Online audio archive

The UK’s first online commercial radio sound archive has been launched  preserving over 5,000 searchable recordings including the first hour of UK commercial radio in 1973, coverage of five UK general elections and the end of apartheid.

The LBC / Independent Radio News (IRN) Radio News Audio Archive is available online for researchers, lecturers and students at http://radio.bufvc.ac.uk/lbc/

The original LBC / IRN archive is housed at Bournemouth University (BU) and consists of 7,000 reel-to-reel tapes in a collection that runs from 1973 to the mid-1990s. Thanks to funding from JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) in excess of £760,000, the Centre for Broadcasting History based at BU has spent the last three years digitising some 4,000 hours worth of noteworthy LBC / IRN content from the original tapes.

Making that material available online has been the role of the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC) which has extensive experience in the online delivery of moving image and sound.

Users can now listen to these recordings via a website which combines access to the archive catalogue and digital audio files of reports filed by some of the UK’s leading journalists including Jon Snow, Tim Marshall, Peter Spencer, the late Carol Barnes, Ben Brown, Martha Karney and Dickie Arbiter.

Amongst the 5,400 searchable recordings are a number of historic events covered by LBC/IRN including:

The first hour of UK commercial radio including the first commercial radio news bulletin;

• Broadcasts of the Falklands War, the miners’ strike and Northern Ireland;
• The live reporting of UK election results from five general elections, giving a unique sense of the political shaping of the country;
• News related to the whole of the Thatcher period of government;
• The whole of the Decision Makers series 1974-86: weekly 30-minute programmes of political and current affairs analysis which provide a unique insight into politics and its reportage within the UK at the time
• Significant material relating to the ending of apartheid in South Africa, including State President PW Botha’s speech at the opening of the South African parliament in which he announced that the era of apartheid was over. There is also accompanying political and journalistic analysis of this event.

“This is the most important commercial radio archive in the UK and provides a unique audio history of the period,” said Professor Sean Street, Project Director and Director of BU’s Centre for Broadcasting History. “We are extremely grateful to the JISC without whom none of this have been possible.

“As well as turning previously inaccessible material into a web-based archive for all, this project places key material within a teaching and research environment where it can be exploited for future knowledge,” Professor Street continued.

Paola Marchionni, JISC digitisation programme manager said: “I’m particularly proud of what this project has achieved and the many challenges it has overcome in curating and making accessible this material. Audio recordings are still relatively little used in research, teaching and learning. The JISC funding for this archive contributes to broadening the pool of resources available to researchers and students not only in media disciplines but also relevant to the study of society, history, politics and popular culture.”

Jonathan Richards Programme Director of LBC 97.3 said, “It is only right that the UK’s first commercial radio station has its proud history preserved in this fashion for future generations to learn from. The current staff of broadcasters and producers know they are building on the excellence of the past, and remain proud of the LBC’s rich heritage. I wish to pay tribute to Professor Sean Street and his team at Bournemouth University for this invaluable resource.”

Commercial radio in Britain was launched in October 1973 when IRN and its sister organisation, the LBC were granted their licences. A joint LBC / IRN archive of programmes and news items was established and this, together with its catalogue, constitutes the contents of the archive.

The LBC / IRN archive is the third of three audio collections of UK commercial radio digitised by BU and now available via the BUFVC website. The Independent Local Radio (ILR) Programme Sharing Archive also known as The Felicity Wells Memorial Collection of independent radio (1973-1990) and the Wessex Film and Sound Archive Commercial Radio Collection (1973-1990) comprise parts one and two.

All of the material dates from the period 1973-1992 when, according to Professor Street, the work produced represented a different ethos to the role commercial radio played, and subsequently, continues to play, in the UK.

“This was at a time before the Broadcasting Act of 1990 which brought significant change to the structure of British broadcasting,” Professor Street recalls. “The change in commercial radio since this period is extraordinary. It is impossible for the young student of radio, born since this time, to imagine that such independently funded radio could have existed. As a result, it is vitally important that these programmes be preserved, as part of the evolving history of post-war British broadcasting.”

“This archive forms an important part of the history of radio broadcasting since it provides an alternative source of radio journalism and news and current affairs broadcasts to the BBC’s own collection,” said Professor Street.

Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) manages research and innovation programmes in the use of ICT in teaching, learning and research to build knowledge; develop services, infrastructure or applications; and provide guidance and leadership.

Professor Street continues “We are grateful to our partners, the British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC) who have associated the catalogue information and content, and on whose site our collections will be hosted for future generations of radio scholars and historians.”

