Radio station in Stoke-on-Trent
BBC Radio Stoke
is the
BBC's local radio station
serving
Staffordshire
and South
Cheshire
.
It broadcasts on
FM
,
DAB
,
Freeview
and via
BBC Sounds
from studios in the
Hanley
area of
Stoke-on-Trent
.
According to
RAJAR
, the station has a weekly audience of 118,000 listeners and an 8.9% share as of December 2023.
[1]
Overview
[
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]
The station began broadcasting on 14 March 1968 as
BBC Radio Stoke-on-Trent
.
Both of the English counties the station covers have no
BBC local radio
station for their whole area. In Staffordshire, the south is covered by
BBC Radio WM
, the
east
by
BBC Radio Derby
and the west by
BBC Radio Shropshire
. In
Cheshire
, north-western areas are served by
BBC Radio Merseyside
and the north-east by
BBC Radio Manchester
. The BBC has mooted at the possibility of launching a stand-alone station for Cheshire, but they have never been taken forward.
The station broadcasts from its studios on Cheapside in
Hanley
, the biggest of the six towns that make up the city of
Stoke-on-Trent
. There are also studios and offices in
Crewe
,
Leek
and
Stafford
.
The current Managing Editors are Alistair Miskin and Tim Beech.
Technical
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]
Radio Stoke transmits on 94.6 MHz
FM
from the 140 feet (43 m)
Alsagers Bank
transmitter, which is two miles west of
Newcastle-under-Lyme
, close to the
M6
. The signal is clear in most of the area, except in some parts of the
Staffordshire Moorlands
(
Cheadle
in particular) and
Stafford
(which has its own relay).
The 104.1 MHz FM frequency is heard in Stafford and the transmitter is on the roof of the County Education building in the town.
DAB
signals come from the
Stoke & Stafford
12D multiplex from Alsagers Bank,
Pye Green
(near
Hednesford
),
Sutton Common
(between
Congleton
and
Macclesfield
in
Cheshire
), and Tick Hill (strongest power, south-east of the junction of the A520 and
A52
near the
Foxfield Steam Railway
between
Cookshill
and Godleybrook). The
Sideway
transmitter is right next to the
A500 D Road
, just south of the
A50
junction.
The station also broadcasts on
Freeview
TV channel 726 in the
BBC West Midlands
and
BBC North West
regions and streams online via
BBC Sounds
.
FM tuning details
[
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]
Transmitter
|
Frequency (
MHz
)
|
Polarization
|
Power (
watts
)
|
Alsagers Bank
|
94.6
|
Mixed
|
6,100
|
Stafford
|
104.1
|
Vertical
|
70
|
Programming
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]
Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's
Stoke-on-Trent
studios from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day.
The station's late show, airing from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., originates from
BBC Radio WM
in
Birmingham
.
During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Stoke simulcasts overnight programming from
BBC Radio 5 Live
and
BBC Radio London
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"RAJAR"
. RAJAR
. Retrieved
27 September
2015
.
External links
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]
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UK stations
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International stations
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Defunct stations
and services
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Relays
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National services
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Related topics
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