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BBC Radio Teesside
BBC Radio Teesside started life on New Year's Eve, 1970.
This page takes a look back at the birth of local radio on Teesside with some cuttings from the Radio Times in 1970. BBC Radio Teesside began in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough in a building next to Wright's Tower House. The first studios were built where a well known fast food chain is now situated. Eventually, BBC Radio Cleveland as it became in 1974, moved to a new purpose built building known as the Newport Triangle, which is directly opposite Middlesbrough Bus Station. BBC Radio Teesside became BBC Radio Cleveland in 1974 following local Government reorganisation. Cleveland County was born and Teesside no longer existed - thus the name change. These days it's gone full circle as we all appear to be living in the Tees Valley and the station is now BBC Tees.
BBC local radio on Teesside celebrated it's 40th anniversary on New Year's Eve, 2010 and John Foster's two hour programme looking back over those early years can be heard from the BBC Tees website, Paul Delplanque, of the Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough, has written three wonderful articles on the anniversary in his Remember When column - Still Making Waves, Forty Years on the Air & It Will Be Alright on the Night and Tracy Walker writes "Stan's Back To His Radio Roots" in her Together Again column in Hartlepool Mail.
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Ian Charlton & Dave Eastwood
Eric Sumner and Paddy McDee
Eric Sumner was one of BBC Radio Teesside's most popular news readers and was also an expert in martial arts. Paddy McDee is still involved with broadcasting on Tyneside.
Peter Hedley & Stewart McFarlane
David Peel and Peter Cook
Tony Baynes and John Allard
Linda Lusardi with Keith Proud and Phil White with Miss BBC Radio Cleveland, Tracy Pierce.
BBC Radio Teesside covered the news in all weather. David Peel is seen here interviewing a stranded motorist in deep snow near Whitby.
Graeme Aldous presenting a phone-in programme in the studios at 91/93 Linthorpe Road.
Ernie Brown in the 1970's.
Three photographs when BBC Radio Cleveland moved into its new, purpose built, studios and offices on the Newport Triangle in Middlesbrough - two of the broadcasting studio and operating desk and the other showing the reception area. Clicking on the photographs above will open larger images. How times have changed as you can clearly see ash trays in all of the photographs!
The very first BBC Radio Teesside car sticker. The radio station offered prizes if a sticker was spotted in the rear window of your car. The staff were asked to write down registration numbers if they saw a sticker in a car. They were then read out on the air, and if it was yours you were invited to phone in and claim your prize - usually a bunch of promotional 45's!
One of the first business cards
The faces behind the voices
Martin Thurlbeck, Engineer
Geoff Edwards presented the weekly "Reach Out" arts programme and also worked within the education department.
Colin Bunyan with Sir Cliff Richard. Colin is still at BBC Tees and presents "Vintage Vinyl" each Sunday afternoon.
Colin Bunyan in a Linthorpe Road studio on November 19th, 1976.
Stan Laundon - and another one from Linthorpe Road. I would suggest this would in the 70s, too, looking at the desk.
Former BBC Radio Cleveland Programme Organiser, Mick Wormald.
A rather cluttered BBC Radio newsroom in Broadcasting House on the Newport Triangle showing David Peel (seated) and Ishfaq Ahmed.
This came from a BBC magazine in 1984 which informed readers that the radio station was about to move premises, from the original building in Linthorpe Road, to the Newport Triangle. I don't believe the article was written by someone with local knowledge as Middlesbrough is spelt wrong! By clicking on the photograph above you can see it in a larger size and read the full story. Photographed here is News Editor, Peter Dodson, on the extreme left with Les Cole, Stan Laundon, Eileen Ross, Barbara Schofield, Keith Morton, Mary Hughes and Ishfaq Ahmed.
Ready to leave Linthorpe Road with Ken Daly and Peter Dodson in the photograph.
..and into the Newport Triangle with Mike Hollingworth & George Lambelle.
Here's one from the archives. Keith Proud, Stan Laundon and Mike Greenwood standing with Peter Dodson, Colin Bunyan and Dave Saunders seated. I'm not sure what year this is from but I would suggest after 1984. Photograph courtesy of the Evening Gazette, Middlesbrough.
"Voice - Radio Cleveland in Entertainment". This is from about 1974 and features Graeme Aldous, Tony Baynes, Vanessa Gittings, Jack Leonards and Eric Sumner. Jack was the voice of "Dad's Music" before Ian Charlton.
The faces behind the voices - where are they now?
What did happen to all those old familiar names and broadcasters from BBC Radio Teesside/Radio Cleveland's early years?
Ishfaq Ahmed, following a long career with the BBC, now works for Purple Haze Media.
Graeme Aldous volunteered, in 1985, to be the first person to be made redundant by the BBC, in order to be able to stay in his beloved North York Moors. As a freelance audio-visual producer, he has become the voice (and often face) of the safety induction videos for many of the chemical and industrial plants on Teesside, and beyond.
