Radio Norwich is a fictional

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, England, in the

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

I'm Alan Partridge ''I'm Alan Partridge'' is a British sitcom created by Steve Coogan, Peter Baynham and Armando Iannucci. Coogan stars as Alan Partridge, a tactless and inept broadcaster. The first series, broadcast in 1997, has Partridge living in a roadside h ...

''. It parodies elements from both

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 39 stations. As of December 2024, the network broadcasts to a combined audience of 7.1 mil ...

and

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...

. The

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

, played by

Steve Coogan Stephen John Coogan (; born 14 October 1965) is an English-Irish actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. His accolades include four BAFTA Awards and three British Comedy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Aw ...

, can be seen on-air at the beginning of several episodes, usually hosting

phone in In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio ( ...

s on various inane topics (for example: "Which is the best ''Lord'': ''

Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually developed into ...

'', '' of the Dance'', or '' of the Flies''?") Partridge can also often be seen bickering with DJ Dave Clifton (played by

Phil Cornwell Philip Cornwell is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the '' Dead Ringers'' television and radio series, and is the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-written and performed pri ...

), who takes the slots after his own in both series of the show. In real-life, Norwich and

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

are served by

BBC Radio Norfolk BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Norfolk. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Forum in Norwich. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 1 ...

. A real-life commercial radio station named

99.9 Radio Norwich Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolk (Norwich) (formerly Radio Norwich 99.9) is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer, broadcasting to Norwich and the surrounding area. The station was merged with North Norfolk ...

launched on 29 June 2006. It closed on 1 September 2020 when it was replaced by

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 ...

Radio shows

Alan hosts different radio shows on each of the two series. In the first series he hosts an early morning slot, ''Up With The Partridge'' (4am7am), whilst in the second series he hosts ''Norfolk Nights'' (10pm1am). Each of his shows in both series were followed by Dave Clifton's two shows, ''The Breakfast Show'' and ''Dave Clifton's Nightclub''. In series two, Alan claims he has "the third best slot" on Radio Norwich. A point he also makes several times during the second series is that he also hosts ''Skirmish'', a military-based general knowledge quiz show on digital cable television channel UK Conquest. He also goes on to say that the show "boasts the largest audience share of a daytime digital channel at that time of day, in the

area". Elements in his radio shows included: * Super Talk (brought to you by

Ginsters Ginsters is a company based in Callington in Cornwall, in the south-west of England. The largest pasty maker in the UK in turnover, it specialises in making mass-produced pasties, sausage rolls, sandwiches, pasta bowls and other savoury sn ...

pasties Pasties (singular pasty or pastie) are patches that cover a person's nipples and areolae, typically self-adhesive or affixed with adhesive. They are usually worn in pairs. They originated as part of burlesque shows, allowing dancers to perform ...

) * Alan's Deep Bath (brought to you by

Dettol Dettol is a brand line of products used for disinfectant, disinfection and as an antiseptic. This brand was created with the introduction of Dettol antiseptic liquid in 1933 by the British company Reckitt, Reckitt and Colman. The Dettol brand li ...

) * Alan's Fact of the Day * Cock-a-Doodle-Who?

Filming locations

The exterior of Radio Norwich is the offices of

UBC Media Group UBC Media Group was a production and content creation company which began as the Unique Broadcasting Company in 1989. In June 2014 the company merged with 7digital to form a global digital music and radio platform. The new company was called 7di ...

at 50 Lisson Street, London. Alan's studio is UBC's radio production studio on the first floor of the building. This studio (which had subsequently been refurbished) was also used for the filming of Alan's later series '' Mid-Morning Matters''.

References

{{reflist Radio stations in Norfolk Norfolk in fiction