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk

July 14th 1420     Battle at Vitkov Zizka’s hill (Prague): Taboriets beat Bohemia
July 14th 1520    Battle of Otumba Mexico: Hernan Cortes & Tlascala’s vs Aztecs
July 14th 1535    Emperor Charles V conquerors Tunis
July 14th 1544    English troops attack The Canal
July 14th 1581    English jesuit Edmund Campion arrested
July 14th 1682    Henry Purcell appointed organist of Chapel Royal, London
July 14th 1714    Battle of Aland, Russian fleet overpowers larger Swedish fleet
July 14th 1771    Mission San Antonio de Padua founded in California
July 14th 1789    Bastille Day-French Revolution begins with the fall of Bastille
July 14th 1798    Sedition Act prohibits “false, scandalous & malicious” writing against US govt
July 14th 1798    1st direct federal tax on states-on dwellings, land & slaves
July 14th 1822    Slave revolt in SC under Denmark Vesey/Peter Poyas
July 14th 1823    Switzerland signs boundaries for fugitives
July 14th 1832    Opium exempted from federal tariff duty
July 14th 1845    Fire in NYC destroys 1,000 homes & kills many
July 14th 1845     1st postmasters’ provisional stamps issued, NYC
July 14th 1850    1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration
July 14th 1853    1st US World’s fair opens (Crystal Palace NY)
July 14th 1853    Commodore Perry requests trade relations with Japan
July 14th 1853    Pres Franklin Pierce opens 1st industrial exposition (NY)
July 14th 1861    Naval Engagement at Wilmington NC – USS Daylight establishes blockade
July 14th 1861    Gen McDowell advances toward Fairfax Courthouse, VA with 40,000 troops
July 14th 1863    Battle of Falling Waters, MD (Beaver Creek)
July 14th 1863    Jews of Holstein Germany granted equality
July 14th 1864    Gold is discovered in Helena, Mont
July 14th 1865    Whymper, Hudson, Croz, Douglas & Hadow 1st to climb Matterhorn
July 14th 1865    1st ascent of Matterhorn
July 14th 1868    Alvin J Fellows patents tape measure
July 14th 1877    General strike brings US railroad to a stand still
July 14th 1891    John T Smith patents corkboard
July 14th 1909     Germany chancellor Bernhard von Blow resigns
July 14th 1911    46″ of rain begins to fall in Baguio, Philippines
July 14th 1912    Kenneth McArthur runs Olympic record marathon (2:36:54.8)
July 14th 1914    1st patent for liquid-fueled rocket design granted (Dr R Goddard)
July 14th 1914    NL’s Boston Braves start climb from last place to world series sweep
July 14th 1916    33.6 cm rainfall at Effingham SC (state record)
July 14th 1916    St Louis Brown Ernie Koob pitches all 17 inns in a 0-0 tie vs Boston
July 14th 1918    Dutch govt reclaims South seas
July 14th 1921    Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti convicted in Dedham Mass, of killing their shoe company’s paymaster
July 14th 1927    1st commercial airplane flight in Hawaii
July 14th 1932    Belgian Chamber rules Dutch language for education of Flanders
July 14th 1933    Verity bowls out Essex twice in a day, 8-47 & 9-44, at Leyton
July 14th 1933    NSDAP becomes only party in Germany
July 14th 1933    Germany began mandatory sterilization of those with hereditary illness
July 14th 1934    116øF (47øC), Orogrande NM (state record, broken on June 27, 1994)
July 14th 1934     NY Times erroneously declares Ruth 700 HR record to stand for all time
July 14th 1934    Phillies score 11 runs in an inning, beats Cincinnati 18-0
July 14th 1934    Ruth hits 700th career home run
July 14th 1936    116øF (47øC), Collegeville, Indiana (state record)
July 14th 1936    1 million demonstrate to support French People’s Front govt
July 14th 1938    Mussolini publishes anti-Jewish/African manifest
July 14th 1940    Due to beanball wars, Spalding advertises batting helmet with earflaps
July 14th 1940    Lithuania becomes Lithuanian SSR
July 14th 1941    Jam rationed in Holland
July 14th 1941    Cease fire of Joan of Arc (ends combat in Lebanon & Syria)
July 14th 1941    6,000 Lithuanian Jews are exterminated at Viszalsyan Camp
July 14th 1942    1st transport of Amsterdam Jews to Westerbork
July 14th 1942    Riots against Jews in Amsterdam
July 14th 1944    Attempt to liberate prisoners in Amsterdam fails, John Post arrested
July 14th 1944    US assault on Coutances Cotentin
July 14th 1945     Battleship USS South Dakota is 1st US ship to bombard Japan
