First presenter scared when radio station launched
BBC Radio Shropshire's first presenter has marked the station's 40th birthday, admitting she had "never been so scared" as when launching the station.
Diane Kemp started the first breakfast show at 06:30 BST on 23 April 1985, with the words: "Good morning, welcome along. It's the birth of Radio Shropshire, the BBC's 30th and newest local radio station."
Her first show featured the launch of an appeal to fund a new lifeboat, and interviews with cabinet minister John Gummer and Labour leader Neil Kinnock.
"The excitement of doing it, I think, raised my voice about an octave," Ms Kemp said of the launch.
Speaking to Wednesday's breakfast show about the initial set-up, she said: "We were bowled over by the reaction we got.
"As ever, it's the loyalty of local radio audiences which is always extraordinary, humbling and phenomenal."
The news headlines on the first show included Telford Development Corporation's plan to turn the town into Britain's Silicon Valley, cuts to Shropshire health services and a campaign by Labour MP Tam Dalyell over the 1984 murder of Hilda Murrell.
The launch was marked by a balloon flight from the grounds of Attingham Park at Atcham, and the day's programming continued with Colin Young, who remained at the station until 2020.
Ms Kemp said: "We got a grounding of 'these are the principles and this is the aim of the station', very much, I suspect, how you're still operating it - it's a local station, we exist for reflecting what goes on in the area."
"We got to help fashion it along the principles of what the BBC Local values are."
The presenter later worked on Midlands Today and is now professor of journalism at Birmingham City University.
She said the same ethos of public service journalism had run through all of her jobs: "In the end, it's to make a difference, to amplify voices, to help people hear their own stories."
Four decades on, the broadcaster reflected that the St. George's Day launch had been a career highlight.
"We were launching a radio station, and that felt such an extraordinary privilege.
"We all felt that on the day, and we were trying to do fun things, exciting things, give some of that energy to the programmes - but there's no escaping what an extraordinary privilege it was."
Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC team takes red nose on Comic Relief hill tour
Winners celebrate at Make a Difference awards
BBC Radio Shropshire
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Could Merthyr Tydfil be set for an electoral revolution?
"Come check the streets where normal people live. "Kids are smoking, drugs available 24/7. "When you got time check my area condition. "My invitation to the politician." Daljit Singh is the owner of Gurnos sports and social club and also a part-time songwriter - that one is destined for YouTube. "I want to express the situation from here to any leader out there. Please come and have a look," he said. Spend new defence billions in Wales, companies say Miners' strike designs help Welsh fashion find voice Senedd election could be seismic, expert says Last year he put words into action and brought Nigel Farage to Merthyr Tydfil to launch Reform's general election manifesto. Mr Singh wanted to get politicians out of their bubble and speak to people who felt left behind and neglected. The club is the sort of place Nigel Farage would have had in mind, albeit not geographically, when he recently challenged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to a debate in a northern working men's club. When we visited, Mr Singh and his colleagues were preparing the venue for actual, not verbal, fisticuffs - a 300-seat sell out white collar boxing night. While Reform did not win any Welsh seats in last year's general election, it did come second in 13 of the 32 constituencies. Mr Singh thinks Reform will do well at next year's Senedd election because "people have had enough of being let down on so many things. Why not try something new?" He added people who were struggling to get by found it "unfair" to see money being spent on migrants who had crossed the English Channel. Outside the club, in front of a parade of