John Allard lives in Wrexham.
Tony Baynes is an executive with a well known cola company and lives in Athens, Greece.
Ernie Brown works as a freelance journalist for an American company covering foreign assignments in Eastern Bloc countries, Africa and Russia and also does interviews for an internet TV website.
Peter Cook, a former sports editor during the early days of BBC Radio Teesside, is involved in the publishing business and is the editor of the Now&Then Magazine which was launched twelve years ago.
Ann Davies works in PR, although semi retired, and lives in Appleton Wiske.
Keith Harrison has a sound business in Buckinghamshire.
Mike Hollingworth is retired and lives in London.
George Lambelle is semi-retired and lives in County Durham.
Jim Latham had a long career with the BBC at Radio Teesside 1970-73; Radio Humberside between 1973-83; A while with the BBC Training Unit; BBC Radio Bedfordshire 1985-88 and then Managing Editor at Radio Kent 1988-2004.
Paddy McDee is still involved in broadcasting on Tyneside.
Stewart McFarlane lives in Skelton.
Keith Morton left the BBC 20 years ago and is now living in retirement in Dorset.
David Peel has a media marketing company.
Colin O'Keeffe, the last we heard, was living in the New Forest and wearing green wellies and Phil White is involved in radio on Humberside.
There are some beautiful sights when you look up. This is the old BBC Radio Teesside building at 91/93 Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough.
The old building, with its wonderful architecture, still stands proud in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough.
The RNLI inshore lifeboat B766 "BBC Radio Cleveland" - the Atlantic 75 was placed at the Hartlepool station in 2000 and was paid for by the listeners of BBC Radio Cleveland. Photograph © Stan Laundon.
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Thanks to Ernie Brown, Colin Bunyan, Peter Cook, Ann Davies, John Foster, George Lambelle and David Peel for additional photographs on this page.
This web page, about the early days and the launch of BBC Radio Teesside, is purely personal and is not supported, or endorsed in anyway, by the BBC or BBC Tees.
Copyright © Stan Laundon
BBC Radio Teesside
Please note: This is purely a personal page by Stan Laundon and not the website for BBC Tees. You can get in touch with them directly on their own site.
BBC Radio Teesside started life on New Year's Eve, 1970. This little painting was brought into reception by a young listener which, eventually, found its way into one of my scrapbooks.
Advertisements for the new radio station appeared in all local newspapers.
A series of articles which appeared in the Radio Times in the 1970s. If you click on each image, you can view the page in a larger size. The first photograph - a Radio Times article dated August 27th, 1970 with Radio Teesside Station Manager, Allan Shaw talking about Middlesbrough being 'his kind of town'. The second - a Radio Times feature, December 17/24th 1970 just before BBC Radio Teesside officially went on the air and, the third photograph here, shows the programme schedule for the first day's broadcasting - December 31st, 1970 from 6.00pm until 1.00am and then closing down until 7.00am on New Year's Day, 1971 when Graeme Aldous presented the early morning news.
The faces behind the voices - "It might not be the most beautiful picture of the year," so the story said, "but you can't take photographs of voices - and it's voices not faces that count. "These are some of the broadcasters, engineers, technical assistants and secretaries who work together as a team to bring you the sound of BBC Radio Cleveland." The photograph, taken on the roof of the Cleveland Centre in Middlesbrough, in 1984, when BBC Radio Teesside changed its name to BBC Radio Cleveland. The good looking staff members on this photograph are Allan Shaw, Iain Hindmarsh, Margaret Heseltine, Keith Moxom, Jim Brady, Stan Laundon, Liz Horsfield, Pam Smith, Barbara Littler, Norman Goddard, Peter Hedley, Ruth France, George Lambelle, Eric Sumner, Ian Judson, Tony Baynes, Vanessa Gittings, Mike Hollingworth, Trisha Wharton, Sandi Marshall, Ernie Brown, Graeme Aldous, John Watson and Ken Boar. You can just see Parkin Raine's head behind Allan Shaw. In 2007 BBC Radio Cleveland changed its name to BBC Tees! This photograph, which we believe was taken by the Evening Gazette, did not appear in the newspaper - but a similar one did which you can see in the left hand column.
Nellie - BBC Radio Teesside's first cleaner. We all believe that Nellie deserves a special place on this site. She kept us all going in the mornings and was a wonderful, kind, caring lady. I was very fond of her.
BBC Staff on a visit to ICI Wilton. They are, left to right, Iain Hindmarsh, Colin O'Keeffe, Jenny Colley, Juliette Greathead, Jim Latham, Dave Williams, Stan Laundon, Derek Hobson, Graeme Aldous and Joy Mason.
