Whilst TV stations spent 24 hours live from a street in London waiting for the Royal Baby arrival, radio got a little more creative.
Stations around the country celebrated the news in many different ways – including an impending complete station re-brand and giant billboards overlooking a motorway.
The BBC’s national news and sport station 5 live rolled with the news for an hour after the press statement was sent, and also brought the late evening news programme forward by an hour.
In depth coverage was provided by Phil Williams in the studio, and by Anna Foster and Stephen Chittenden at Buckingham Palace.
LBC’s Tom Swarbrick outside St Mary’s Hospital[/caption]LBC had non-stop rolling news coverage with reaction from listeners and interviews with royal experts ever since the announcement that Kate had gone into labour.
The station had a team of presenters and reporters outside Buckingham Palace, St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, Green Park, Oxford Street, the Tower of London, Kate’s hometown of Bucklebury and also Sandringham.
LBC 97.3’s Managing Editor James Rea told RadioToday: “LBC 97.3 has been ringing the bells for the Royal birth. The last 24 hours have been a bumper souvenir edition of stand out programmes and coverage with our audience at the heart of it. It’s an amazing time to be the voice of London as it witnesses another moment in history.”
Free Radio created a giant poster reminding everyone “It’s a Royal Baby Boy” and also created a giant congratulations card and had it signed by as many listeners as possible across the West Midlands.
Also in Birmingham, Heart Breakfast with Ed & Rachel commemorated the 41-gun royal salute with their own 41-car horn salute in the city centre.
Roberto announced the news on the Heart network, followed by Amy Grant’s Baby Baby and The Time Tunnel had an hour of baby songs the morning after.
Viking FM presenter Rosie Madison met the Duchess of Cornwall in Bridlington and presented her with a special gift for the new proud parents, William & Kate. It was a song recorded by breakfast duo Jim & Rosie and sounded something like:
Jim Coulson from Viking FM’s Breakfast Show said: “Once we knew the Royal baby was on the way, we decided to make him a special present…something that he’ll enjoy when he’s a little older. Then our listeners suggested that we should hand deliver to Camilla whilst she was in Bridlington, which was a challenge Rosie accepted. I was as surprised as anyone that Rosie actually managed to pass on to the Duchess!”
Sun FM Sunderland has these special baby grows made:
Star Radio Cambridge is on stand by to re-brand to the name of the baby. Once announced, the station will be known under the new name for a week. One wonders what will happen if it’s called JACK?
At Capital Yorkshire, Hirsty, Danny & JoJo have been running a Royal Baby sweepstake with listeners guessing the day the baby would be born and its weight. The closest entries won flights with Monarch from Leeds/Bradford Airport.
talkSPORT suggested the Royal baby would be named after breakfast host Alan Brazil and created this photo:
On Classic FM, John Suchet opened The Hall of Fame Hour the morning after with Handel’s Zadok the Priest – the piece of music that’s traditionally performed at every royal coronation.
Advertisers were also getting in on the act with specially made commercials airing shortly after the news was announced. The Co-op produced a series of ads which played on stations owned by Global, Bauer, Real & Smooth and Absolute Radio.
Have we missed the bit about what your station did? Keep us informed via news@tmssvr.co.uk
Posted on Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 at 1:34 pm by RadioToday UK