BBC Radio Scotland

BBC Radio Scotland
City Glasgow
Broadcast area Scotland
Frequency

FM: 92.8-94.7 MHz
MW: 810 kHz
DAB
Freeview: 719 (Scotland only)
Freesat: 712
Sky (UK only): 0116
Virgin Media: 930

RDS: BBC SCOT
First air date 23 November 1978
Format News, music, sport, talk
Audience share 7.9% (April 2015, [1])
Owner BBC,
BBC Scotland
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland

BBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 1978.

History

Main article: BBC Home Service

BBC Radio Scotland was founded as a full-time radio network on 23 November 1978.[2] Previously it was possible only to opt out of Radio 4, and the service was known as Radio 4 Scotland or, formally on air, as "BBC Scotland Radio 4". The establishment of a separate network was made possible when Radio 4 became a fully UK-wide network and moved from medium wave to long wave and new VHF (FM) transmitters were brought into service so that Radio 4 and Radio Scotland no longer had to share on FM.

Programmes

The station broadcasts a wide range of programming, including news, debate, music, drama, comedy and sports.

News and current affairs

News and current affairs programming has always constituted the dominant part of BBC Radio Scotland's schedules, especially on weekdays. In addition to regular, mostly hourly, news bulletins, the station broadcasts a wide range of longer, more in-depth news and current affairs strands.

Good Morning Scotland (weekdays, 0600–0900) is Scotland's longest-running radio programme and one of the most popular in the country, providing regular news, sport, business, travel and weather bulletins along with interviews and in-depth reports in a manner similar to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, but from a Scottish perspective. It also features the daily religious slot Thought for the Day, again similar to that broadcast on Radio 4's Today programme.

The other daily news and current affairs strands are the Morning Call phone-in with Kaye Adams and Louise White (0900-1200), John Beattie (1200–1330) and Newsdrive (1600–1830). BBC Radio Scotland also air live First Ministers Questions from the Scottish Parliament (Thu,1200-1230 (MW)) and Brian Taylor's Big Debate hosted by BBC Scotland's political editor and is in a similar format to Question Time (Fri, 1215–1300).

Weekend current affairs programming includes weekend editions of Good Morning Scotland (0800-1000), Shereen (Sat, 1000–1200) and Business Scotland (Sat, 0600-0630, repeated Sun, 0730–0800). During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Scotland simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live overnight.

Music

Radio Scotland's music output is designed to cater for a wide range of tastes. Daily programmes include The Janice Forsyth Show (1400–1600), Get It On (1830–2100 (FM)) and The Iain Anderson Show (2300–0100).

From Monday to Friday, the 2100–2300 slot on FM is held by various music programmes through the week. On Monday, Vic Galloway hosts new bands and new music. Tuesday is home to Another Country with Ricky Ross. The Jazz House on Wednesday presents a range of jazz music and on Thursdays Edith Bowman presents The Quay Sessions featuring live music from the foyer of BBC Radio Scotland. Repeats of Another Country and The Jazz House are broadcast on Friday evenings.

Weekend programming includes Ricky Ross (Sun, 1000–1200) with music and celebrity guests, Take the Floor (Sat, 1900–2100) and Reel Blend with cèilidh music, Pipeline (Sat, 2100–2200) with piping music, Travelling Folk (Sun, 1900-2100) which features traditional music old and new, Classics Unwrapped (Sun, 2100-2300) and Music Through Midnight with Billy Sloan (Sat, 2200-0100 and Sun, 2300-0100).

Sport

As with BBC Radio 5 Live nationally, BBC Radio Scotland carries most of the major sporting events linked to its coverage area, holding non-exclusive rights to the Scottish Premier League and producing several editions of its Sportsound programme on a multitude of frequencies on Saturdays during the season. The station also broadcasts live commentaries from both of Scotland's domestic football cup competitions, Scotland football internationals and European games affecting Scottish teams and the rugby union Six Nations championships.

Alongside the main live coverage, Radio Scotland also produces popular sporting magazine shows such as football fanzine Off the Ball and the multi-sports programme Sports Nation, presented by former Scotland rugby player, John Beattie. Every weekday evening during the football season, Sportsound also broadcasts on MW, 1810–19.00, looking at different aspects of Scottish football in tandem with live games.

Local opt-outs

BBC Radio Orkney and BBC Radio Shetland both air a half-hour daily news programme - Around Orkney (0730–0800) and Good Evening Shetland (1730–1800). During the winter months, this is supplemented for both areas by an hour-long programme, broadcast Monday-Friday, between 1805–1900.

Local news and weather bulletins are broadcast from news studios in Selkirk, Dumfries, Aberdeen and Inverness on weekdays at 0630, 0730, 0830, 1230, 1630 and 1730.

Presenters

Radio Scotland presenters include:

News

Travel

  • Debbie Oates
  • Gillian Smart (also Weather Presenter)
  • Theresa Talbot (also News and The Beechgrove Potting Shed Presenter)
  • Anne-Marie Watson

Sport

Music

Lifestyle, features and documentaries

Past presenters

Heads of Radio, Scotland

The title "Head of Radio, Scotland" was applied to cover not only the Radio Scotland service but also BBC Scotland's radio productions for other networks.

Years served H.R.S.
19781979 John Pickles
19801983 Christopher Irwin
19831987 Stan Taylor
19871992 Neil Fraser
19921996 James Boyle
19962000 Ken MacQuarrie ("Head of Broadcast")
20002005 Maggie Cunningham
2005present Jeff Zycinski

References

External links

Coordinates: 55°51′29″N 4°17′27″W / 55.8580°N 4.2909°W / 55.8580; -4.2909

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