Dr Liam McCarthy

After a thirty year career as a journalist in the BBC during which I was Managing Editor of BBC Radios Leicester Sheffield and Nottingham and Head of BBC Local Radio Training I came to study Contemporary History at the University of Leicester in 2010. After undergraduate study I completed my Research Masters on the impact of US soldiers in Leicester in WW2 in 2016 and have recently completed my Midlands Four Cities/AHRC PhD. My PhD titled ‘Connecting with New Asian Communities: BBC local radio 1967-1990’ is available on the University of Leicester research drive at https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.11798622

I am writing a book based on my PhD research titled 'Finding a New British Asian Sound: BBC local radio 1967-1990'. It will explore how the deep connections between BBC local radio in England and the South Asian diaspora led to the establishment of a new 'British Asian' sound.

I am using my MRes research on the American race riots in Leicester in 1944 between African American and white GIs as a basis for further publications.

I am conducting further research on post-war Leicester and particularly the impact of immigration on the city and county. This is pertinent with the approach of the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of Ugandan Asians to Leicester in the Autumn of 2022.

I am also undertaking historical and contemporary research on BBC local radio and its place on the fringes of the BBC.

(0)

McCarthy, L, 'BBC Radio Leicester in 1976: Kick Starting British Asian Radio', Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 25.2, November 2018, pp. 269-283.

McCarthy, L., 'Bottom Up: Rebuilding the BBC', in Mair J., (Ed.), The BBC: a Winter of Discontent, (Bite-Sized; London, 2020).

McCarthy, L., 'Levelling Up: Making the BBC Personally Relevant Again', in Mair J., (Ed.), The BBC at Nearly 100: Will it Survive?, (Bite-Sized; London, 2021).

McCarthy, L., 'The Leicester Mercury: Race on the Front Page': Working Paper, (May 2021) at https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.14685843.v1

McCarthy, L., 'The National Front and BNP in Leicester and Leicestershire': Working Paper, (June 2021), at https://doi.org/10.25392/leicester.data.14685870.v1

.

-

-

BBC local radio and its place within the BBC and local media market places.

The political response to South Asian immigration to Leicester in the 1960s and 1970s.

Asian broadcasting on BBC local radio.