BBC Radio Stoke

Infobox Radio Station
name = BBC Radio Stoke


city = Stoke-on-Trent
area = North & Mid Staffordshire & south Cheshire
branding =
slogan =
airdate = 14 March 1968
frequency = 94.6MHz, 104.1MHz, 1503kHz, DAB Digital Radio, Online
share = 11.3%
share as of = March 2008
share source = [http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php]
format = Local news, talk and music
power =
erp =
class =
callsign_meaning =
owner = BBC Local Radio,
BBC Midlands
website = [http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/radiostoke/ BBC Radio Stoke]

BBC Radio Stoke is a BBC Local Radio station in England, for the area of North and Mid Staffordshire and South Cheshire. The station began broadcasting programmes on 14 March 1968 as "BBC Radio Stoke-on-Trent".

Both of the English counties the station covers have no BBC local radio station for their whole area. In Staffordshire, the south is covered by BBC WM and the east by BBC Radio Derby. In Cheshire, north-western areas are served by BBC Radio Merseyside and the north-east by BBC Radio Manchester.

The station broadcasts from its studios on Cheapside in Hanley, the biggest of the six towns the make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The station used the frequencies of 94.6MHz and 104.1MHz FM, 1503 kHz Mediumwave, and is also available on the UTV-EMAP DAB Digital Radio Multiplex, and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/stoke.shtml online] .

The Managing Editor since 2002 is Sue Owen. She joined from Heart FM and DNN in Birmingham where she was Editorial Director.

Tuning Details

FM

MW

Transmitters

The 140ft Alsagers Bank transmitter is two miles west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, close to the M6. Stations broadcast from it can be clearly heard in most parts of northern Birmingham, and along the M6 from the M54 junction to Skelmersdale. The transmitter also carries Signal One (a commercial station owned by UTV), BBC DAB National and Digital One.

The 104.1 frequency is heard in Stafford and the transmitter is on the roof of the County Education building in the town.

DAB signals come from the UTV-EMAP Stoke-on-Trent 12D multiplex from Alsagers Bank, Pye Green (near Hednesford), Sutton Common (between Congleton and Macclesfield in Cheshire), and Tick Hill (strongest power, south-east of the junction of the A520 and A52 near the Foxfield Steam Railway between Cookshill and Godleybrook). The Sideway transmitter is right next to the A500 D Road, just south of the A50 junction.

Signal 1 (102.6) and Radio Stoke (94.6) are clear in most of the area except in some parts of the Staffordshire Moorlands (Cheadle in particular) and Stafford (which has its own relays). The Stoke Digital multiplex has half the number of stations compared to other areas (BBC Radio Stoke, Signal 1, Signal 2, Kiss 100 and Smash! Hits). UTV own 70% of the multiplex.

The station can also be heard on the Internet via streaming audio.

Weekday programmes

*0500-0700 "Early Breakfast" with Den Siegertsz
*0700-1000 "Breakfast" with Pete Morgan
*1000-1300 Stuart George
*1300-1600 Nick Robins
*1600-1900 "Drivetime" with Paula White
*1900-2100 Various programming
*2100-0000 "The Late Show" with Rob Underwood (networked in the West and East Midlands, except BBC WM)
*0000-0100 Radio 5 Live: Richard Bacon (Monday - Thursday) / Stephen Nolan (Friday)
*0100-0500 Radio 5 Live: "Up All Night"

Weekday 7pm variations

*Monday: "Surfin' the '70s" (networked with Radio Shropshire & BBC Hereford and Worcester, FM only) and "The Asian Connection" (MW only)
*Tuesday: "Sport" with Matt Sandoz (during the football season)
*Wednesday: "Chris Gumbley's Jazzbeat" (networked with Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester)
*Thursday: "Subculture"
*Friday: "Northern Soul" with Mary Fox

Weekend programming

aturday

*0500-0600 Radio 5 Live: "Morning Reports"
*0600-0900 "Weekend Breakfast" with Lamont Howie
*0900-1200 Stuart George
*1200-1400 Den Siegertsz
*1400-1700 "Saturday Sport" (in football season) / "Summer Sport" with Nick Robins (in summer)
*1700-1800 "Praise and Grumble" (during the football season)
*1800-2000 "Youth Club Classics" with Mary Fox (networked with Radio Shropshire, BBC Hereford and Worcester and BBC WM)
*2000-2200 "John Hellings's Big Bands" (networked with Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester)
*2200-0100 "The Late Show" with Keith Middleton (networked with Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester)
*0100-0500 Radio 5 Live: "Up All Night"

unday

*0500-0600 Radio 5 Live: "Morning Reports"
*0600-0900 "Weekend Breakfast" with Lamont Howie
*0900-0930 "In Praise of God"
*0930-1200 Nick Robins
*1200-1500 Terry Walsh
*1500-1800 Mike George (networked with Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester)
*1800-2000 "Sunday Night Rock" with Jim Hawkins (networked with Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester)
*2000-2200 "Sunday Folk" with Genevieve Tudor (networked with Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester)
*2200-0100 "The Late Show" with Keith Middleton (networked with Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester)
*0100-0500 Radio 5 Live: "Up All Night"

Networked and simulcast programming

Several evening and weekend programmes are networked with BBC Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester. The weekday "Late Show" is broadcast between 9pm and 12am from Nottingham across stations in the West and East Midlands (except for BBC WM). If live football is broadcast, Radio Stoke may opt-out of the "Late Show" until 10pm.

After closedown, Radio Stoke carries a simulcast of Radio 5 Live programming including the nightly "Up All Night", "Morning Reports" (at weekends) and the third hour of the weekday late show (with Richard Bacon from Monday - Thursday and Stephen Nolan on Friday).

Controversy

On the morning of 7 April 2008, five members of Staffordshire Police swooped [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7336740.stm Police 'terror' swoop on BBC man] , BBC News Online, 8 April 2008] on Radio Stoke reporter Max Khan, pinning him to the floor in the middle of the Potteries Shopping Centre in Hanley. He was wearing a large rucksack with standard BBC radio equipment (with aerials protruding) in at the time, which led members of the public to report him to the police as a 'suspicious looking Arabic man' with the possibility that he was carrying a bomb. He said he felt 'embarrassment and humiliation'. The officers were acting under the Terrorism Act 2006.

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/radiostoke BBC Radio Stoke]
* [http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/alsagars-bank.php Alsagers Bank transmitter (including coverage map)]
* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/d.allen43/main_pages/Radio%20stoke.htm David's Transmitter World]
* [http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/pye-green.php Pye Green (Digital)]
* [http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/sideway.php Sideway transmitter]
* [http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/sutton-common.php Sutton Common (Digital)]

Audio clips

* [http://www.intervalsignals.net/files/ukg-bbc_radio_stoke_131101.m3u 2001 Jingle]