Nation Radio UK is a quasi-national radio station in the UK, broadcasting online and on DAB. It is owned and operated by
Nation Broadcasting.
The digital station was launched in June 2016 as Thames Radio with a line-up of former
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 ...
and
Capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
presenters such as breakfast host
Neil Fox, Dean Martin,
Tony Blackburn
Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years.
Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...
,
Alex Lester,
Pat Sharp
Patrick Sharpin known professionally as Pat Sharp, is an English radio presenter, television presenter and DJ. He worked on the children's ITV programme '' Fun House'', was one of the Sky Channel's VJs and presented the Coca-Cola Eurochart T ...
and Neil Francis, with all presenters broadcasting from 'virtual studios' (as Thames Radio had no physical studio premises of its own).
In June 2017, Thames Radio dropped all of its presenters and became a non-stop music station, until changing its name to Nation Radio in June 2018. This was because the company behind Thames Radio had acquired a radio licence from Rock Radio Scotland (which was being unused) and wanted to launch a more 'national' service which would also include a station in Wales in time.
In 2021, DJs broadcasting on Nation Radio UK included Russ Williams and Neil Francis, with Mike Read broadcasting ''The Heritage Chart'' every Sunday at 5pm.
In May 2022, broadcaster Greg Burns joined Nation Radio UK. Burns presents the weekday drive programme and weekend breakfast.
In April 2025, broadcaster Roberto joined the Nation network hosting breakfast on Nation 80s and weekday evenings on Nation Radio UK.
As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 171,000, 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 ...
.
Presenters
Current presenters
* Tim Allen
* Gary Parker
*
Neil Fox
*
Mark Collins
* Tony Shepherd
* Tony Dibbin
* Roberto
* Greg Burns
* Neil Greenslade
* Steve Power
* Mark Franklin
Former presenters
* Dave Brown
* Russ Williams
* Paul Newman
*
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.
Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for mus ...
* Adam English
*
Neil Francis
* Dean Martin
List of stations
As of April 2025, Nation Radio broadcasts across 7 regional stations with a mix of networked and regional programming.
Nation Radio UK shares programming to these stations outside of their regional shows.
Spin-offs
Nation Radio consists of 11 spin-off stations, powered by TuneIN available on the Nation Player app, and in some areas across the UK on DAB.
References
External links
*
{{coord missing, London
Radio stations in London
Radio stations established in 2016
Radio stations established in 2018
Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom
Nation Broadcasting