History
The success of Radio 4 News FM during the 1991 first Gulf War led Liz Forgan to suggest in May 1993 the introduction of a combined news and sport network. As a result, the BBC's fifth radio network, BBC Radio 5, was closed down. The old service's mix of sport, educational and children's programmes were merged into other services. The new BBC Radio 5 Live began its 24-hour service at 5am on Monday 28 March. The first voice on air was Jane Garvey, who later went on to co-present the breakfast and drivetime shows with Peter Allen. The launch was described by The Times as "slipp smoothly and confidently into a routine of informative banter" and The Scotsman as "professionalism at its slickest."
The tone of the channel, engaging and more relaxed than contemporary BBC output, was the key to the channel's success and set the model for other BBC News services later in the decade. The first audiences were some four million, with a record audience of six and a quarter million. Among the key editorial staff involved in the design of programme formats and recruitment of staff for the new station were Sara Nathan, later editor of Channel 4 News, and Tim Luckhurst, later editor of The Scotsman newspaper and currently Professor of Journalism at the University of Kent.
In 2000, the station was rebranded with a new logo which would remain with the station for another seven years. In addition, on 2 February 2002 a companion station, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, was launched as a digital-only service to complement the range of sport and to avoid clashes; previously BBC Local Radio stations were used. Throughout this period, Five Live gained several awards including five Sony Awards in 2005; the single gold award was for its coverage of the 2004 Asian tsunami in the News Story Award category alongside another four silver awards and six nominations. The station also began to further it's boundaries with the publication of the Radio Five Live Sporting Yearbook. In August 2007, BBC Radio Five Live was renamed BBC Radio 5 Live and was given a new logo in line with the rest of the BBC Radio network, and a new background design featuring diagonal parallel lines.
In 2008, the BBC announced that the station would move to MediaCityUK in Salford
Read more about this topic: BBC Radio 5 Live
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