BBC Radio Suffolk
City | Ipswich |
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Broadcast area | Suffolk |
Frequency | 95.5 MHz, 95.9 MHz, 103.9 MHz & 104.6 MHz |
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 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.
Transmitters
The Manningtree frequency is the strongest. The 470ft 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 1233kHz, 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 or DAB signal. A mast at Sudbury (near Assington), which is the main TV transmitter for South Suffolk, has the NOW Digital Essex 12D multiplex, which has BBC Essex, even though the mast is in Suffolk. (However the broadcasts are directional). The mast at Oulton/Lowestoft, and one near the Suffolk border at Thetford have the NOW Digital Norfolk 11B multiplex, which has Radio Norfolk.
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
External links
- BBC Radio Suffolk at BBC Online
- History of local radio in Suffolk.
- Transmitter Coverage Maps.
- Aldeburgh transmitter.
- Great Barton transmitter.
- Manningtree transmitter (includes coverage map).
- BBC Radio Suffolk Gadget Man.
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