Radio station in Reading
BBC Radio Berkshire
is the
BBC's local radio station
serving the county of
Berkshire
and surrounding areas. It broadcasts on
FM
,
DAB
, digital TV and via
BBC Sounds
. It has studios at
Thames Valley Park
near
Reading
.
According to
RAJAR
, the station has a weekly audience of 73,000 listeners and a 2.5% share as of December 2023.
[1]
History
[
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]
BBC Radio Berkshire was launched on 21 January 1992 as a part-time station, broadcasting for part of the weekday and weekend mornings with
BBC Radio Oxford
carried at all other times. Due to financial cutbacks, BBC Director-General
John Birt
announced that the station was to fully merge with BBC Radio Oxford on 9 April 1996 to become
BBC Thames Valley FM
. On 14 February 2000, the two stations became separate once again.
In November 2018, BBC Radio Berkshire moved from
Caversham Park
House ? which the station shared with
BBC Monitoring
? to new purpose-built studios at
Thames Valley Park
on the outskirts of
Reading
.
Awards
[
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]
BBC Radio Berkshire was named Station of the Year in the 2012
Frank Gillard Awards
, also winning in the Sports Coverage category for its coverage of
Olympic rowing
at
Eton Dorney
.
Andrew Peach
won silver in both the Programme Presenter and The Ultimate Hot Seat categories.
[2]
In the 2013
Sony Radio Academy Awards
, the Andrew Peach programme won bronze in the category Breakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million).
[3]
The Andrew Peach Show was named Best Local Radio Show in the UK at the 2021 Radio Academy ARIA Awards.
Technical
[
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]
The
Hannington transmitter
for BBC Radio Berkshire's 104.1
FM
frequency is located on Cottington Hill (close to
Watership Down
). The 104.1 FM signal can be heard over most of
Hampshire
, certainly more than
BBC Radio Solent
. The 104.4 FM signal comes from the Fountain House transmitter in
Reading
. The 94.6 FM signal comes from the
Henley-on-Thames
transmitter. The 95.4 FM signal comes from the
Windsor
transmitter.
Since 31 July 2004,
DAB
broadcasts have come from the
NOW Digital
Berkshire & North Hampshire 12D multiplex
from Coppid Beech (at the junction of the B3408 and
A329(M)
in west
Bracknell
),
Hannington
and Hemdean (just north of
Caversham
). The
Basingstoke
DAB transmitter (between
Cliddesden
and
Winslade
near the A339 in Hampshire) was added on 3 October 2005.
Since June 2016, the station has been available on
Freeview
TV channel 719 in the
BBC South
and
BBC London
regions .
[4]
It also streams online via
BBC Sounds
.
Programming
[
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]
Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's
Reading
studios from 6 am to 10 pm on Sundays to Fridays and from 6 am to 6 pm and 8 pm to 10 pm on Saturdays.
Off-peak programming originates from
BBC Radio Solent
in
Southampton
.
During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Berkshire simulcasts overnight programming from
BBC Radio 5 Live
Presenters
[
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]
Notable current presenters
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
51°28′50.52″N
0°57′26.98″W
/
51.4807000°N 0.9574944°W
/
51.4807000; -0.9574944
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