Sheffield Live! is a local

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 ...

and formally local TV station, established in 2003 as an independent company 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 ...

(CMA), and is based in the city centre of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The radio has been broadcasting on 93.2 FM since 2007.

History

Sheffield Live! started operating a live

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

service on an annual

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 ...

in 2000. In 2002, Sheffield Live! was broadcasting regularly for four days a week on the Internet. Station owner Commedia Sheffield first applied for a Community Broadcasting Licence in November 2004. The service started broadcasting on the frequency 93.2 FM on 29 October 2007 with the studio based at 6

Paternoster Row Paternoster Row is a street in the City of London that was a centre of the London publishing trade, with booksellers operating from the street. Paternoster Row was described as "almost synonymous" with the book trade. It was part of an area call ...

, Sheffield, in the former

National Centre for Popular Music The National Centre for Popular Music was a museum in Sheffield, England, for pop and rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, deve ...

. Prior to this, the last time a new radio service launched in Sheffield was

Hallam FM Hits Radio South Yorkshire, formerly Hallam FM, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire and Chesterfiel ...

in October 1974. Sheffield Live! was launched to provide original programming by local people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities and was originally planned to broadcast for a minimum of five years, dependent on its success in the community. In 2009, the station relocated from the Hallam University-owned buildings to a private office across the road at The Workstation above the Showroom Cinema. Full-time over-the-air broadcasting started at 7 am with ''The Breakfast Show,'' presented by Lloyd Samuels and Charles Clarke, featuring interviews with Nick Clegg MP, local choral group Sosa Xa!, and organisers of the three-day Dignity Not Detention march from Sheffield to

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

that took place on the same weekend.

Transmission

Sheffield Live! uses a

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

at Crosspool shared by other local radio stations provided by

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 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 ...

, allowing coverage as far as

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

, and Chesterfield. The station currently broadcasts from studios located at 15 Paternoster Row in central Sheffield, above the Showroom Cinema accommodated in offices and training suites owned by Commedia Sheffield.

Projects and activities

Sheffield Live! has been involved with many projects in the local community: * Sheffield Live! helps organize events throughout the Sheffield area; for example, it has worked in partnership with Biggafish, a youth organization based 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 ...

devoted to the education of young people through music. * Sheffield Live! creates education, employment, and training opportunities in the local area. For example, in 2009, the station ran a media training course, called "Future: proof", designed to give unemployed adults the skills they need to succeed in a career in media. * Sheffield Live! advertises and promotes local businesses, organisations, and events. It also actively promotes itself, through its social networking sites and promotional days.

Television

Sheffield Live!'s television began broadcasting on Tuesday 23 September 2014 at 6pm and broadcasts every night from 6pm to 1am. Sheffield Live!'s television output included ''Sheffield Live! News'', ''Sheffield Live! Mix'', ''Talking Sheffield'', ''What's On'', ''Walks Around Britain'', ''Grassroots'', ''Sharks Basketball'', ''Sateen Daqiqi be al Arabi'', ''Nice Out Innit?'' ''The Bassment'', ''After the Bell'', ''Sabrang'', ''Da Beat Down'', ''Up North'' and ''The Who What Where Show''. In April 2025, the licence to run the television station was transferred to

That's TV That's TV is a national television network in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Sky, Freesat, Freeview, and Virgin Media, although only a small number of both local and national That's TV channels are available on Virgin Media. That's TV s ...

,https://rxtvinfo.com/2025/uncertain-future-for-independent-local-freeview-channels/ taking their number of local television licences to 17.

Notes

References

External links

* {{coord missing, South Yorkshire 2014 establishments in England Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in Yorkshire Mass media in Sheffield Media cooperatives Local television channels in the United Kingdom Television channels and stations established in 2014 Co-operatives in the United Kingdom