Radio Aire began broadcasting at 6am on 1st September 1981 on 362 metres Medium Wave (828 kHz AM) and 94.6 MHz VHF (FM).
It was the first Independent Local Radio station to have studios purposely built for radio transmission. Situated on Burley Road in Leeds, it started out with the aim to entertain people from all age groups.
1981 Test Transmissions
The station was launched by presenter Graham Thornton and the first song played was 'Pilot of the Airwaves' by Charlie Dore.
The first news bulletin was announced by Christa Ackroyd. The original jingle package was produced by Crocodile Music.
The original line-up from 1981 was...
06:00 Graham Thornton
09:00 Eric Smith
12:00 Alex Lester
14.00 Barrie Redfern
17:15 Martin Kelner
Weekend and extra presenters included Mike Hurley, Mike Alexander, Peter Levy, Maggie Mash, Jill Hopkins and Mike Smith with the Sport programmes.
Radio Aire Launch 1981
Radio Aire 1981 Jingles
The line-up had changed by the time the station had celebrated it's first 12 months on air. Eric Smith had been moved onto Breakfast, whilst Peter Levy started to host a new weekday morning show. James Whale had also joined the station to present a new late night talk show.
This is the schedule from late 1982...
05:00 Mike Alexander
06:00 Eric Smith
09:00 Peter Levy
12:00 Bob Preedy
14:00 Alex Lester
16:00 Martin Kelner
19:00 (Various Programmes)
22:00 James Whale
01:00 Closedown
Evening Programming:
19:00
Mon - The Wilford Programme
Tue - Alex Lester's Blues Show
Thu - Andy Kershaw
Fri - Radio Aire Reports
20:00
Mon - Third World Music - Alison Joseph
Tue - The Folk Show - Dave Burland
Wed - Midweek Sport - John Boyd
Thu - The Country Show - Bob Preedy
Fri - The Jazz Programme - John Brown
Weekend & extra presenters included Graham Thornton, Mike Hurley, Dave Silver, Jill Hopkins, John Hendry, Bill Naylor, Mike Smith, Maggie Mash and Ross Dickinson.
The articles below were published in an Independent Local Radio annual for Radio Aire in 1983. Other ILR stations also had their own versions of the annual at the time.
Ross Dickinson had joined the station to present the Early Breakfast Show by this point.
In September 1983, a new jingle package was launched. The line-up had changed slightly by the end of the year.
Radio Aire 1983 Jingles
This is the schedule for 1983...
05:00 Ross Dickinson
0600 Martin Kelner
09:00 Peter Levy
12:00 Dave Silver
15:00 Eric Smith
18:00 Talking Sport
19:00 (Various Programmes)
22:00 James Whale
01:00 Closedown
Evening Programming:
Mon - Third World Music - Derrick Anderson
Tue - The Rock Show - Mike Alexander
Wed - The Folk Show - Dave Burland
Thu - The Blues Show - Andy Kershaw
Fri - The Country Show - Bob Preedy
20:00 (Thu) The Jazz Show - John Brown
Weekend and extra presenters included Mike Hurley, Gerry Raynor, Bob Preedy, Bill Naylor, John Boyd and Alan Greveson.
Christa Ackroyd was promoted to Programme Controller of Radio Aire in 1985, also presenting some weekend shows and the Radio Aire Reports news programme. She saved the station from bankruptcy, by introducing sponsorship.
Christa left Radio Aire in 1989 to join Yorkshire Television (now ITV Yorkshire), where she was co-presenter of Calendar News with Richard Whiteley, then later Mike Morris.
By 2001, Christa had moved on to be a presenter on BBC Look North.
Mark Mardell moved to Independent Radio News in London, then in 1989 he joined the BBC as political correspondent for the Six O'Clock News.
From 1992 to 2000 he was political editor for BBC Newsnight and by 2003, he was chief political correspondent for the BBC Ten O'Clock News.
From 2005, Mark became BBC News Europe editor, followed by BBC News North American editor.
Chris Kiddey later moved to Yorkshire Television, where he is currently part of the ITV Calendar News team.
Other members of the News Team during the 1980's were Clive Settle (currently on BBC Radio Leeds), John Shires (who moved on to ITV Calendar News), Dee Marshall, Jill Hopkins, Helen Boaden and David Robertson.
