Radio enjoys a huge following in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. There are around 600 licensed

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

stations in the country. For a more comprehensive list see

List of radio stations in the United Kingdom This is a list of radio stations in the United Kingdom. National analogue and digital stations This list does not include stations which broadcast on numerous local digital multiplexes or MW licences to achieve near-national coverage. It also feat ...

BBC Radio

The most prominent stations are the national networks operated by the

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 ...

. Five of them are available on analogue radio ( FM and AM) whilst the rest are available on DAB, along with the other five (at 12B, the BBC National multiplex). *

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

broadcasts contemporary pop and rock music output, including live sessions, for a youth audience, with specialist genres and programmes in the evening (FM 97.1 - 99.8 MHz) *

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

broadcasts

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, R&B and

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

, featuring simulcasts on Radio 1 weeknights and Saturday nights. *

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

is the UK's most listened-to radio station, playing classic and contemporary music for an older audience, as well as specialist music programmes in the evening (FM 88.1 - 90.2 MHz) *

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

is a classical music station, broadcasting concerts and operas. At night, it transmits a wide range of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

and radio dramas (FM 90.2 - 92.6 MHz) *

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

is a current affairs and speech station, with news, debate, documentaries, comedy shows and radio dramas. It broadcasts the daily radio soap ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

'', as well as flagship news programmes ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...

'' and ''

The World at One ''The World at One'' (or ''WATO'', pronounced "what-oh") is BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime news and current affairs radio programme, broadcast weekdays from 13:00 to 13:45 and produced by BBC News. The programme describes itself as "Bri ...

'' (FM 92.5 - 94.6 MHz, FM 103.6 – 104.9 MHz and AM 198 kHz) *

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

broadcasts archive comedy, archive drama, archive discussion programmes, archive documentaries and programmes which extend or complement programmes on its sister station. For example, it was the first place where episodes of ''The Archers'' spin off ''

Ambridge Extra ''Ambridge Extra'' is an extension of the long-running radio drama ''The Archers''. It began broadcasting sporadically on the digital radio station BBC Radio 4 Extra from 5 April 2011. The programme ran for five series, before it was "rested". O ...

'' were broadcast. *

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 ...

broadcasts live news and sports commentary with phone-in debates and studio guests (AM 693 kHz, 909 kHz, and 990 kHz) *

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (formerly BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, and specialising in extended live sports coverage. It is a sister station to BBC Radio 5 Live and shares facil ...

is a companion to 5 Live for additional sports events coverage. *

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 ...

transmits predominantly alternative music, with many live sessions. *

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

is aimed at the large

British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British people of Asian people, Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with a population of 5.76 million people or 8.6 ...

community, playing music whilst also broadcasting news and current affairs (AM 828 kHz, *

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

broadcasts international news and current affairs. The BBC also provides 40 local radio services for England and the Channel Islands, as well as stations from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. All are available on FM and DAB and some are also available on AM.

Commercial radio

Also available nationally on analogue radio are two national commercial channels, namely Classic FM ( FM 99.9 MHz—101.9 MHz); and

talkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

(AM 1053 kHz or 1089 kHz in most areas). These stations are also available at 11D or 12A on DAB (on the

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 ...

multiplex). As with the BBC, digital radio has brought about many changes, including the roll-out of local stations such as Radio X,

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

and

Kerrang Radio Kerrang! Radio is a British specialist rock music radio station related to ''Kerrang!'' magazine, broadcast nationally on DAB and online. Launched in 2002, it is owned and operated by Bauer Media and forms part of the Kerrang! Network, which a ...

to other areas of the United Kingdom.

Commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

licences are awarded by

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 ...

, a government body which advertises a licence for an area and holds a so-called ''beauty contest'' to determine which station will be granted permission to broadcast in that area. Stations submit detailed application documents containing their proposed format and the outcome of research to determine the demand for their particular style of broadcast.

