BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is the BBC’s local radio station serving the county of Cambridgeshire.

It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at the Cambridge Business Park on Cowley Road in Cambridge.

According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 87,000 listeners and a 6% share as of September 2021.

Radio Cambridgeshire began broadcasting on 1 May 1982 and was originally known as Radio Cambridge and Radio Peterborough. It was originally based at studios on Hills Road, close to Cambridge railway station.

Under the first manager, Hal Bethell, Radio Cambridgeshire’s early broadcasts were restricted to a few hours at breakfast and two hours in the afternoon.

The opening day was broadcast from Cambridge and all the district offices at Peterborough, Wisbech, March, Huntingdon and Ely. The first programme was presented by Gina Madgett (formerly Radio Nottingham) and the first record played on-air was Ebony and Ivory by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.^{[citation needed]}

The original weekday presenters were:

• Julian Dunne (New Day, an all-speech news service that ran at the same hours as Today on Radio 4, on which it was based)
• Anne Bristow and Jane Solomons, alternating (The Light Programme, a mixture of music and light interviews)
• Gina Madgett (The Home Service, a largely speech programme with interviews intended to interest listeners at home)

When Hal Bethell left the station for health reasons, he was replaced by the deputy manager of Radio Lincolnshire, Dave Wilkinson. He extended broadcasting into the afternoon by hiring Radio Lincolnshire presenter, John Richards. Wilkinson returned to Radio Lincolnshire as manager and was replaced by Ian Masters, ex-presenter of BBC East’s regional TV news programme, Look East.