From 'you'll get nowhere with that accent' to BBC radio pioneer

Growing up near Hull during World War Two, Michael Barton developed a love for listening to the "wireless" as radio broadcasts became more prominent in British family life.

By the age of 17, he was set on a career in radio and applied to join the BBC - only to be rebuffed and told that he'd "never get anywhere" with his Yorkshire accent.

Undeterred, by 1967 he had been appointed the first managing editor of a new local station, BBC Radio Sheffield, just the second in a network set up across the country.

Broadcasting at first from a Victorian house in the suburb of Broomhill, it grew along with Mr Barton, who stayed in the role until 1972 and went on to spend 13 years as controller of BBC Local Radio.

This week his family confirmed that the radio pioneer had died at the age of 94 following a fall outside his home in London.

Mr Barton was born in 1931 and spent his childhood in Cottingham, entering his teens as the war came to an end.

By the age of 22, he was a studio manager in Leeds, putting on live brass bands and radio dramas. He later produced current affairs programmes and Children's Hour from Manchester.

He went on to marry and have two sons, Christopher and Daniel, who are now in their 50s.

Christopher Barton said: "He was the best dad you could imagine. He made sure we understood the value of everything but we didn't want for anything.

"He was active right until the end."

His father said that his time at Radio Sheffield was the most "exciting period" of his BBC career at a time when the local network we know today was being established.

Reminiscing in 2007, he said: "The city council under Ron Ironmonger couldn't have been more supportive - they had to pay for our first two years! And the freedom to "get on with it" given to us by the BBC meant that we could experiment, make mistakes and not feel under central pressure."

Sue Murdoch, 72, was Mr Barton's secretary in Sheffield. She described her former boss as a "stunning fella".

"He knew everyone in local radio. Everyone respected him. He was a great man."

Katrina Bunker, the head of BBC Local for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and also a former editor of Radio Sheffield, described her predecessor as a "pioneer".

"We wouldn't be here without Michael Barton. We now have 39 local stations but he and his peers were the ones that took all the risks and experimented. He put on education programmes, folk shows and drama. Before him, all we heard were posh Londoners."

After retirement, Mr Barton played tennis, sang in choirs and set up a play reading class with friends. His wife, Jill, died in 2022.

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