Radio Clyde in 1979 

23 September 2017 tbs.pm/13343

Radio Clyde・31 December 1973
95.1MHz・261m・1152kHz

Radio Clyde Ltd, Ranken House, Blythswood Court, Anderston Cross Centre, GLASGOW G2 7LB
Tel: 041-204 2555 (Sales: 041-2216615/8)

Directors F Ian Chapman (Chairman); James Gordon (Managing Director); William Brown, CBE; Kenneth McKellar; A J Murray; Sir Iain Stewart.

Executives Alex Dickson (Head of News & Current Affairs); Peter Elliott (Sales Manager); James Gordon (Head of Programmes); John Lumsden (Chief Engineer); Norman Quirk (Chief Accountant); Jan Tomasik (Publicity & Promotions Manager).

IBA Local Advisory Committee for Independent Local Radio in Glasgow J Hutchison (Chairman); J Baird; Cllr F Carlin; Cllr Mrs N Cochrane; Miss E Ferguson; Miss H Hendry; Cllr M Kelly; B Logan; F McMahon; Baillie G Wallace, JP; D Wilson.

Radio Clyde’s Mobile Citizens Advice Unit which tours the coverage area.

Fifth birthdays are important. Children start the great adventure of school, but the staff of a radio station inevitably look back. Suddenly five yean, which has seemed like a lifetime, shrinks as memories flood back of the last frantic few days before going on air on 31st December 1973.

There is no harm in looking back and Radio Clyde has much to be proud of in the last five years. Most important is its massive and loyal audience. The station has been firmly established virtually from the first day on air as the most popular radio station heard in the West of Scotland and appeals to all age groups and social classes. Its programmes have won numerous awards and a Radio Clyde presenter has been voted Radio Personality of the Year in Scotland, every year since the station started broadcasting. Three years ago the station launched a series of annual Festivals for the West of Scotland. Radio Clyde’s Mobile Citizens Advice Bureau now tours the station’s coverage area, supplementing and extending the work done by the existing CAB’s. A new mobile recording studio is arguably the most advanced in Britain and will enable the station to broaden its output of specially recorded music.

Yet Radio Clyde is still only a five year old. There is still a lot to learn. There is no question of complacency. Today is better than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow. The improvements in the station will be based on the straightforward commonsense approach which has been proved successful. Nowadays programming format is so much taken for granted that it is sometimes difficult to remember that five years ago it was unique. The station provides something for everyone and bases its programming on the lifestyle of its listeners. A wide spectrum of acceptable music forms the basis of daytime programming. Regular news bulletins and features are dropped into music programming. By slotting items in this way the station achieves a much larger audience for items such as Consumer Advice, than would ever be obtained if they were isolated on a station devoted to minority tastes. Minority interest programmes are part of an overall popular programming strategy which ensures larger audiences, and also means that the horizons of listeners are constantly being broadened by being exposed almost by accident to programmes which perhaps they would not have normally tuned into.

Local news and information is the bait which attracts the listeners to any local radio station in the first place, but they will only become regular listeners if they find the general programming of the station attractive.

While there is no sense in changing a successful format just for the sake of change, improvements are always being sought in Radio Clyde’s output which if successful will become regular features.

IBA Transmitters
VHF Transmitter
(FM with stereo capability)
Black Hill (NGR : NS 828 647)
95.1 MHz
Max erp 3.4 kW
Circular polarisation
Aerial ht. 1653 ft aod

MF Transmitter
(medium wave, mono only)
Dechmont Hill (NGR: NS 647 578)
261 m (1152 kHz)
Transmitter power 2 kW

Air Date: 31.12.73

VHF COVERAGE. The map shows the area within which most listeners should obtain satisfactory mono reception on VHF and, with adequate aerials, good stereo reception. Medium wave coverage is designed as far as possible to match VHF.