shops, we met Steve Collins, a builder from Troedyrhiw, who had been at the Farage speech. He said he wanted change. "We've had too many promises and nothing coming forward - Labour and the Conservatives are both the same in my opinion," he said. "This has always been a Labour town, but people are getting fed up now... the state of Merthyr," he added. Another woman told us Farage was "straight", that she had voted for him in the past, but that she would probably stick with Labour next year. Recent polling suggests Reform has a chance of becoming the biggest party in the Senedd, although it might struggle to find someone willing to do a post-election deal to form a government. It still does not have a Welsh leader and has not named any candidates. Polling also suggests that Plaid Cymru could be the party to end 27 years of Labour dominance in Cardiff Bay. A local Labour source admitted the party faced a fight but said it needed to shout more loudly about its achievements, mentioning the completed Heads of the Valleys road, the new Metro and improvements at Prince Charles Hospital. Merthyr has long been one of Labour's heartlands and has had a long history of political change and controversy. It returned the first Labour MP in a Welsh constituency, Keir Hardie, in 1900. It was scene of a Jeremy Corbyn leadership rally in 2016, a Yes Cymru pro-independence March in 2019 and has had its share of recent controversies, including delays over armoured vehicles for the Army which are built in the town and issues with an opencast coal mine. It is also one of the areas with the highest benefits claimant rate so is likely to be disproportionately hit by UK Labour government welfare reforms. Most famously Merthyr was where workers rose up against appalling conditions and poor pay in 1831 - a rebellion which became known as the Merthyr Rising. As next May approaches are we looking at another revolution at the ballot box? Across town at Merthyr Tydfil College, a lively politics and governance class left you in little doubt that more political upheaval could be on the way. "We are seeing the overturn of that sort of Labour Welsh order of this guarantee that Wales will always be Labour until the cows come home," said 17-year-old Zack. "I do think Labour takes it for granted with their traditional safe seats. These aren't iron strongholds anymore of Labour," he added. Aaron, also 17, agreed. "We've seen the start of Labour's downfall," he said. "They've become too comfortable with the fact that they've always been voted in in Wales and we're now getting to the point where we're seeing other parties gain support like Plaid Cymru." He added: "I'm seeing a lot of people who have been lifelong Labour supporters and they've now decided that they're going to vote Reform or Plaid because Labour's not in the best interests for people anymore in Wales." While not necessarily supporting Farage, 16-year-old Isobelle and 17-year-old Amber-Rose recognised the Reform leader's appeal. "Whatever Reform say people might gravitate towards them because it is so new and Nigel Farage is so 'in his own way' that it will appeal to people. "We do have strong Labour and Conservative leaders but Nigel Farage does seem to be more prominent," they said. Other topics that cropped up included the "betrayal" of the working class over benefits reform, and the question of fairness. Why did Scotland have powers over the Crown Estate, justice and policing when Wales did not? For these young voters the principle rather than the policy area appeared to count for more. Wales had moved with the times, they argued, and politicians needed to move too. They also thought that Plaid Cymru and Reform were better at getting through to younger voters on social media than Labour. The students agreed that you could sum up next year's election with one word - change. The slogan that propelled UK Labour to a landslide win at the general election last year could be exactly what costs its Welsh colleagues at the Senedd in 2026. In two very different parts of town, predictions for next year were very much the same. What's your Senedd constituency? What does the Senedd do? How do you vote in the Senedd election?
