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

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. 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 in the Summertown area of

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 ...

. 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 87,000 listeners and a 3.5% share as of December 2023.

History

BBC Oxford radio transmission van Cowley Road Festival 2010

*Early 1970 – Oxford was chosen as a location for BBC local radio and premises in Summertown were found at 242–254

Banbury Road Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the ...

. The site is known as Barclay House and was previously a

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

showroom. *Mid 1970 – Staff were recruited, a small number with BBC experience but mostly local people, and the studios at Summertown are built. *September 1970 – On air staff trained at the

Langham Hotel The Langham, London, is a 5-star hotel in London, England. It is situated in the district of Marylebone on Langham Place and faces up Portland Place towards Regent's Park. History The Langham was designed by John Giles and built by Luca ...

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 ...

. *Early October 1970 – Three weeks of test transmissions begin. *29 October 1970 – BBC Radio Oxford officially begins transmission at 5 pm on 95.0 MHz VHF. *31 December 1970 – ''

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 ...

'' lists BBC Radio Oxford programmes for the first time. *5 October 1972 – Due to high demand by residents who did not have FM on their radios, BBC Radio Oxford begins broadcasting on 202 metres

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 ...

(1484 kHz). The station would also be available on the local cable network on 'Rediffusion Channel A'. *26 June 1973 – BBC Radio Oxford moves its VHF frequency to 95.2 MHz to avoid interference with

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 ...

on 94.9 MHz. *22 May 1976 – The station opens its studios to the public for an open weekend. *October 1980 – BBC Radio Oxford celebrates 10 years on air by publishing a magazine. *April / May 1989 – BBC Radio Oxford moves to purpose built studios at 269 Banbury Road, Summertown. *9 April 1996 – Radio Oxford merges with

BBC Radio Berkshire BBC Radio Berkshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Berkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 48,00 listeners as of May 2025. It has ...

to form the short-lived BBC Thames Valley FM. Local programming is restricted to separate news bulletins for the two counties. *14 February 2000 – Radio Oxford is revived, although most output continues to be shared with Radio Berkshire. *2004 – BBC Radio Oxford relaunches with a new line-up of presenters. By now, the station has regained a full line-up of local programming. *April 2008 – The station is rebranded as ''BBC Oxford 95.2FM'' as part of a relaunch involving the regional TV news programme ''BBC Oxford News'' (previously ''

BBC South Today ''BBC South Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the south of England, covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, West Sussex, much of Dorset and parts of Surrey and Wiltshire. The service is produced and bro ...

Oxford''). *October 2010 – The station celebrates its 40th anniversary and reverts to the Radio Oxford branding. *21 December 2012 – BBC Radio Oxford's DAB service is launched.NOW Digital – Oxford.
. Retrieved 5 January 2013

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Oxford studios from 6am to 10pm on weekdays, from 6am to 6pm and 8pm to 9pm on Saturdays, and from 6am to 6pm and 10pm to 1am on Sundays. Off-peak programming, including the late show from 10pm to 1am, originates from

BBC Radio Solent BBC Radio Solent is the BBC's local radio station serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight, broadcasting on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Havelock Road in Southampton. According to RAJAR, the station has a w ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and BBC Radio Berkshire in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Oxford 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 ...

and

Technical

The service is broadcast across Oxfordshire on 95.2 FM and DAB from the

Oxford transmitting station The Oxford transmitting station (sometimes known as the Beckley transmitter) is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated on land above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level) to the north east of the city of Oxford, in Oxfordshire, Eng ...

situated north east of Oxford. There are also other DAB transmitters that broadcast Radio Oxford including, Over Norton, Farthinghoe, Boars Hill and Woodcote. The station also broadcasts on Freeview TV channel 714 in the BBC South region and streams online via BBC Sounds.

Presenters

Notable past presenters

Richard Allinson Richard John McNeill Allinson (born 12 October 1958) is an English broadcaster with Greatest Hits Radio and Greatest Hits Radio 60s is Creative Director of Magnum Opus Broadcasting. Between 1997 and 2014 he was a disc jockey for BBC Radio 2. ...