July 14th 1946    Dr Ben Spock’s “Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care” published
July 14th 1946    Mass murder on Jews in Kielce Poland
July 14th 1946    Cleve Lou Boudreau hits 4 doubles & HR but Red Sox win 11-10 on Ted Williams 3 HR with 8 RBIs
July 14th 1948    Israel bombs Cairo
July 14th 1949    USSR explodes their 1st atom bomb
July 14th 1950    RE Wayne awarded 1st Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea
July 14th 1951    ”Courtin’ Time” closes at National Theater NYC after 37 performances
July 14th 1951    ”Make a Wish” closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 102 perfs
July 14th 1951    1st color telecast of a sporting event (CBS-horse race)
July 14th 1951    Citation becomes 1st horse to win $1,000,000 in races
July 14th 1951    George Washington Carver monument unveiled
July 14th 1952    SS United States crosses Atlantic in 84:12 (record westward)
July 14th 1953    Communist offensive in Korea
July 14th 1953    20th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 5-1 at Crosley Field, Cincinnati
July 14th 1953     1st Natl monument dedicated to a Negro-George Washington Carver
July 14th 1954    117øF (47øC), East St Louis, Illinois (state record)
July 14th 1954    118øF (48øC), Warsaw & Union, Missouri (state record)
July 14th 1955    2 killed, many dazed when lightning strikes Ascott racetrack, England
July 14th 1956    Boston Red Sox Mel Parnell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 4-0
July 14th 1957    Soviet steamer “Eshghbad” sinks in Caspian Sea, drowning 270
July 14th 1958    General Abdul K Kassem forms a military govt in Iraq
July 14th 1958    Pope Pius XII publishes his 39th & last encyclical Meminisse juvat
July 14th 1958    Col Saddam Hussein & Iraqi army overthrows the monarchy
July 14th 1959    1st atomic powered cruiser, Long Beach, Quincy Mass
July 14th 1960    Fire raging through a Guatemala City, Guatemala insane asylum kills 225, severly injuring 300
July 14th 1960    Barbara Romack wins LPGA Leesburg Pro-Am Golf Tournament
July 14th 1961    Astro’s Eddie Matthews hits HR #500
July 14th 1961    Finland’s Miettunen govt forms
July 14th 1961    Pope John XXIII publishes encyclical Mater et magistrate
July 14th 1962     US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
July 14th 1962    Brave’s Hank Aaron hits HR #500
July 14th 1962    Borehole for Mont Blanc-tunnel finished
July 14th 1963    Marlene Hagge wins LPGA Sight Golf Open
July 14th 1964    Jacques Anquetil wins his 5th Tour de France
July 14th 1964    Oriole Bob Johnson’s 6th straight hit as a pinch hitter
July 14th 1965    US Mariner IV, 1st Mars probe, passes at 6,100 miles (9,800 km)
July 14th 1965    Israeli/Jordanian border fights
July 14th 1965    Australian Ronald Clarke runs world record 10k (27:39.4)
July 14th 1966    Richard Speck rapes & kills 8 nurses in a Chicago dormitory
July 14th 1967    Astro Eddie Matthews hits his 500th HR off SF Giant Juan Marichal
July 14th 1967    Surveyor 4 launched to Moon; explodes just before landing
July 14th 1967    The Who, opening for Herman’s Hermits begin a US tour
July 14th 1968    WSWO TV channel 26 in Springfield, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
July 14th 1968    Houston Astro Don Wilson strikes-out 18, beats Reds 6-1
July 14th 1968     Carol Mann wins LPGA Pabst Ladies’ Golf Classic
July 14th 1968    Brave Hank Aaron hits his 500th HR off SF Giant Mike McCormick
July 14th 1969    WMUL (now WPBY) TV channel 33 in Huntington, WV (PBS) 1st broadcast
July 14th 1969    Soccer war – Salvador-Honduras (1000 dead)
July 14th 1969    ”Futbol War” between El Salvador & Honduras begins
July 14th 1970    41st All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 5-4 at Riverfront Stadium, Cin
July 14th 1970    All star MVP: Carl Yastremski (Boston Red Sox)
July 14th 1972    Jean Westwood is 1st woman chosen to head Democratic Natl Committee
July 14th 1972    USSR performs underground nuclear Test
July 14th 1972    Plate ump & catcher in a game are brothers. Bill Haller is ump & Tom Haller is Tigers catcher, KC Royals win 1-0
July 14th 1973    102nd British Golf Open: Tom Weiskopf shoots a 276 at Royal Troon
July 14th 1973    Phil Everly storms off stage declaring an end to Everly Brothers
