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

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

. It broadcasts on FM,

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dąb, ...

, digital TV and via

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, ...

studios at Thames Valley Park near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. 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 call ...

, the station has a weekly audience of 109,000 listeners and a 4.2% share as of September 2022.

History

The station began on 21 January 1992, initially as a sister station of Radio Oxford, broadcasting for part of the weekday and weekend mornings. Due to financial cutbacks, BBC Director-General

John Birt John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television an ...

announced that it was to merge with BBC Radio Oxford on 9 April 1996 to become

BBC Thames Valley FM BBC Thames Valley FM was a BBC Local Radio station covering the English counties of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, broadcasting between 1996 and 2000. History BBC Thames Valley FM began on 9 April 1996 following the merger of BBC Radio Oxford and ...

. On 14 February 2000, the two stations became separate once again.

Awards

The Andrew Peach Show was named Best Local Radio Show in the UK at the 2021 Radio Academy ARIA Awards. BBC Radio Berkshire was named Station of the Year in the 2012 Frank Gillard Awards, also winning in the Sports Coverage category for its coverage of Olympic rowing at

Eton Dorney Dorney Lake (also known as Eton College Rowing Centre, and as Eton Dorney as a 2012 Summer Olympics venue) is a purpose-built rowing lake in England. It is near the village of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and is around 3 km (2 miles) west of ...

. Andrew Peach won silver in both the Programme Presenter and The Ultimate Hot Seat categories. In the 2013

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academ ...

the Andrew Peach programme won bronze in the category Breakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million). In November 2018, BBC Radio Berkshire moved from

Caversham Park Caversham Park is a Victorian-era stately home with parkland in the suburb of Caversham on the outskirts of Reading, England. Historically located in Oxfordshire, it became part of Berkshire with boundary changes in 1911. Caversham Park was hom ...

House – which the station shared with BBC Monitoring – to new purpose-built studios at Thames Valley Park on the outskirts of Reading.

Transmitters

The Hannington transmitter for BBC Radio Berkshire's 104.1 FM frequency is located on Cottington Hill (close to

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natural w ...

). Along with the BBC's signal it also carries television channels and Heart South on 102.9 FM. The 104.1 FM signal can be heard over most of Hampshire, certainly more than BBC Radio Solent. The Fountain House transmitter carries Heart South on 97 FM and BBC Radio Berkshire on 104.4 FM since 1991. The Henley-on-Thames transmitter which carries BBC Radio Berkshire on 94.6 FM also carries Heart South on 103.4 FM. The Windsor transmitter carries BBC Radio Berkshire on 95.4 FM. Since 31 July 2004, DAB broadcasts have come from the NOW Digitalbr>Berkshire & North Hampshire 12D multiplex
from Coppid Beech (at the junction of the B3408 and A329(M) in west

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Reading, south of Maidenhe ...

), Hannington and Hemdean (just north of Caversham). The

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

DAB transmitter (between Cliddesden and Winslade near the A339 in Hampshire) was added on 3 October 2005. Since June 2016, BBC Radio Berkshire has been available on Freeview TV channel 719. It also streams online via

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Reading studios from 6am – 10pm on Sundays – Fridays and from 6am – 6pm and 8-10pm on Saturdays. Off-peak programming, including the late show from 10pm – 1am, originates from BBC Radio Solent in Southampton. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Berkshire simulcasts overnight programming from BBC Radio 5 Live and

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the London ...

Presenters

Notable current presenters include: *

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC ...

(Sunday evenings) * Bill Buckley (weekday daytime) * Paul Coia (Sunday breakfast) * Kirsten O'Brien (Sunday daytime) * Andrew Peach (weekday breakfast)

References

External links

* {{coord, 51, 28, 50.52, N, 0, 57, 26.98, W, region:GB, display=title

Organisations based in Reading, Berkshire Culture in Reading, Berkshire Radio stations in Berkshire Radio stations established in 1992