Local history

The BBC was created in 1922 and, by July 1924, it began its first local radio broadcasts from Leeds with the official opening of the Leeds/Bradford (2LS) Relay Station by the now legendary John Reith, the first Director General of the BBC.

The first offices and a studio were at Basinghall Street, Leeds. The studio was draped with pleated curtains, and a hair cord carpet, with ample underfelt, which helped to extinguish every echo. The first Station Director was Mr G P Fox, son of the Town Clerk of Leeds.

Over the next seven years the station provided a range of lively and educational local programmes that complemented national programming.

There were regular programmes for local schools transmitted, talks were given on humorous topics and there was local news. Tuesday afternoons were reserved for theatrical stars visiting Leeds. Most notably the Leeds-Bradford station made a live broadcast of a military tattoo at Roundhay Park.

The BBC building in Woodhouse Lane

In July 1931 the Leeds and Bradford transmitter closed down and were replaced by a regional transmitter and Leeds was not to regain its own BBC radio station for almost 40 years.

However, the BBC’s presence in Leeds remained strong with the opening of New Broadcasting House in May 1933. The premises, was the former Friends' Meeting House and included a large studio capable of holding a full-size orchestra.

In 1968 local radio was re-established in Leeds, at the Merrion Centre, when BBC Radio Leeds started at 5.30pm on 24 June, the seventh of eight local radio stations set up by the BBC.

The guests at the ceremony

BBC Radio Leeds was the first local station to broadcast hourly news bulletins, pioneered the phone-in, and introduced the concept of ‘walk-in and talk’.  The station moved to the BBC premises in Woodhouse Lane in September 1978, and most recently to the Broadcasting Centre at St Peter’s Square.

The celebratory plaque was unveiled by the BBC's Deputy Director-General, Mark Byford, who started his career with the BBC in Leeds.

The plaque reads:
                                         
                                     BBC RADIO IN LEEDS
                        In 1924 Lord Reith opened the Leeds-
                    Bradford radio station. It broadcast national
                       programmes and local talks on history,
                     farming and humour, celebrity interviews,
                   Children’s Corner and religious services. The
                   station closed in 1931 but local radio returned
                        on 24th June 1968 with the launch of
                                        BBC Radio Leeds.