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UK Radio Information
Here you'll find pages of information
on radio in the UK, including DAB digital radio.
Radio in the UK
started back in the early 1920's with just one tiny BBC radio station in
Chelmsford, Essex. The BBC dominated radio until the 1960's, when the Pirates
ruled the airwaves. In the early 1970's, we saw commercial radio come onto the
scenes.
Radio's moved on in
leaps and bounds in the last 30 years, and we now have several hundred radio
stations, with a huge variety of formats and audiences.
On our site, you'll
find links and information on today's British radio Industry.
Types of radio station:
The types of station
operating in the UK, are:
| National
Radio |
Serving
the whole of the UK, national stations include BBC Radios 1-5, Absolute
Radio, Classic FM and TalkSport.For more info please se our FM
Radio page.
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| Regional
stations |
There
are currently 17 of these in the UK, covering multi-county areas,
including BBC Scotland, BBC Wales, Galaxy (North East and West
Midlands), and Kiss (East Anglia)
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| Local
radio |
There
are 40 BBC local radio stations, and over 250 commercial stations (known
as ILR - Independent Local Radio stations). This number includes
town-sized stations (once known as Incremental stations).
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| Community
radio |
A
growing number of "Not for profit" radio stations (Over 100 in
2008), that started following the Government's Access radio pilot
scheme.
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| RSL |
Short-term
restricted service licences (for temporary low-powered radio services).
These typically run for no longer than 28 days continuous broadcasting.
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| DAB
Digital Radio |
 Digital
Audio Broadcasting, is the new type of radio service available in the
UK. DAB offers a range of extra channels not available on FM. You'll
need a special DAB radio to receive Digital Radio - there are a range of
DAB radios now available, including kitchen radios, hi-fi tuners, in-car
radios and battery-powered portable devices. For more on DAB radio, see
our DAB page.
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| Internet
radio |
There
are a number of Internet radio stations out there, and a high number of
UK stations broadcast on the Internet... the Internet has worldwide
coverage. You can also run your own. There's also the new phenomenon... Podcasting.
For more on Internet radio and online broadcasting.
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| Satellite
radio |
Stations
broadcasting on satellite, including Sky.
See our Satellite page
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| Hospital
radio |
Over
230 of these up-and-running in hospitals around the UK.
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| Student
radio |
Stations
serving a number of colleges and universities.
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| Pirate
radio |
The UK radio
industry owes an awful lot to the pirate radio pioneers of the 1960's
sitting in rusty ships and forts off the coast of the UK, especially
Radio Caroline and Wonderful Radio London - They changed the face of
broadcasting. If you've not seen it, we recommend "The Boat That
Rocked".
There are still
a number of land-based pirate radio stations out there - but don't
expect us to talk about them here.
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UK Radio Links
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