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BBC Radio Newcastle - news archive

This is an archive of news about BBC Radio Newcastle. Some links may no longer work, due to the transient nature of the internet.

Lollopop gets 20k from Pudsey
From Radio Today. Posted June 22 2008, 11.17pm
Radio Lollipop Newcastle has received a donation of twenty thousand pounds from the Trustees of Children in Need, which will help towards funds for a new studio development. (more)

Lollipop gets 20k from Pudsey
From Radio Today. Posted June 22 2008, 11.17pm
Radio Lollipop Newcastle has received a donation of twenty thousand pounds from the Trustees of Children in Need, which will help towards funds for a new studio development. (more)

My Life In Media: James Whale
From The Independent. Posted May 19 2008, 12.00am
James Whale, 57, is a radio host and television presenter who hit the headlines earlier this month after being sacked from Talksport Radio, where he'd worked for 13 years, for breaching Ofcom broadcasting rules by endorsing the Conservative London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson. The outspoken Whale made his reputation as a late-night shock jock at Newcastle's Metro Radio. Since leaving Talksport he has launched a website (www.jameswhaleradio.com) and joined the shopping channel Bid TV as a presenter. His autobiography, Almost a Celebrity, is out in paperback in October. He lives in London, where he enjoys gardening and archery. Whale and his wife Melinda have been married for 40 years and have two sons, James, 39, and Peter, 37. (more)

Newcastle, not Paris, may set TV scene for Zola classic
From Media Guardian. Posted April 4 2008, 11.05pm
Newcastle may steal the limelight from Paris in an epic BBC series based on Emile Zola's classic novel The Ladies' Paradise (more)

More football for Newcastle
From Radio Today. Posted March 11 2008, 1.34am
BBC Radio Newcastle has signed a new three-year commentary deal with Newcastle United to continue offering full match commentaries of all games until the end of the 2010/11 season. (more)

Blackcats deal with the BBC
From Radio Today. Posted March 6 2008, 7.16pm
BBC Radio Newcastle has signed a new three-year commentary deal with Sunderland AFC. (more)

Supermac's Radio Dream Team
From Radio Today. Posted March 5 2008, 10.48am
Legendary England and Newcastle striker Malcolm Macdonald is to present a second series on footballing heroes for Real and Century Radio. (more)

Newcastle Evening Chronicle launches multilingual blog
From Journalism.co.uk. Posted February 19 2008, 12.00am
Chronicle website launches 'Poles to Newcastle' blog in English and Polish aimed at the Polish community living in the North East (more)

Keegan joins Radio Newcastle
From Radio Today. Posted February 6 2008, 12.43am
Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan will host a live phone-in on BBC Radio Newcastle tomorrow, giving fans their first chance to speak to him since his return to St James' Park. (more)

Double shifts at Newcastle
From Radio Today. Posted January 29 2008, 12.14am
BBC Radio Newcastle presenter Sue Sweeney is the new host of Saturday and Sunday mornings.. and Saturday and Sunday evenings. (more)

Weekend Changes at BBC Radio Newcastle
From Merry Media. Posted January 28 2008, 8.35pm
BBC Radio Newcastle has a new presenter line-up for weekends. Sue Sweeney will be presenting a morning and an evening show on Saturday's and Sunday's and said she is "thrilled to bits" about chatting to her listeners twice a day. . (more)

Keegan supplement grows as King Kev fever grips Newcastle
From Hold the Front Page. Posted January 22 2008, 12.00am
Chronicle goes United-crazy with 48-page pull-out to mark the return of the 'messiah' (more)

Global changes at Galaxy
From Radio Today. Posted January 21 2008, 12.40pm
Global Radio is changing the concept of Galaxy Digital to offer listeners more live programming. The output of Galaxy on DAB in areas without an FM service, along with Sky and Virgin Media, will be a relay of programmes from one of the four analogue Galaxy stations in Manchester, Yorkshire, Newcastle and Birmingham. (more)

Real producer heads home
From Radio Today. Posted November 9 2007, 8.13am
Craig Stewart, station producer for Real Radio in Wales is heading home to the north east to take over the same role at Century FM in Newcastle. Craig started his career at Sun FM and has also worked at Smooth in Manchester. (more)

