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

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, 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 metropol ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

and north east

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is an Over-the-top media service, over-the-top audio streaming media, streaming and download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, Streaming media, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide ...

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 c ...

, the station has a weekly audience of 234,000 listeners and a 4.6% share as of March 2025.

Technical

The Pontop Pike transmitter broadcasts the station's strongest FM signal on 95.4 MHz. The 96 MHz frequency from Chatton covers most of the populated areas of east

. The Newton transmitter broadcasts the 103.7 MHz frequency. The Fenham transmitter, broadcasting the 104.4 MHz frequency, is situated close to the studios on Barrack Road and covers West

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

and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

. 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 Brow ...

(near

Consett Consett is a town in the County Durham (district), County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of County Durham, 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 ...

), and also from Fenham (lower power), on the Bauer Digital Radio multiplex. The station 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 711 and streams online via

BBC Radio Sunderland

In January 2021, BBC Radio Sunderland was launched as a temporary sister station. The service provided eight hours of opt-out programming for listeners in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and the surrounding area each weekday until March 2021.

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's

studios from 6am to 2pm weekdays and for sports coverage, including Total Sport every weeknight from 6pm-8pm. Weekend programming from 6 am to 6pm and the Monday and Thursday evening programmes also broadcast locally. BBC Radio Newcastle carries the England-wide late show. 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. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

. The weekday afternoon show broadcasts from

BBC Radio Tees BBC Radio Tees, formerly known as BBC Radio Teesside, BBC Radio Cleveland and then BBC Tees, is a BBC local radio station broadcasting from Broadcasting House, Newport Road, Middlesbrough. It broadcasts to parts of County Durham and North Yor ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Notable presenters

Anna Foster Anna Foster (born 1979) is an English journalist, news reporter and presenter. Since 2025, she has presented the Today programme and presents and reports on location for BBC News. Previously, she presented ''Drive'' and other programming on BBC ...

* Marian Foster ( Garden Mania) * Ingrid Hagemann * Alex Hall * Railton Howes * Alfie Joey * Anne Leuchars * Paddy MacDee *

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

* Lisa Shaw * Sue Sweeney * Frank Wappat * Simon Logan, Simon Logan's Fantastic 80s

Sports commentators

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

Marco Gabbiadini Marco Gabbiadini (born 20 January 1968) is an English former professional association football, 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 ...

and Matthew Raisbeck.

References

External links

*
History of local radio in Tyneside and Northumberland
{{Radio stations in North East England

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