(now on

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 ...

) *

Malcolm Boyden Malcolm George Boyden (born 5 August 1964) is a double Sony Award-winning BBC local radio presenter, who formerly presented the Mid-morning show as well as a Sunday show on BBC Hereford and Worcester. He won a Sony gold award in 1997 for 'Radio ...

Jon Briggs Jonathan Briggs (born 24 January 1965) is an English television, radio presenter and narrator. He is known for his voice-over work and as the original British voice used by Apple Inc.'s Siri virtual assistant software. Career Briggs' voiceove ...

(original UK voice of

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Siri Siri ( , backronym: Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) is a digital assistant purchased, developed, and popularized by Apple Inc., which is included in the iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, Apple TV, audioOS, and visionOS operating sys ...

) *

Humphrey Carpenter Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (29 April 1946 – 4 January 2005) was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J. R. R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inkli ...

Anne Diamond Anne Margaret Diamond (born 8 September 1954) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and children's health campaigner. She co-hosts the weekend breakfast show on GB News with Stephen Dixon. She hosted '' Good Morning Britain'' for TV-am and co ...

* Mike Dickin *

Will Gompertz William Edward Gompertz (born 1965) is an English journalist, author and art critic. He was formerly the BBC's arts editor before moving to a position as the Barbican Centre's Artistic Director from 1 June 2021. Family and education Gompertz ...

* Jonathan Hancock * Bob Harris (now on

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 ...

) * Bill Heine *

Martin Kelner Martin Barry Kelner is a British journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and TV presenter, whose primary career is in radio presenting. He has spent over 40 years hosting radio shows, mostly for the BBC, in particular Radio Leeds. He has ...

Alex Lester Alexander Norman Charles Lester (born 11 May 1956) is a British broadcaster. He presented the weekday overnight/early-morning programme on BBC Radio 2 from 1992 until 2014. From October 2014 until January 2017, he presented the midnight to 3am p ...

(now on Greatest Hits Radio) *

Timmy Mallett Timmy Mallett (born 18 October 1955) is an English television presenter, broadcaster, author and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses and shirts, and a giant pink foam mallet (known as "Mallett's Mallet"), as we ...

Andrew Peach Andrew Peach is a radio presenter and event host in the United Kingdom. He presents programmes on BBC Radio 4 such as '' Pick of the Week (radio)'' ''Business Matters'' and the ''Six O'Clock News''. On BBC World Service he hosts news program ...

(now on

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 ...

and BBC Radio Berkshire) * David Prever (weekday breakfast, now Head of Programming at Radio News Hub) *

Libby Purves Elizabeth Mary Purves, (born 2 February 1950) is a British radio presenter, journalist and author. Early life and career Born in London, a diplomat's daughter, Purves was raised in her mother's Catholic faith and educated at convent school ...

(later at BBC Radio 4, now on

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK, part of the Murdoch family, Murdoch media empire. It is jointly operated by News Broadcasting (which News UK acquired in 2016, when it was known as ''Wireless Group''), ''The Tim ...

) * Alan Roberts *

Sybil Ruscoe Sybil Ruscoe DL (born 8 August 1960 in Wem, Shropshire, England) is a British radio and television presenter. Ruscoe began her career on the ''Express & Star'' newspaper in Wolverhampton. She moved to Radio Wyvern, Beacon Radio, then BBC Radio ...

* Tim Smith (later at BBC Radio 2, now on Jazz FM) *

Martin Stanford Martin Stanford (born 2 May 1958) is an English journalist and former news presenter for ''Sky News'', having worked for the channel from 1991 to 2016. He was the first British newsreader to announce the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and ...

(formerly of

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 ...

, now on

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 ...

) *

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 ...

(Sunday evenings) * Bill Rennells (''Harmony Night'')

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Oxford Radio stations established in 1970

Radio stations in Oxfordshire Mass media in Oxford Mass media in Oxfordshire 1970 establishments in England