Background
Radio Cumbria claims to be listened to by one third of the county's population despite having to face the challenge of an area which is sparsely populated and predominantly rural, with the biggest urban areas around its perimeter. Most programming has a similar format to that of other BBC local radio stations, although one unique feature is the seasonal Lamb Bank - a short daily segments which carries announcements from farmers wishing to exchange livestock.
Radio Cumbria is unusual among BBC local radio stations in that its area does not correspond exactly with a single BBC television region. Due mainly to terrain, northern parts of Cumbria receive BBC television from Caldbeck, which broadcasts regional news from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne, directed at the "North East and Cumbria" region (the transmitter also broadcasts ITV signals from ITV Tyne Tees and Border in Gateshead). The rest of Cumbria receives regional news (the BBC's North West Tonight and ITV's Granada Reports) from Manchester via Winter Hill.
Attempts by the BBC in the 1980s to transmit North West Tonight to northern Cumbria proved unpopular because viewers objected to coverage of Derbyshire and Cheshire at the expense of their own locality, despite them receiving equally irrelevant news from North Yorkshire, Teesside and the north-east in the Newcastle-based Look North. For this reason, Radio Cumbria fulfils an important role in providing a unified news service to the whole county.
It is thought that following on from the BBC Local Radio review into finance and output, from February 2012, Radio Cumbria will be sharing evening programmes from BBC local stations in the North East & Cumbria region (Newcastle & Tees) to reduce operational costs.
Read more about this topic: BBC Radio Cumbria
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