PHOTOS: Northeast Radio Night
From Radio Today. Posted October 16 2007, 8.49am
Radio people from across the north east gathered in Newcastle at the weekend for the official 2007 Radio Today radio quiz. Congratulations to Century FM PC Paul Smith, Radio 1's Anna Lee, Alex Lester of Radio 2 and John Foster from BBC Tees who formed the winning team. (more)

Newcastle photographer cleared of obstruction sues police
From Press Gazette. Posted October 11 2007, 12.00am
A press photographer is to sue Northumbria Police Force for false arrest after being cleared of obstructing an officer. (more)

Northeast radio stations unite
From Radio Today. Posted October 10 2007, 12.33am
The northeast radio night will see teams from across the region battle it out to be crowned radio champions in a unique radio industry quiz night, taking place this weekend in Newcastle. Will it be the Mighty Metro Mob, the Clever Century Clan or another station team walking away with the virtual trophy? (more)

Newcastle Journal fights to save Northern Rock
From Press Gazette. Posted September 19 2007, 12.00am
The Newcastle Journal has launched a campaign to save Northern Rock – with editor Brian Aitken and associate editor Peter Montelier opening up accounts to pledge their support for the troubled bank. (more)

Newcastle Asian radio station wins licence
From Biz Asia. Posted September 13 2007, 9.22pm
An Asian radio station based in Newcastle Upon Tyne has won a lucrative five-year licence to broadcast in the region from next year. (more)

More community radio awards
From Radio Today. Posted September 12 2007, 4.33pm
Ofcom has awarded four more community radio groups with a five year licence. The new stations are 3TFM in North Ayrshire, Utopia FM in Sunderland, Community Voice FM in Middlesbrough and Spice FM in Newcastle. (more)

How I did it: Newcastle Evening Chronicle scores scoop with footballer mentioned in drugs trial
From Press Gazette. Posted July 11 2007, 12.00am
?When former Newcastle United football hero Tino Asprilla’s name was brought up in a major drugs trial, the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle tracked him down to his home land of Colombia. The paper’s award-winning chief reporter Adam Jupp... (more)

Lee Finan joins Century FM
From Radio Today. Posted June 26 2007, 8.18am
Former Metro FM and Sun FM presenter Lee Finan is the latest recruit at GMG Radio's Century FM in Newcastle. Lee will cover mid-mornings from July 2nd then move to a regular show in August. He has been on the northeast airwaves for over 14 years. (more)

Northern community applicants announced
From Radio Today. Posted March 29 2007, 1.04pm
Seven groups have applied to run community radio services in North and North-East England, Ofcom announced today. Applications have come in from hopefuls in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hartlepool and Sunderland, as well as two applicants in North Yorkshire and one each for Durham and Middlesbrough. (more)

Northern community applicants
From Radio Today. Posted March 29 2007, 1.04pm
Seven groups have applied to run community radio services in North and North-East England, Ofcom announced today. Applications have come in from hopefuls in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hartlepool and Sunderland, as well as two applicants in North Yorkshire and one each for Durham and Middlesbrough. (more)

BBC Hosts Climate Countdown Week in North East England
From Merry Media. Posted March 23 2007, 10.47pm
The BBC in the North East explores what life might be like in 2050 and whether the predictions of climate chaos are right. The informed debate runs from Monday 26 to Friday 30 March across BBC Radio Newcastle, BBC Tyne, BBC Wear, Look North and Inside Out.. (more)

Former Metro Radio home revived
From Radio Today. Posted March 16 2007, 10.41am
The original home of Metro Radio has been given a new lease of life for new start-ups. The Office Company are now using the building near the River Derwent in Gateshead to help grow local businesses. Metro is now in new studios at 55 Degrees North in the centre of Newcastle. (more)

Cumbria stations extend news
From Radio Today. Posted February 24 2007, 12.52am
Local radio in Cumbria dropped regular programming after a fatal rail accident in the county yesterday evening. Local commercial station Lakeland Radio was live into the night with on-the-scene accounts from passengers and news updates, whilst BBC Radio Cumbria broadcast local news reports every 30 minutes rather than networked bulletins from Newcastle.. (more)

Vendor’s dulcet tones ring out in Newcastle
From Press Gazette. Posted August 9 2006, 11.00pm
The cries of a Newcastle Evening Chronicle street vendor have been recorded to be sold as a mobile phone ringtone. (more)

