Main content

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.

Gallery
23/26

One great success of the East Anglian output came in 1959

The service provided full live commentaries on some of Norwich City's 1959 FA Cup run.

  • 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

This gallery is from

Galleries

See all galleries from BBC Radio Norfolk Special (13)