BBC Radio Newcastle is the BBC's local radio station serving

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, the neighbouring

metropolitan boroughs A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolit ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

and north east

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. It broadcasts on FM,

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * '' Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dą ...

, digital TV and via

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tabl ...

from BBC studios on Barrack Road,

. According to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was call ...

, the station has a weekly audience of 195,000 listeners and a 4.3% share as of September 2022.

Technical

The Pontop Pike transmitter broadcasts the strongest signal on . This transmitter, one of the first in the country, provides

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as publishe ...

and parts of Wearside with national radio frequencies, terrestrial television,

BBC National DAB BBC National DAB is a digital audio broadcasting multiplex in the UK, for a number of radio stations which have UK wide coverage. The multiplex is owned and operated by the BBC and is transmitted from a number of transmitter sites across the c ...

and

Digital One Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It conta ...

. The frequency from

Chatton Chatton is a village in Northumberland, in England. It is roughly to the east of Wooler. History Chatton has been occupied for many centuries. There has been a church on the site since the twelfth century. There is evidence of occupation i ...

covers most of the populated areas of east

. The other two FM transmitters are much weaker. The Fenham transmitter, for west Newcastle and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

is situated close to the studios on Barrack Road. It also broadcasts television, national radio,

, the MXR North East 12C multiplex,

Heart North East Heart North East is a regional radio broadcasting, radio station owned and operated by Global Group, Global as part of the Heart (radio network), Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. ...

on 96.2,

Metro Radio Metro Radio is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. As of September 2022, the ...

on 103 and

Capital North East Capital North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne. The station launched on 1 June 1999 as Galaxy 105–106, ren ...

on 105.6. The DAB signal comes mainly from

Burnhope Burnhope is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is located in the Craghead valley on the opposite side to Stanley and has 1,564 inhabitants, as measured in the 2011 census. Burnhope overlooks Lanchester in the Brown ...

(near

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

), and also from Fenham (lower power), on the Bauer Digital Radio multiplex. In addition, BBC Radio Newcastle also broadcasts on

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

TV channel 719 and streams online via

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC Radio Newcastle's studios from 6am - 1am each day. The station's late show, airing from 10pm - 1am, is simulcast every night on

BBC Radio Tees BBC Radio Tees is the BBC's local radio station serving the former county of Cleveland which comprises the unitary authorities of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and ...

and on

BBC Radio Cumbria BBC Radio Cumbria is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cumbria. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in Carlisle. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 71,000 listener ...

on Fridays. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Newcastle simulcasts overnight programming from

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...

and

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...

Presenters

The station's team of sports commentators includes Gary Bennett,

Marco Gabbiadini Marco Gabbiadini (; born 20 January 1968) is an English former footballer whose career lasted 18 years from 1985 to 2003. He played for 12 different clubs, scoring a total of 226 league goals. Playing career York City Gabbiadini was born on ...

, Matthew Raisbeck and John Anderson.

BBC Radio Sunderland

In January 2021, BBC Radio Sunderland launched as a temporary sister station. The service provided eight hours of opt-out programming for listeners in Sunderland and the surrounding area each weekday until March 2021.

Notable former presenters

* Alex Hall * Lisa Shaw (deceased) *

Frank Wappat Frank Wappat (17 February 1930 – 17 February 2014) was an English radio personality, disc jockey and singer from Hebburn, County Durham. He worked with The Premier Band, Bobby Thompson (comedian), Bobby Thompson, Renato Pagliari (of Renée and ...

* Sue Sweeney * Paddy MacDee *

Kathy Secker Kathy Secker (born Catherine Barnfather ; 18 February 1945 – 15 December 2015) was a British broadcaster, best known for her work at Tyne Tees Television and BBC Radio Newcastle. During her early broadcasting career at Tyne Tees (1976-1984) she ...

Alfie Joey Alfie Joey is a writer, comic, actor, impressionist, singer, presenter, and artist/cartoonist. He hosted the flagship breakfast show on BBC Radio Newcastle from 2009, until his last show on 28 October 2022. He was nominated Best Compère at th ...

References

External links

*
media.info - BBC Radio Newcastle

Chatton transmitter

Fenham transmitter

Newton transmitter

Pontop Pike transmitter (including coverage map)
{{Radio stations in North East England

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Mass media in Newcastle upon Tyne Radio stations in North East England Radio stations established in 1971 1971 establishments in England