July 14th 1974    Sharon Miller wins LPGA Borden Golf Classic
July 14th 1974    Bundy victims Janice Ott & Denise Naslund disappear, Lk Sammamish, WA
July 14th 1974    Billy Martin is 1st AL manager ejected by ump from 2 games in 1 day
July 14th 1975     EPCOT Center (Florida) plans announced
July 14th 1976    Jimmy Carter wins Democratic pres nomination in NYC
July 14th 1976    USSR banishes dissident Andrei Amalrik to Netherlands
July 14th 1977    US House establishes permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
July 14th 1977    North Korea shoots down US helicopter, killing 3
July 14th 1978    Anatoly Scharansky convicted of anti-Soviet agitation
July 14th 1978    Ump Doug Harvey ejects Don Sutton after discovering 3 scuffed balls
July 14th 1978    Allen Ginsburg completes “Plutonian Ode,” blocks trainload of fissile material headed for Rockwell’s nuclear bomb trigger factory, Colorado
July 14th 1979    USSR performs nuclear Test
July 14th 1981    Kevin Wade’s “Key Exchange,” premieres in London
July 14th 1983    Crane (Rep-R-Il) & Studds (Rep-D-Mas) admit to sex with pages
July 14th 1984    STS 41-D vehicle moves to Vandenberg AFB for remanifest of payloads
July 14th 1984    USSR performs nuclear Test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
July 14th 1985    Last USFL game-Baltimore Stars defeats Oakland Invaders, 28-24
July 14th 1985    Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center via Offutt AFB, Neb
July 14th 1985     40th US Women’s Open Golf Championship won by Kathy Baker
July 14th 1986    Shalamar’s Howard Hewett acquitted in Miami of drug charges
July 14th 1986    Richard W Miller became 1st FBI agent convicted of espionage
July 14th 1986    Paul McCartney releases “Press”
July 14th 1986    NASA’s plan to implement recommendations of Rogers commission
July 14th 1986    Motley Cre’s Vince Neil begins 30 day sentence for vehicular homicide
July 14th 1986    41st US Women’s Open Golf Championship won by Jane Geddes
July 14th 1986    2nd govt of Lubbers sworn in
July 14th 1986    10 killed & 60 injured at ETA-bomb attack in Madrid
July 14th 1987    Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law
July 14th 1987    Steve Miller’s star is unveiled on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame
July 14th 1987    Rookie of the Year Award is renamed to honor Jackie Robinson
July 14th 1987    Lt Col Oliver North concludes 6 days of Congressional testimony
July 14th 1987    Greyhound Bus buys Trailways Bus for $80 million
July 14th 1987    All star MVP: Tim Raines (Montreal Expos)
July 14th 1987     58th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 2-0 in 13 at Oakland-Alameda Stad
July 14th 1988    WYHY radio offers $1M to anyone who can prove Elvis is still alive
July 14th 1988    Mike Schmidt passes Mickey Mantle with his 537th HR into 7th place
July 14th 1988    200,000 demonstrate in Soviet Armenia for incorp of Nagorno-Karabak
July 14th 1989    16th James Bond movies “License to Kill” premieres
July 14th 1990    ”Howard Stern’s Summer Show” premieres on WWOR-TV (NYC)
July 14th 1990    Sara Martin, of Illinois, crowned America’s Junior Miss
July 14th 1991    Failed military coup in Mali
July 14th 1991    46th US Women’s Open Golf Championship won by Meg Mallon
July 14th 1992    63rd All Star Baseball Game: AL wins 13-6 at Jack Murphy Stadium, SD
July 14th 1992    Actress Nell Carter undergoes brain surgery
July 14th 1992    All star MVP: Ken Griffey Jr (Seattle Mariners)
July 14th 1993    Aeroflot starts non-stop flights between Moscow & NY
July 14th 1994    Gas explosion at old age home in Milan, 27 killed
July 14th 1995    LA Dodger Ramon Martinez no-hits the Florida Marlins 7-0
July 14th 1995     Ramon Martinez pitches a 7-0 no-hitter against the Marlins
July 14th 1996    ”How To Succeed in Business…” closes at R Rodgers NYC after 548 perf
July 14th 1996    ”Thousand Clowns” opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 32 performances
July 14th 1996    14th Seniors Players Golf Championship: Raymond Floyd
July 14th 1996    Michelle McGann wins Youngstown-Warren LPGA Golf Classic
July 14th 1996    NY Yankee John Weteland sets record of 24 consecutive saves
July 14th 1996    NY Yanks sweep complete season series in Baltimore for 1st time
July 14th 1997    Bomb in Algiers kills 21 & wounds 40