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Home secretary yet to agree deal days before spending review
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is the last minister yet to agree a funding deal with the Treasury before Wednesday's Spending Review, BBC News understands. Ministers have been locked in talks with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and her team ahead of the major financial statement, which sets budgets for government departments covering the next few years. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner reached a settlement on Sunday evening after "progress" in negotiations, the BBC has learned, but Cooper is holding out in talks also involving No 10. Police budgets are expected to get a real-terms increase in each of the next three years, but negotiations are ongoing about the wider Home Office budget. Earlier on Sunday, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said police needed to "do their bit" towards reforming public services. Kyle told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that "every part of society was struggling" and that the chancellor was facing pressure from all departments for additional funding. He said the review would boost spending for schools and scientific research but declined to rule out a squeeze on policing. Earlier on Sunday, BBC News was told that Home Office ministers do not believe there is enough money to recruit the additional 13,000 new police and community support officers Labour promised in its manifesto. Kyle said the government had already provided an extra £1bn to the police, adding: "We are delivering investment in the police. "We expect the police to start embracing the change they need to do to do their bit for change as well." Spending Review: When is it and what might Rachel Reeves announce? Kyle also declined to guarantee that Rayner's housing department would be protected from budget cuts when asked about the government's plan to build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the parliament. But he added: "We made a manifesto commitment. We are absolutely laser-focused on delivering that." The last-minute talks come ahead of what is set to be a highly significant week for every part of government. It is expected there will be extra money for the NHS, with reports the Department for Health will receive increased funding. A substantial increase in funding for the NHS would come at the expense of other parts of government, as the chancellor seeks to meet her own fiscal rules, which are not to borrow to fund day-to-day spending, and for debt to be falling as a share of national income by 2029/30. But other parts of government will see their budgets squeezed as the chancellor seeks to meet her own fiscal rules, which are not to borrow to fund day-to-day spending, and for debt to be falling as a share of national income by 2029/30. Some elements of what will be included in the statement have emerged in recent days. On Sunday night the government announced £24m funding to boost artificial intelligence lessons in schools, as part of a wider £187m package to boost tech skills across the economy. Earlier on Sunday, the government announced an £86bn package for science and technology to help fund drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries. And on Wednesday, the chancellor unveiled a £15.6bn package to fund extensions to trams, trains and buses in Greater Manchester, the Midlands and the North East. Spending decisions come against the backdrop of a broad commitment to increase defence spending further to 3% by 2034. The government has already committed to increasing defence spending from 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5% by 2027 - an extra £5bn a year - funded by a cut in the overseas aid budget. Reeves has previously confirmed the government will revise its controversial decision to limit Winter Fuel Payments to those in receipt of means-tested benefits. While the government is expected to share some information about who will receive the payment as part of the Spending Review, full details will not be released until the Budget later in the year. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said "relatively modest" growth rates mean "sharp trade-offs are unavoidable". The think tank said the level of spending on health would dictate whether cuts were made to "unprotected" areas – those outside the NHS, defence and schools. Spending Review: Massive cheques from the chancellor for some - but what do totals hide? Labour tiptoed cautiously through its first year - will it now decide to escape its own shadow?
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Time to face the harsh realities of spending orthodoxy
Labour came to power fatuously parroting the word 'change' and yet has shown itself to be the same old tax and spending party it has always been. What it meant was a change of party in office not a change of direction. Not only have taxes gone up but so-called protected spending is set to rise despite record debt levels. Yet if ever a public policy has been tested to destruction surely it is the notion that the NHS will improve if only more money is thrown at it. Even Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, are on record as saying that higher health spending is not the answer to the endemic flaws in the health service and yet another £30 billion is to be announced for the next three years on top of the £22 billion handed over after last year's general election, much of which went on pay and showed nothing in the way of productivity improvement. No mainstream politician is prepared to acknowledge that the problem with the NHS is the fact it is a nationalised industry with all the inherent inefficiencies associated with such. Most other advanced economies in Europe and elsewhere have social insurance systems which work better. But the insistence in Britain of cleaving to the 1948 'founding principle' that treatment should be free at the point of delivery has become a quasi-religious doctrine that few dare challenge. Only Nigel Farage has questioned the wisdom of continuing with a system that patently fails to achieve what others manage to do but has been noticeably quiet on the subject recently because Labour will exploit it mercilessly to see off the Reform people that they will have to pay for something they have always had for free is even more difficult when political parties are prepared to see the health system get worse rather than reform it. The same is true of welfare. Taking benefits from people, even when they are payments introduced just a few years ago like the winter fuel allowance, is hard if the reasons are not explained and the issue is 'weaponised' by opponents. Yet unless the welfare budget is brought under control it will bankrupt the country. If change is to mean anything then we need politicians finally to understand the extent of the country's difficulties and make decisions accordingly. Will we see that from the Chancellor on Wednesday? Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.