BBC Radio Lancashire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. Originally launched as BBC Radio Blackburn, in 1981 it expanded to cover the whole county and was renamed BBC Radio Lancashire. 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 studios on Darwen Street in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

. 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 136,000 listeners as of May 2025.

Technical

BBC Radio Lancashire broadcasts on three FM transmitters. The 103.9 FM signal, which covers the central and

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

parts of the area, comes high on the Winter Hill transmitter, and its height gives it the greatest coverage over

. The signal can also be picked up nearby in North

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. The station's other FM transmitters cover the eastern part of the county with an additional FM transmitter covering the

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is an estuary in north-west England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest ga ...

area. Beginning on 1 October 2001, the DAB signals have come from the EMAP Digital Central Lancashire 12A multiplex located at Winter Hill and Pendle Forest (near Nelson). The station also broadcasts on Freeview TV channel 712 in the

BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, as well as parts of North Yorkshire (western Craven District, Craven), Derbyshire (western High Peak, Derbyshire, High ...

region and streams online via

. Until 17 May 2021, BBC Radio Lancashire was also broadcasting on

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's

studios from 6 am to 2 pm on Mondays to Fridays and for sports coverage. The station usually broadcasts the whole of the Late Night programme, a programme carried by all BBC Local Radio stations (except in the case of sports coverage), which is broadcast between 10pm and 1am. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Lancashire 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 ...

Presenters

Notable former presenters

* Alan Beswick * Jim Bowen * Gordon Burns * John Gillmore *

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, and author. He co-hosted the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James Ma ...

* Tony Livesey * Andy Peebles * Martin Roberts * Ted Robbins * Norman Thomas

References

External links

*
On the Wire

{{Blackburn with Darwen culture Radio stations established in 1971

Radio stations in Lancashire 1971 establishments in England