BBC Radio Suffolk

BBC Radio Suffolk
City Ipswich
Broadcast area Suffolk
Frequency 95.5 MHz, 95.9 MHz, 103.9 MHz & 104.6 MHz. 720 Freeview. 10C DAB
First air date 12 April 1990
Format Local news, talk and music
Language(s) English
Audience share 11.7% (June 2012, )
Owner BBC Local Radio,
BBC East
Website www.bbc.co.uk/radiosuffolk

BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Suffolk, commencing broadcasts on 12 April 1990. Its studios are at Broadcasting House in St Matthews Street, Ipswich. The station broadcasts on 95.5 (Oulton, near Lowestoft), 95.9 (Aldeburgh), 103.9 (Manningtree) and 104.6 (Great Barton, four miles north-east of Bury St Edmunds near the B1106 and Conyers Green) FM. In 2004, Radio Suffolk was named Station of the Year in the Sony Radio Academy Awards.[1] It is available in parts of Suffolk on DAB 10C and from Sudbury and Tacolneston television transmitterson Freeview, channel 720.

Transmitters

The Manningtree frequency is the strongest. The 154.4 metre (507 ft)[2] antenna mast transmitter is just south of Manningtree, in Essex, and is also one of the BBC Essex MW transmitters. However, the BBC Radio Suffolk broadcasts are directional. It also has Absolute Radio on 1233 kHz, BBC national FM, BBC National DAB and Digital One. The Great Barton transmitter also has Heart FM East Anglia on 96.4FM. The Oulton transmitter also has The Beach on 103.4FM and Digital One (since 16 December 2005). The 95.9FM frequency, from the Aldeburgh mast, is only recent and had to be approved by the Netherlands government in case of interference in the Netherlands. The mast also has TV channels. There is no MW frequency. DAB signal is on 10C from Mendlesham, Puttock's Hill and Warren Heath (Testing started 30 September 2016). Felixstowe will have the DAB mast switched on during October 2016. Due to the few masts available, there is a lack of coverage towards the Suffolk Coast north of Felixstowe, Sudbury, Newmarket, Haverhill and Beccles & Bungay also have very poor or no DAB coverage.

From June 6, 2016, BBC Radio Suffolk will also be available on Freeview and YouView channel 720 as part of the nationwide roll out of BBC local radio stations on Freeview.[3] This will be from the Sudbury and Tacolneston transmitter groups only, covering the same area as Look East (East). The station is also expected to appear on DAB when the local DAB multiplex for Suffolk launches later in 2016 making the last BBC local radio to go on dab in Country.

Programming

The majority of the station's programming is produced and broadcast from Ipswich. During off-peak hours, BBC Radio Suffolk also carries regional programming for the East, produced from sister stations BBC Radio Norfolk, BBC Essex, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Radio Northampton. As with all BBC Local Radio stations, it also airs the networked weekday evening shows, originating from BBC Radio Leeds and produced independently by Wire Free Productions. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Suffolk simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live overnight.

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.