Yeah. So if you’re looking for a radio station today to be listening to, I do recommend LBC.

These days there’s probably lots of commentary about war celebrations. I was listening to it this morning and they’re saying, there are street parties and celebrations to remember the end of the war. Not where I am, there isn’t. I don’t know where these parties are, but they’re certainly not in my neighbourhood. There’s none here. So I would say if you are listening, their focus probably is on the London area. If they’re thinking of war celebrations, because our Royals, of course, and governments are pushing this because we were, after all, the winners. Had we lost the war, I don’t think they’d be celebrating quite so much. Anyway. Most of us really don’t care. It’s another day we’ll be working… there’s a 2 minute silence at 11 AM, (tomorrow) which probably will be ignored by most of us. I don’t know. It’s a a strange thing. We need to remember the lessons of democracy, but yeah.

Anyway, that’s it.

See you. Bye.

Weekly Lesson: Remembrance Sunday

For study until 17th of November 2024

Subject: Remembrance Sunday

Audio: On usual social media platforms

Remembrance Sunday

In the month of November, on the Sunday closest to the 11^th, Remembrance Sunday takes place. The day is supposed to commemorate the War Dead across the Commonwealth and British territories but for younger generations it is often perceived as incredibly dull. Since it is a historic ceremony involving the dead, it has been enshrined in our communities as being very important, reminding us that democracy is not an automatic right, it is something which was fought for at a great price with a loss of life. Our Leaders gather at War Memorials up and down the country and lay flowers, remembering all those who have died. In these days where we celebrate diversity and peace, ceremonies like this can seem a bit icky. In fact for most of us the ickiness of the day sits in direct contrast with modern living.

The ceremony represents the face of Britain as it was in 1919 when the first took place on Armistice Day in 1919. Over time it has been expanded to include the Second World War and other conflicts in the World. Little has changed in the ceremony since 1919, the three faces of the Government all come together. The Monarchy, the Church and the Military all parade through the streets, looking like a reminder of days gone by. Despite the Government telling us that Britain is now multicultural and politically correct, the ceremony itself is embarrassingly “white”.

When I was a little boy, in the 1980s, there were still people around who remembered the First World War known as World War One and Remembrance Sunday seemed much more important than it is today. World War One still encroaches on our lives today as well; If you work for a company here, you may be asked on certain days to observe a two minute silence to remember the War Dead on anniversaries of World War One. If I had a penny for every time I have been asked to respect a two minute silence to remember the war, I would be a very rich man by now.

I stopped commemorating Remembrance Sunday some years ago, I really dislike the two minute silence part at 11am where we are told we have to “shut up” for two minutes to remember those who died in the Wars. That may have worked some years ago but these days trying to get anyone to focus on something for 2 minutes is not likely to happen.

I find the whole thing rather fake, I mean billions are spent on having ceremonies remembering the Glorious Dead from the old British Empire, why not just look at stopping war. Would that not be a better idea or forget about the ceremony and give the money to a charity instead?

Then there’s the Royal commentary about the King and Queen who are of course leading the ceremony in London dressed in black wearing poppies on their jackets. A poppy is a little flower that you can see everyone wearing the week before the ceremony it is a little paper flower which is bright red and sometimes has a bit of green at the back. It is used as a symbol of remembering our War Dead.

Apparently this year our Queen has a chest infection so she cannot attend. It is a very sombre affair, my Grandmother used to say our Royals all look like horses with their rather protruding teeth and many people here refer to them as “horsey” – meaning they have horse features. I can imagine them nibbling on the flowers rather than laying them at the cenotaph.

It’s hard to escape, every news channel in the UK has live coverage from London showing our Royals arriving looking more like they are going to the Oscars rather than the Cenotaph.

“And today the Queen is wearing the pearls gifted to her from the Sultan of Oman… and the king’s coat was last seen worn at his Mother’s funeral…”. It is the epitome of boredom, kitsch and a ceremony which feels wrong in so many ways. It really is just icky.

Last year I forgot about the ceremony and tried to listen to radio on my phone at 11.01am. Getting no sound I immediately uninstalled the app, still heard nothing and blamed my Bluetooth buds. Just before giving up and threatening to reset the whole phone, I heard a trumpet and realised it marked the end of the two minute silence, my equipment was fine and started playing. I rolled my eyes, picked up my cat and went to the other room to watch Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote, solve another murder. It seemed the only way I could escape the boredom of the day.

Earlier this year it got quite exciting, in my local newspaper there was an enquiry from volunteers who look after a War Cemetery in the Netherlands seeking contact with relatives of people buried there. The name was one of my Mother’s cousins and I was able to pass photos and give a short biography of the man. The Dutch guy who wanted the info was really excited and clearly thought we were going to be best friends forever and share a love for researching the lives of young men who died tragically. From my point of view it was interesting to know where Tommy was buried but I never knew him, he died during the war. I only knew that it wasn’t exactly a hero’s death, he was stealing chickens from the enemy camp during World War Two and sadly a bomb dropped while he was there. Maybe I will drop into to the cemetery the next time I am in the Netherlands but there’s more chance of me being in the supermarket buying chicken rather than remembering Tommy this year. As much as I love family history, I never expected to be the last man standing with photos and biographies. I am only in my fifties after all, still very young.

Anyway, after this ceremony, my attention will be turning to Christmas cards another eccentrically British tradition and I’ll be looking at my Christmas card list to see who I got a card from last year and who is worthy of a card this year. If I don’t get a card two years in a row from someone, then the person is removed from my list.

This may be a far cry from Remembrance Sunday but equally important in my opinion.

Weekly Lesson: The House Guest

For study until 6th of October 2024

Subject: The House Guest

Audio: On usual social media platforms.

When I heard that a friend was coming to visit for a few days, my heart sank. As a typical British man, I know that friends staying over, usually causes a lot of stress. I had no particular beef with the person himself, but I knew that a guest staying would throw a spanner into the works of my daily routine. These days, British people are not so hospitable. All of us want our “personal space” so staying at hotels usually allows us more time to do what we want instead of being tied down to particular moments such as eating with the host family etc.

Women’s Right to Vote: The Suffragette Movement

Weekly Lesson: For study until 16 June 2024

Audio: On usual Social media platforms.

The suffragette movement in the United Kingdom was a key force in the fight for women’s right to vote. This struggle led to women gaining some voting rights in 1918 and full voting rights in 1928. The word “suffrage” means the right to vote, and “suffragette” describes the women involved in this movement.