BBC Radio Humberside
BBC Radio Humberside is the BBC's local radio station serving the former county of Humberside which includes the unitary authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Queen's Gardens in Hull. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 130,000 listeners and a 7.5% share as of June 2023. History BBC Radio Humberside began broadcasting in 1971 from studios above a post office on Chapel Street in Hull, three years before the county of Humberside was created. It has retained its name despite Humberside being abolished as a county in 1996. On the first night of broadcasting, many West Yorkshire rugby league fans were disappointed when the relatively powerful High Hunsley transmitter signal was broadcast instead of BBC Radio Leeds, so they heard a commentary of Hull KR v Widnes. Medium wave broadcasts began in late 1971. In 1979, Radio Humberside stopped broadcasting dedicated agricultural programmes despite serving agricultural areas. In the 1970s, the station sponsored the Radio Humberside Handicap horserace at Beverley Racecourse, which became the BBC Radio Humberside Stakes in the 1980s. By the 1990s, this included the Martin Plenderleith Conditions Stakes, the Steve Massam Selling Stakes, the Peter Adamson Maiden Auction Stakes, the Charlie Partridge Selling Stakes and the Chris Langmore Handicap that all took place on the same day in early July. In line with the other BBC local stations in the area, BBC Radio Humberside was part of the BBC Night Network when it was formed in May 1989, providing the station with regular evening, albeit regional rather than local, programming for the first time. Before this, the station generally stopped broadcasting at around 6 pm and broadcast BBC Radio 2 for the rest of the night. Three years before the launch of Night Network, Radio Humberside had broadcast the Yorkshire-wide early evening specialist music programmes which were also carried on Radios York, Leeds and Sheffield. In 2004, the station moved to a new digital broadcast centre located at Queen's Gardens in Hull, where it was joined by a full TV operation, supporting BBC Look North. Awards In May 2012, presenters Beryl Renwick and Betty Smith were awarded the Sony Radio Academy Award for best entertainment programme. Renwick and Smith had presented alongside David Reeves from 2006 to December 2012, after they had been "talent spotted during a tour of the BBC studios in Hull". The pair, aged 86 and 90 respectively, had been the oldest winners of the award. Smith died in November 2014 and Renwick died in September 2015. In May 2013, the station was named "Station of The Year" at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. Studio facilities BBC Radio Humberside has studios at Queen's Court, Queen's Gardens in Hull. The station also has a second studio, which is situated in the Grimsby Institute for Higher Education. In 2016, BBC Radio Humberside's studios were refurbished as part of the ViLoR