15th March 1982

BBC Radio Jersey takes to the air

Jersey and Guernsey were each assigned a radio frequency for local use, and asked to decide how they would like to use it. It was by no means certain that either island would invite the BBC to occupy the slot but, eventually, both did. Jersey’s local station went on air one day in advance of its neighbour. It was opened by the then-chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, George Howard and was based on St Helier’s Rouge Bouillon, but moved to Parade Rose in 1994.

It launched with a staff of four, including Peter Gore, whose voice was the first to be heard on air. Initially, much of its output was a simultaneous broadcast of other services produced on the mainland, but over the years this evolved so that more of the daily content was locally produced. Various policy and budget changes meant that the balance needed to be continually adapted according to the BBC’s resources.