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Press Releases
Radio Merseyside celebrates its 40th anniversary
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The first song played was, of course, a Beatles track, Harold Wilson presented a programme in 1971 the year after he lost the election, Gerry Marsden composed the first ever jingles and one of its presenters was nearly arrested covering the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
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These are just some of the memorable moments captured in a special documentary to mark 91Èȱ¬ Radio Merseyside's 40th birthday.
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Radio Merseyside's life began on 22 November 1967 with a live outside broadcast from a Mersey ferry. Presented by the then station editor Michael Hancock, the first few minutes didn't quite go according to plan.
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As Michael handed over to the reporters who were out and about across Merseyside the airwaves crackled and there were more than a few scary moments of dead air time.
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The station managed to survive this minor mishap though and has remained at the heart of Merseyside for the past four decades.
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The one hour documentary, Making Waves – 40 Years Of 91Èȱ¬ Radio Merseyside on Thursday 22 November at 1pm, will take listeners on a trip down memory lane as those involved with the station past and present re-live some of its broadcasts.
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There will be a look back at the station's coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy, the day when Aintree was evacuated and the part the station played in finding stranded people accommodation, its investigative journalism in the Seventies looking at allegations of police brutality, as well as some of Merseyside's most memorable sporting moments.
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As well as the documentary, there will be special inserts throughout the week beginning 19 November with more archive stories.
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There will also be a number of special events. Children from schools across Merseyside will be coming together with a local writer to put Liverpool's 800-year history into eight minutes which will be broadcast on the station's birthday on 22 November.
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Also on this day people will be able to visit the station's Commemorative Desk in its performance space on College Lane, Liverpool, where they can record the news and jingles through the years which they can then take away with them. There will be a number of special live music performances.
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In addition a special concert is being held at the Liverpool Empire on 26 November with the very best of local talent from the past four decades from Gerry Marsden to Atomic Kitten. The 2,400 tickets sold out in just ten days.
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Current station editor Phil Roberts says: "Some of the faces may have changed and a lot of the technology certainly has but essentially Radio Merseyside remains at the heart of the region and has managed to retain the essence of when it all began 40 years ago.
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"To be able to celebrate 40 fantastic years is a remarkable achievement and there is no doubt that there will be many more to come."
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Radio Merseyside is one of the corporation's eight original local radio stations coming together to celebrate four decades of broadcasting.
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91Èȱ¬ Radio Leicester was the first local station to go live on air on 8 November 1967 and was joined over the following months by 91Èȱ¬ Radios Sheffield, Merseyside, Stoke, Nottingham, Brighton (now Southern Counties Radio), Durham (now Cumbria) and Leeds.
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