Graeme Aldous, on the roof top at Broadcasting House in Middlesbrough, was with BBC Radio Teesside from the very beginning and produced and presented various programmes over the years including "Polished Brass." Graeme has retired from radio and lives on the North York Moors.
Peter Cook, in the centre, during his time producing sport at BBC Radio Teesside in the 1970's. Allan Jones the manager of Darlington Football Club is seen with the Hartlepool manager, Len Ashurst.
The Radio Teesside Girls - secretaries, receptionists and broadcasters - Linda Tutin, Barbara Littler, Juliette Greathead, Sabina Taylor, Noreen Moss and a name required please.
Ann Davies was kind enough to send us this old BBC Radio Cleveland magazine from December, 1978. The caption speaks for itself.
A publicity leaflet when BBC Radio Cleveland switched wavelengths from 194 to 1548 on the medium wave band. Phil White is with Colin Bunyan and Caroline Salt.
From the Ernie Brown collection - the front cover of a BBC Radio Cleveland Magazine, from the summer of 1987, with presenters Phil White, Stan Laundon, Ann Davies, Colin Bunyan and Keith Proud. The photograph was taken at Wynyard Hall just outside of Billingham. Not sure who the chauffeur is or who the Rolls Royce belongs to either!
A publicity photograph taken at Teesside International Airport underneath Concorde in 1986. We had to get special permission to get so close to the aircraft and walk out onto the runway. The picture shows Karen Partridge, Stewart McFarlane, Phil White, Stan Laundon, Ann Davies, Colin Bunyan, Keith Proud and Caroline Salt.
This photograph, by Ernie Brown, dates back to August 1979 and was taken at a BBC Radio Cleveland Sports Day, which was sponsored by a well-known cigarette manufacturer. It shows Barbara Jones, Keith Morton, Stan Laundon, Frank Birks, Barbara Everitt, Mark Waddington, Marion Birks, Nick Clarke and Chris Hodder.
This is another from the archives and I have no idea of the year in question. It could well have been taken at a Redcar Steel Gala or Teesside Show. It was titled 'Football Crazy' and shows, in football strips, Dave Picken, Stan Laundon, Mark Page and Jim Wilson. The referee is Pat Partridge.
George Lambelle with Middlesbrough Big Band. The leader, Derek Bridge, is in the centre right behind George and third from the left is a trumpet player called John. We don't recall his second name, but he went on to play with the Three Degrees Band.
Colin Bunyan, Stan Laundon and Stewart McFarlane handing out publicity stickers at Hartlepool Show, August 1980. Photograph by Ernie Brown.
Actor Peter Adamson, who played the part of Len Fairclough in "Coronation Street," on a visit to the BBC studios. This must be about 1980 because of the Candy Team Tyrrell F1 shirt I am wearing.
Mike Hollingworth presenting an outside broadcast for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, in Hartlepool Marina. Some years later - in the 1990's - listeners to the radio station raised enough money, through donations, to buy an inshore lifeboat for the Hartlepool station - called, coincidentally, BBC Radio Cleveland. You can see a photograph of the vessel in action in the lower left hand column.
At an outside broadcast in the Cleveland Centre in Middlesbrough. Station Engineer, Ken Boar, is on the extreme left with Graeme Aldous, in the background, giving a salute of appreciation to my music - I hope! The person directly behind me could well be news producer, Chris Hodder.
BBC Radio Cleveland broadcasters Tony Baynes and Stan Laundon at a function organised by Sedgefield District Council.
This was taken in September, 1986 - and shows the BBC building on the Newport Triangle. If my memory serves me well, that clock never worked properly when it had the sun on it!
Inside the new building on the Newport Triangle. It really didn't take too long before the place was cluttered. That's Mike Wadding on the telephone - making out he's working for the benefit of the photographer!
If this room could talk what a tale it would tell......
Forty years on and the old building is still there. For those who might remember, this is where the original studios used to be in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough. The Cleveland Centre roof top car park can just be seen through the windows. Photograph Stan Laundon © December, 2010.
Colin Bunyan, Stan Laundon and George Lambelle return to the room on Linthorpe Road where it all started forty years ago. Photograph © John Foster.
Graeme Aldous, Stan Laundon and George Lambelle were invited to BBC Tees on the last day of January 2011 to co-present the final thirty minutes of the Breakfast Show with John Foster. All three were also asked to present one-off programmes they produced, and presented, in the past - "Polished Brass" with Graeme, "All That Jazz" with George and "Country Time" with Stan. In my case it was a pleasant experience - but I am still searching for the turntables!
This page is dedicated to the memory of Hal Bethell, Robin Cradock, Dave Eastwood, Ian Judson, Allan Shaw, Brian Smart, Eric Sumner and John Watson.
BBC Teesside became BBC Cleveland in 1974 and is now BBC Tees
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