BBC Radio Carlisle 1973 ident

Famed for its Lamb Bank which found homes for orphaned lambs, as John Myers relates in his biography, BBC Radio Carlisle really knew its place in its area.

                                                                                                                                                        The station launched on Saturday November 24th 1973, originally serving the north and the west of the county. A number called 'Good Morning Radio Carlisle', penned by local musician, Ian Kellett, was swiftly followed by 'There's A Coach Coming In', from the musical 'Paint Your Wagon'. 

BBC Local Radio in the North of England had taken tentative early steps. The resources for BBC Radio Carlisle rose from the ashes of BBC Durham, which had been the last in the first tranche of BBC stations. Durham enjoys an interesting story. Trials for local radio there, alongside many other short experiments across the UK, had been staged in January 1962. The Durham trial, however, was noteworthy in that it appeared to go a little awry, prompting a timely re-think on how the new stations might be operated.

                                                                                                                                                    As the initial stations proper came on-air, in order of both preference and  the availability of local authority funding, Durham sparred with Lincoln to be the final one on the list, ready for a launch swinging 60s. Such were the tentative early days of all BBC local stations, Durham was pencilled for closure just a year later, although it lasted until August 1972, a year before the creation of BBC Carlisle.

In May 82, BBC Radio Carlisle was re-named BBC Radio Cumbria, as it could, following the creation of the County of Cumbria in the local government reorganisation of 74. BBC Furness opt-outs were a part of the station for nine years.

Happy 40th, BBC Radio Cumbria