Cross Rhythms Chooses FM Over Satellite
From Merry Media. Posted August 9 2006, 4.31pm
After 8 years broadcasting on Sky Digital satellite, media initiative Cross Rhythms have announced their unexpected decision to move on from this broadcasting platform in favour of their FM and internet operations. This will come into effect on Monday August 14th. Cross Rhythms broadcasts a community radio station across Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme on 101.8 FM.. (more)

Terry Christian joins talkSPORT
From Radio Today. Posted August 7 2006, 12.45pm
BBC Radio Manchester breakfast presenter Terry Christian has joined talkSPORT to host weekend show ‘Final Whistle’ on Saturday afternoons alongside Newcastle legend Mickey Quinn from The new show starts on Saturday 19th August, ready for the new season. “I’m looking forward to hosting the country’s liveliest football phone in ever,” said Christian. “’Final Whistle’ on talkSPORT with myself and Quinny will be an antidote to a format that on other stations often sounds like a forum for the brain-dead. I’m sick of hearing people talking about football that never go to matches. (more)

Tony Blair co-host on Five Live
From Radio Today. Posted June 19 2006, 8.45pm
Prime Minister Tony Blair has co-presented football's original football phone-in, 606, on BBC Radio Five Live with Adrian Chiles tonight (Monday 19 June). Mr Blair, an England and Newcastle United fan, recently rashly promised to replicate Peter Crouch's famous robot dance should England win the World Cup in Berlin on 9 July. The Prime Minister was in the studio for an hour from 7.00pm, sharing his views with listeners commenting on the World Cup. (more)

British PM Tony Blair to co-host soccer phone-in this evening
From Media Network Weblog. Posted June 19 2006, 3.44pm
British Prime Minister Tony Blair will co-present the football phone-in show, 606, on BBC Radio Five Live with Adrian Chiles this evening. Mr Blair, an England and Newcastle United fan, The Prime Minister will be in the studio for an hour from 7.00pm (1800-1900 UTC), sharing his views with listeners commenting on the World Cup. The live [...] (more)

Magic appoints network presenter
From Radio Today. Posted June 15 2006, 9.30am
Former Metro Radio presenter Steve Coleman is the new weekday afternoon presenter for the Magic network, Radiojam can exclusively reveal. Coleman presented breakfast on Metro during the 1980's, as well as a stint on Great Yorkshire Gold. Coleman has presented on Magic before, as mid-morning presenter on Magic 1152 in Newcastle, when it launched in 1998. He returns to the North East after presenting in Dubai for the past six years. (more)

Magic appoint network presenter
From Radio Today. Posted June 15 2006, 2.45am
Former Metro Radio presenter Steve Coleman is the new weekday afternoon presenter for the Magic network, Radiojam can exclusively reveal. Coleman presented breakfast on Metro during the 1980's, as well as a stint on Great Yorkshire Gold. Coleman has presented on Magic before, as mid-morning presenter on Magic 1152 in Newcastle, when it launched in 1998. He returns to the North East after presenting in Dubai for the past six years. (more)

Mel Booth to join TLRC
From Radio Today. Posted May 22 2006, 3.45pm
The Local Radio Company has hired Mel Booth as its regional managing director for stations in Yorkshire and the North East - in a move to strengthen its operational management. Mel joins from UTV-owned Wave FM in Blackpool, where he is currently Managing Director. Prior to this, he worked as Managing Director for Emap-owned Viking Radio in Hull and Metro Radio in Newcastle. His responsibilities will include Minster FM in York, Yorkshire Coast Radio, Stray FM in Harrogate, Home FM in Huddersfield, Sun in Sunderland, Durham, and Alpha in Darlington. He will report to TLRC’s newly appointed Managing Director – Radio, Sally Oldham. (more)

Newcastle paper's drugs campaign sparks TV documentaries
From Press Gazette. Posted May 18 2006, 12.32am
A series of special television news documentaries have been sparked by an evening newspaper’s “War on drugs” campaign. (more)

PA to run Trinity Mirror’s Newcastle training centre
From Press Gazette. Posted January 12 2006, 12.14pm
The Press Association is to take over the running of Trinity Mirror’s journalism training centre in Newcastle adding to its 50 per cent stake in the training and consultancy company The Editorial Centre. (more)