This is taken from theguardian.com, Thursday 22 May 2014 15.54 BST

Bob Gunnell
by Neil Gunnell

My father, Bob Gunnell, who has died aged 87, was a broadcaster and a pillar of cultural life in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex.

Born in Hove, the son of Bertram, an upholsterer, and Kate, a nurse, Bob went to Hove county grammar school. He joined the BBC in his late teens, getting a job at a local transmitter station. This led to him joining the radio studios of the BBC in London, where he later became a producer and regular broadcaster for programmes including Home This Afternoon. In 1967 Bob was founder manager of BBC Radio Brighton (now BBC Sussex), one of the first eight experimental BBC local radio stations. To his mind, the role of the local community was central to both the running and the nature of this station.

Bob was an independent member of Hove borough council for some years and a magistrate, and in the 1970s became chairman of the Brighton Philharmonic Society. He also served on the East Sussex branch of the Arts Council, before in 1974 becoming founder chairman of the Brighton and Hove Arts Council. He was closely involved with the development of the Brighton festival.

After his retirement from the BBC in 1982, Bob became a lecturer in radio techniques at colleges in Redhill, Surrey, and Portsmouth, Hampshire, and assisted Brighton Technical College in setting up courses in both radio techniques and journalism. He was involved in making radio programmes dealing with the concerns and activities of older people, served as chairman of the Brighton and Hove U3A, and was a council representative for two wards of Brighton Older People's council.

He established annual luncheons for Brighton and Lewes retired magistrates; served as a trustee and vice-president for the Springboard music, speech and drama festival; and worked as venue secretary of the local branch of the National Decorative and Fine Arts Societies.

Bob is survived by his second wife, Anne, whom he married in 1973; by two sons, Terry and me, from his first marriage, to Eve who died in 1971; and by four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.