From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BBC Radio 4
|
|
City of license
| London
|
---|
Broadcast area
| United Kingdom
|
---|
Frequency
| FM
: 92?95
MHz
, 103?105 MHz
LW
: 198
kHz
MW
: 603 kHz, 720 kHz, 774 kHz, 756 kHz, 1449 kHz, 1485 kHz
DAB
: 12B
Freesat
: 704
(FM)
, 710
(LW)
Freeview
: 704
(FM)
Sky
(UK only)
: 0104
(FM)
, 0143
(LW)
Virgin Media
: 904
(FM)
, 911
(LW)
Virgin Media Ireland
: 910
(FM)
|
---|
First air date
| 30 September 1967
; 56 years ago
(
1967-09-30
)
|
Format
|
News
,
talk
,
comedy
and
drama
|
Former callsigns
| BBC Home Service
|
Owner
|
BBC
|
Sister stations
| BBC Radio 4 Extra
|
---|
Website
| BBC Radio 4
|
BBC Radio 4
is a domestic
UK
radio station
that broadcasts different spoken-word programmes including
news
,
drama
,
comedy
,
science
and
history
. It replaced the
BBC Home Service
in 1967.
[1]
Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station after
Radio 2
. It was named "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2008
Sony Radio Academy Awards
,
[2]
an award it had also won in 2003
[3]
and 2004.
[4]
Radio 4 costs
£
71.4 million a year,
[5]
and is the BBC's most expensive national radio network. Many people think of it as the corporation's flagship. There is currently no commercial network like it in the UK, although there are similar publicly owned stations in such countries as Sweden (
Sveriges Radio P1
) and Australia (
Radio National
).
Music
and
sport
are the only subjects that generally fall outside the station's coverage. There are occasional concerts on Radio 4, and ball-by-ball commentaries of most
test matches
played by England
cricket
are broadcast on
longwave
. Because the longwave service can be received clearly at sea around the coasts of
Britain
and
Ireland
, Radio 4 also carries
regular weather forecasts for shipping
and gale warnings.
[6]
The station has also been designated as the UK's national broadcaster in times of national emergency such as a war, meaning that even if all other radio stations were forced to close, Radio 4 would still carry on broadcasting.
The current controller of Radio 4 is
Gwyneth Williams
. She is also in charge of its sister station
BBC Radio 4 Extra
.