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

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

. 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 Abington Street in

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

. 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 70,000 listeners and a 4.0% share as of December 2023.

History

The station was launched at 6:45am on 16 June 1982 on 1107 AM and 96.6 FM, with Jon Beynon's programme ''Start the Day'', the first piece of music being

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

's ''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

'' theme, followed by ''Work That Body'' by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

. The first

outside broadcast Outside or Outsides may refer to: * Wilderness Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * Outside (magazine), ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, theatre and TV * Outside TV (formerly RSN Television), a televi ...

followed on 17 June 1982, and the official opening was performed by

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard Alexander Walter George; born 26 August 1944) is a member of the British royal family. He is the second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, the youngest ...

. The station was renamed ''BBC Northampton'' in 1990, but then reverted to BBC Radio Northampton on 3 April 2000.

Technical

The station has two FM transmitters. The 104.2 FM frequency broadcasts from the Boughton Green Road area of

and covers the south and west of the county (including Northampton and surrounding area). The 103.6 FM frequency broadcasts from a mast near the village of Geddington and covers the north and east of the county (including

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

and

Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

). The station began DAB broadcasts on 28 March 2013 from the NOW Northampton Digital multiplex. The DAB transmitters are located at Northampton, Geddington, Towcester Potcote Farm, and

Daventry Daventry ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, Daventry had a populati ...

. The transmitter at Daventry on Borough Hill was the BBC's first

long wave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, datin ...

transmitter, which began broadcasting on 27 July 1925. It had not been previously used by the BBC since 1978. The station also broadcasts on Freeview TV channel 716 in the BBC East, BBC East Midlands and BBC South regions. It also streams online via

. The station was originally available on 1107 kHz

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 ...

across the county from a transmitter at Kings Heath; this was reallocated to Virgin Radio using 1233 kHz. Listeners in some southwestern parts of Northamptonshire, including Brackley, cannot receive FM signals that broadcast BBC Radio Northampton. However, those areas receive better FM signals from the

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

transmitter which broadcasts BBC Radio Oxford on 95.2 FM.

DAB licence

On 11 October 2007, the DAB licence was awarded to NOW Digital. MuxCo had also bid for the licence. NOW Digital expected to start broadcasting from the three transmitters at

, Geddington and

in September 2008, however transmissions eventually began on 28 March 2013 on DAB channel 10C. From February 2015,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

approved the separation of the

multiplex from the

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

and

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

multiplex, resulting in the removal of BBC Radio Northampton from the Herts, Beds and Bucks multiplex.

Sports coverage

BBC Radio Northampton airs extensive sports coverage, led by Sports Editor Graham McKechnie. Football commentators include Tim Oglethorpe, Martin Smith and Terry Angus for Northampton Town, Peter Short for Kettering Town, Chris Barrett at Brackley / Rushden and Chuck Middleton at Corby. McKechnie commentates on Northampton Saints rugby with Lennie Newman and Ian Hunter. Northants Steelbacks cricket commentators include McKechnie, Andrew Radd, Mal Loye and Phil Rowe. Matches are covered on FM, DAB or both, with additional coverage on-line. The station broadcasts four weekly sports shows from 6 pm to 7 pm, these include 'The Saints Show' on Wednesday presented by McKechnie and Newman, focusing on a guest from Northampton Saints and 'The Cobblers Show' presented by Jake Sharpe on Thursday.

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's

studios from 6 am to 2 pm on Mondays to Fridays. All other programming became regional or national in 2023; much of this is broadcast from the studios of BBC Three Counties Radio. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Northampton 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

* Fi Glover – British journalist and presenter who currently hosts a two hour show for Times Radio and the ''Off Air'' podcast. * Liz Kershaw – former breakfast show presenter; 2002, 2005–2010. Went on to be a presenter on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

. * Stuart Linnell – veteran radio & TV presenter, former presenter of the breakfast and drivetime shows, also heard on BBC CWR. * Roger Mosey – delivered the very first news bulletin. Later to become Head of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Television News and Director of the Beijing 2008 and

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Olympic Games coverage. * Howard Stableford – went on to present the BBC television series '' Tomorrow's World'' * Martin Stanford – one of the station's original producer/presenters, Martin went on to spend over 25 years with

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

. He is now a presenter at

LBC News LBC News is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Global. The sister station of LBC, it broadcasts rolling news 24 hours a day nationwide on DAB and Global Player. The station used to broadcast on analogue radio in Greater Lon ...

ViLoR

ViLoR (Virtual Local Radio) is the name of a BBC project that uses computer virtualisation and audio-over-IP to reduce the amount of equipment at a radio station. In 2014, BBC Radio Northampton became the first station to operate in this way. ViLoR has been implemented at all BBC Local Radio stations (except BBC Radio Manchester and

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the BBC Local Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London. It broadcasts on FM broadcasting, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Langham Plac ...

References

External links

*
History of local radio in Northamptonshire
{{DEFAULTSORT:BBC Radio Northampton

Mass media in Northamptonshire Northampton Kettering Rushden Wellingborough Radio stations in Northamptonshire Radio stations established in 1982 1982 establishments in England