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BBC Radio Norfolk SpecialThe Network That Never WasThe birth of the BBC in Norfolk

The BBC opened up its first ever East Anglian headquarters in Norwich in 1956.

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The BBC Written Archives Centre holds the original plans for converting the Georgian house into a studio

Here you can see the plans for the ground floor, with the radio control room and studio.

  • St Catherine's Close on All Saints Green was the home of BBC radio in Norwich from 1956 until 1980
  • The radio studio backed onto the garden - it's the ground floor window closest to the greenhouse here
  • The BBC Written Archives Centre holds the original plans for converting the Georgian house into a studio
  • A closer view of the radio studio and control room
  • The 1950s plans for the BBC's original radio studio in Norwich at St Catherine's Close
  • St Catherine's Close after the BBC had taken it over
  • The plaque identifying the British Broadcasting Corporation can be seen here
  • Just inside the front door in 1959
  • The radio control room, with the studio visible through the glass
  • A producer operates the panel for presenter David Bryson
  • David Bryson in the studio in 1959
  • The radio control room at St Catherine's Close
  • The control panel, also an unknown date in the late 50s or early 60s
  • The BBC left St Catherine's Close in 2003, when TV and radio moved back in together under one roof at The Forum in Norwich
  • Paul Hayes in the room which once housed the BBC's original radio studio in Norwich
  • It was the BBC's Engineer-in-Charge in Norfolk, Eric Hammond, who suggested St Catherine's Close as a radio HQ in 1954
  • The BBC did also consider some other properties in Norwich
  • The BBC prepared very detailed specifications for the conversion of the building
  • The St Catherine's Close file at the BBC Written Archives Centre contains all sorts of detail
  • In November 1954, the BBC officially announced they were setting up an East Anglian office
  • The very first programme of the East Anglian VHF service from Norwich was broadcast in February 1957
  • An example of the output from Norwich in the 1950s
  • One great success of the East Anglian output came in 1959
  • This "Programme as Broadcast" document shows what was in the build-up to the sixth round replay
  • The BBC Written Archives Centre contains many thousands of files on all aspects of the BBC's existence
  • A provisional schedule for the "Radio Norwich" pilot of June 1961

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