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

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. 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 Closed platform, 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 pho ...

from studios on London Road in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

city centre. 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 calle ...

, the station has a weekly audience of 153,000 listeners and a 4.5% share as of September 2022.

Transmission frequencies

Radio Nottingham is broadcast on three FM frequencies: * 103.8 to

and south Nottinghamshire, from Mapperley Ridge in north Nottingham * 95.5 to

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

from Fishponds Hill * 95.1 to

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

from Beacon Hill (since January 2004) The Mansfield signal is strong enough to be heard as far north as

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A pre ...

, far outside Nottinghamshire. The Nottingham signal may be heard as far south as

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. Since 30 April 2004, the station has been available on

from the NDEM (NOW Digital East Midlands)

12C multiplex from Waltham (main signal and in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

), Mapperley Ridge and Fishponds Hill (since July 2006). In addition, BBC Radio Nottingham also broadcasts on

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

TV channel 720 in the

BBC East Midlands BBC East Midlands is the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire (except High Peak, North East Derbyshire and the northern areas of the Derbyshire Dales), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw), Rutland, southern parts of South Kes ...

region and streams online via

. The station used to broadcast AM signals on 1584 kHz Medium Wave, from

Clipstone Clipstone in north Nottinghamshire is a small ex-coal mining village built on the site of an old army base and close to the site of a medieval royal palace. The population of the civil parish was 3,469 at the 2001 census, increasing to 4,665 a ...

, near Mansfield, until 25 January 2018 when the transmitter was turned off. This followed a trial, to determine if listeners would miss or complain about the loss of services on medium wave, from 17 August to 24 September 2012 when BBC Radio Nottingham stopped broadcasting its normal programmes on medium wave, instead directing listeners to FM or DAB. North Nottinghamshire, covering the district of Bassetlaw including the towns of

Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterfie ...

and

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

, is officially covered by the signals carrying

BBC Radio Sheffield BBC Radio Sheffield is the BBC's local radio station serving South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital television and via BBC Sounds from studios on Shoreham Street in Sheffield. According to RAJAR, the station ...

, although editorially, news for this area is covered by BBC Radio Nottingham, and FM reception (and to a lesser extent DAB and Freeview) is possible in these areas.

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Nottingham studios from 6am – 10pm on Mondays – Thursdays and from 6am – 1am on Fridays – Sundays. On Monday – Thursday nights, the 10pm – 1am late show, originates from

BBC Radio WM BBC Radio WM is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the West Midlands conurbation, West Midlands. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The M ...

. At weekends, the station's evening output is simulcast with

BBC Radio Derby BBC Radio Derby is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Derbyshire. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on St Helens Street in Derby. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audien ...

and

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...

. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Nottingham simulcasts overnight programming from

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

and

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, 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 broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...

Former notable presenters

* Dennis McCarthy, who continued broadcasting on the station – despite falling ill – until the afternoon he died. *

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

began his radio career here where he worked for four years in 1982, moving to

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

in May 1986 *

Matthew Bannister Richard Matthew Bannister (born 16 March 1957) is a British media executive and broadcaster. Early career After attending King Edward VII School, Sheffield, he graduated in law at the University of Nottingham in 1978, and joined BBC Radio Not ...

, former late night host on

Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

, worked as a reporter in 1978 *Mansfield's Richard Bacon began his broadcasting career at BBC Radio Nottingham *Comedian

Boothby Graffoe Boothby Graffoe is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 223. It is situated approximately south from the city and county town of Lincoln, ...

had a weekly show in the late 1980s for a short time *

John Simons John Simons (John Potts) is a British radio executive, former group programming director for GMG Radio now working as an International Radio Consultant, mainly in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Biography Simons began his career in 1979, ...

worked on the station in the late 1980s. He went on to be the Group Programme Director for

GMG Radio GMG Radio, and for a short while Real and Smooth Limited, was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Rad ...

Surrounding areas

The nearest BBC TV news is

East Midlands Today ''East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands. The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham, also home to Radio Nottingham. The ...

, who share the studios on ''London Road'' ( A60) in Nottingham with the BBC Radio Nottingham team. The studio used to be in a building (York House) near the

Victoria Centre Victoria Centre is a shopping centre in Nottingham, England, constructed between 1967 and 1972. It contains fashion and high street chain stores as well as cafes, restaurants, a health and fitness centre, and the Nottingham Victoria bus station. ...

on Mansfield Road before 1998. That building was then used by

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as a new university in 1992, although its roots go back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham Government School of Design, w ...

as the Centre for Broadcast Journalism as the base for the Nottingham Trent International College. York House was demolished in May 2015 to make way for proposed future extensions to the Victoria Centre, however a block of student flats were instead built on the former site. BBC Radio Nottingham faces local competition from the regional commercial stations

Gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

and

Smooth East Midlands Smooth East Midlands is an Independent Local Radio station for the East Midlands, 107.4 MHz, 97.2 MHz, 106.8 MHz 106.0 MHz which replaced Saga 106.6 FM at 6am on Monday 26 March 2007. It is owned by Communicorp UK and operated ...

, which are broadcast from Nottingham-based studios to the wider East Midlands.

Trent FM Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on M ...

, Nottingham's heritage commercial radio station, was merged with

Leicester Sound Leicester Sound was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Leicestershire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on Mo ...

and

Ram FM Ram FM was an Independent Local Radio station, which broadcast to central and southern parts of Derbyshire on 102.8 FM. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Leicester Sound to form Capital FM East Midlands (p ...

in January 2011 to form a regional station

Capital East Midlands Capital East Midlands was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network, broadcasting to the East Midlands from studios in Nottingham. It launched on 3 January 2011 following the merger of Tren ...

, which carries a mix of local and networked output. In the Mansfield area commercial station Mansfield 103.2 exists, also transmitted from Fishponds Hill. Listeners north of Worksop and Retford, are catered for by BBC Radio Sheffield broadcasting on 104.1FM from the

Holme Moss Holme Moss ( a.s.l.) is high moorland on the border between the Holme Valley district of Kirklees in West Yorkshire and the High Peak district of Derbyshire in England. Historically on the boundary between the West Riding of Yorkshire and Che ...

transmitter.

References

Audio clips

First words of Radio Nottingham in January 1968

Fire eating vicar

2001 News jingle

Video clips

Recording the jingles at S2 Blue in Leek
{{Coord, 52.94974, -1.13985, display=title Radio stations established in 1968

Music in Nottinghamshire Mass media in Nottingham Radio stations in Nottinghamshire