What is the LBC/IRN Archive?
Commercial radio in Britain was launched in October 1973 when Independent Radio News (IRN) and its sister organisation, the London Broadcasting Company (LBC) were granted their licences. IRN supplied news, documentary and current affairs programmes to LBC and to all other commercial radio stations as they were established. LBC provided an independent radio service to the London area. A joint IRN/LBC archive of programmes and news items was established and this constituted the archive in its current form. The archive comprised approximately 7,000 mainly reel-to-reel audio tapes covering the period 1973 to 1995 (when digital storage was introduced). Accompanying the tape collection were two catalogues; a card index of approximately 3,000 cards which covers the period 1973 to 1985 and a computer catalogue since 1985. Both catalogues are held at Bournemouth University. The archive includes the first hours of UK commercial radio and the first commercial radio news. The first sound broadcast