Original 106 (Scotland) Original 106 is an Independent Local Radio station owned by DC Thomson and broadcasting to Aberdeenshire, Tayside, and the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and Dunfermline in Scotland, with tailored content, news and advertising for each area. ...

was the last radio station to be granted a licence by

. Most local commercial stations in the United Kingdom broadcast to a city or group of towns within a radius of 20–50 miles, with a second tier of ''regional'' stations covering larger areas such as

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

. The predominant format is

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

, but many other tastes are also catered for, particularly in London and the larger cities, and on digital radio. Rather than operating as independent entities, many local radio stations are owned by large radio groups which generally broadcast the same station on frequencies which used to carry local individual stations with their own station name. They broadcast as a single network with local inserts for news, weather, travel and commercials. The largest operator of radio is

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysal ...

which bought the former media group,

GCap Media GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed on 9 May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index ...

. It owns Classic FM and the

Capital radio network Capital Radio Network is an Australian radio company, which owns stations in Canberra, Goulburn, Cooma, the Snowy Mountains, Gippsland and Perth. The company is a subsidiary of Blyton Group, with Kevin James Blyton as managing director for bo ...

. Other owners are

Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of Bauer Media Group owning brands; Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, Jazz FM, Hits Radio, KISS, Planet Rock, Magic, Kerrang! Radio and Heat Radio. History In early 2008, German ma ...

and

News Broadcasting News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either video production, produced local programming ...

, which mainly own stations that broadcast in highly populated city areas. Many of these stations, including all the BBC stations, are also available via

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...

services.

Community radio

Community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

stations broadcast to a small area, normally within a 3-mile (5 km) radius, and are required by the Act to be

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

organisations, owned by local people, on which the broadcasters are mostly volunteers. They are recognised under the

Communications Act 2003 The Communications Act 2003 (c. 21) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act, which came into force on 25 July 2003, superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new act was the responsibility of Culture Secretary Tessa ...

as a distinct third tier of radio in the United Kingdom. The community radio movement in the United Kingdom was founded in the mid-1970s, broadcasting through

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL) is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofcom ...

s, the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

and

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

. An Access Radio pilot scheme, launched in 2002, gave fifteen stations, including

Resonance FM Resonance 104.4 FM is a London based non-profit community radio station specialising in the arts run by the London Musicians' Collective (LMC). The station is staffed by two permanent staff members, including Chief Executive Officer Peter Lance ...

and ALL FM, trial licences, and this has blossomed into a lively sector, overseen unofficially by the

Community Media Association The Community Media Association (CMA) is the UK membership association for community broadcasting. Founded in 1983 as the Community Radio Association, the name of the organisation was changed in 1997 to the Community Media Association (CMA) to re ...

. The broadcasters predominantly serve an easily defined racial community such as Asian Star Radio in Slough, or a geographically defined community such as Coast FM, Speysound Radio & The Bay Radio. They can also serve religious groups, such as Christian radio station Branch FM in Yorkshire. As well as this, they can also be linked with universities and student unions who run the stations under a community licence, for example Smoke Radio in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Demon FM Demon FM is a student radio station based at De Montfort University in Leicester, England. The station broadcasts online during term time. It was established in 1995 by the Communications Officer of the time, Rob Martin. The first licensed broa ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, and

Spark FM Spark (formerly 107 Spark FM and Spark FM) is a community radio station serving 15- to 30-year-olds in the Sunderland area. Spark carries a variety of content catering for both mainstream and niche musical audiences, specialising in chart hits ...

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 ...

Hospital radio

* Hospital radio * List of hospital radio stations in the UK

Student radio

Student radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

Radio publications

Practical Wireless ''Practical Wireless'' is a British amateur radio magazine, published monthly by Warners Group Publications. History and profile The magazine was founded in 1932 (as a supplement to ''Hobbies'' magazine) by F.J. Camm of George Newnes Publishers ...

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Radio Today (website) ''Radio Today'' is a UK-based website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular ...

RadCom ''RadCom'' is the monthly magazine published by the Radio Society of Great Britain and is provided to all corporate members of the society. Typically 100 pages, it includes a mixture of news, theory, construction and technical articles of inter ...

Statistics

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 ...

figures, the top ten stations or networks by listeners nationwide are: *

- 13.3 million * Heart (network) - 9.7 million *

- 9.6 million *

- 8.1 million * Capital (network) - 7.5 million *

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

- 7.4 million * Hits Radio (network) - 7.2 million * Smooth Radio (network) - 6.6 million *

- 6 million * Absolute Radio (network) - 5.6 million

References

{{Telecommunications