Plymouth Sound: 40th anniversary planned
From a press release to news@media.info
Posted 23 April 2015, 3.00am edt
The stars of the airways and those that kept them on the air are being sought as former staff of a city radio station prepare to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its first ever broadcast.
On 19 May 1975, to the strains of Cat Stevens’ Morning Has Broken, Plymouth Sound started broadcasting from studios in a former organ factory at Earl’s Acre in the city. The creation of a dedicated radio station for Plymouth was driven by the radio pioneer Bob Hussell, the station’s first Managing Director.
Plymouth Sound was one of the earliest Independent Local Radio stations in the UK and the first to begin broadcasting in the West Country, before Exeter’s Devon Air and BBC Radio Devon. Over the years the station built up a loyal listenership in the city and surrounding areas and during its time on-air saw many city milestones – sailors returning from the Falklands War, the Dingles fire, the Eclipse of 1999 and the dawn of the new Millennium.
In 2009 the station was re-branded as Heart Plymouth. It was amalgamated into Heart Devon in 2010 and broadcasting was moved to Exeter. It's now Heart South West.
Now former employees of Plymouth Sound want to get together to unofficially celebrate the station with a special evening reunion to be held in the city in May and are calling for anyone who worked at the station from 1975 until 2009 to get in touch. They are being encouraged to share their photographs and memories of being part of the city institution on a special anniversary website.
They are also looking to find a very special person who played a big role in the first day’s broadcast. The cries of the ‘Plymouth Sound Baby’ - the first baby born in the city on 19 May 1975 – were heard during the very first programme. Matthew Miller was born at 4.50am at Freedom Fields Hospital to mum Marlene Miller, weighing in at 7lbs 13oz. The organizers of the reunion are keen to hear from him to make sure he is there to celebrate on the night.
For more information or to get in touch visit: http://www.plymouthsound40.com or email plymsound40@gmail.com