BBC Radio Bristol
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BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, Bath and
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
&
North East Somerset North East Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since its 2010 creation, by Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg. Boundaries The constituency covers the part of Bath and North East Somerset District th ...
. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, 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 at
Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
in Bristol. 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 94,000 listeners and a 2.5% share as of September 2022.


Overview

BBC Radio Bristol broadcasts on FM frequencies 94.9 MHz (Dundry), 104.6 MHz ( Bath), 103.6 MHz (
Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...
), and on DAB. The AM transmitter at
Mangotsfield Mangotsfield is an urban area and former village in the unitary authority area of South Gloucestershire, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, to the north-east of Bristol. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 ...
on 1548 kHz was closed in February 2016. The Mendip transmitter, near
Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...
, used to broadcast BBC Radio Bristol on 95.5 MHz over a very large area but, from 3 December 2007, this was transferred to the new
BBC Somerset BBC Radio Somerset is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Somerset. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Blackbrook area of Taunton. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly a ...
service. Since the BBC relaunched BBC Somerset on FM, BBC Radio Bristol has been left free to concentrate editorially on Bristol, Bath and the rest of the former Avon area. On 11 December 2014, BBC Radio Bristol launched 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), ...
channel 719, on the PSB 1 multiplex from the Mendip transmitter and its TV relays. Radio Bristol's main commercial competitors in its broadcast area are
Heart West Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West and the South West of England from studios in Bristol. The station launched on 3 June 2019, following a merger of four ...
on 96.3 and 103 FM,
Hits Radio (Bristol and the South West) Hits Radio is a network of 25 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. As of October 2022, the network has a combined reach of 6.6 million weekly listeners according to RAJAR. Overv ...
on 106.5 FM and
Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Ra ...
on 107.2, 107.7 and 107.9 MHz.


Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Bristol studios from 6am - 10pm each day. The weekday late show, airing from 10pm-1am, originates from sister station
BBC Radio Gloucestershire BBC Radio Gloucestershire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Gloucestershire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, AM, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Portland Court in Gloucester. According to RAJAR, the station has ...
and goes out to the
BBC West BBC West is one of BBC's English Regions serving Bristol, the majority of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire; northern and eastern Somerset and northeastern Dorset. Services Television BBC West's television service (broadcast on BBC One) consists o ...
region. At weekends, the late show originates from
BBC Radio Cornwall BBC Radio Cornwall is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cornwall. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Phoenix Wharf in Truro. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 1 ...
in Truro on a Saturday and
BBC Radio Devon BBC Radio Devon is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Devon. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Mannamead area of Plymouth. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 1 ...
in Plymouth on Sunday. BBC Introducing in the West is presented from
BBC Radio Wiltshire BBC Radio Wiltshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Place in Swindon. According to RAJAR, the station had a weekly a ...
Swindon studios. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Bristol 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, ...
.


Presenters

Notable current presenters include: *
Geoff Twentyman Geoffrey Twentyman (19 January 1930 – 16 February 2004) was an English footballer who is mainly remembered for his links with Liverpool Football Club as both a player and as chief scout. Player Born in Brampton, Cumberland, the left-half pl ...


Notable past presenters

Kate Adie Kathryn Adie (born 19 September 1945) is an English journalist. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world. She retired from the BBC in early 2003 and ...
and
Michael Buerk Michael Duncan Buerk (born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's ''The Moral Maze'' since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama ...
produced and presented programmes for BBC Radio Bristol as part of the station's launch team in the 1970s – Buerk's voice was also the very first to be heard on the station. Another notable presenter during the early 1970s was
Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...
, who pre-recorded his shows from his farmhouse in
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. The comedian Chris Morris worked for the station in the late 1980s, presenting and producing his own weekend show, ''No Known Cure''. He was dismissed from the station after "talking over the news bulletins and making silly noises". One of the station's longest serving presenters was veteran local journalist Roger Bennett, who joined at launch as a reporter, before going onto present its flagship breakfast programme, ''Morning West'', from 1974 to 2003. He continued to freelance at Radio Bristol until his death in July 2005. Other past presenters include
Susan Osman Susan Osman is a British journalist known for her work with BBC, ITV (TV network), ITV and China Radio International. Osman was a theatre director in Brighton, and also worked in that capacity in Washington, DC. She began her television career i ...
who also co-presented '' Points West'' for 14 years, and John Turner, who spent almost 30 years on the station between 1978 and 2007. The presenter of
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''
Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by A ...
'',
Jenni Murray Dame Jennifer Susan Murray, (''née'' Bailey; born 12 May 1950) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting BBC Radio 4's ''Woman's Hour'' from 1987 to 2020. Early life Murray was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorks ...
, started her BBC career with Radio Bristol, as did the '' Good Morning Britain'' presenter
Susanna Reid Susanna Reid (born 10 December 1970) is an English television presenter and journalist. She was a co-presenter of ''BBC Breakfast'' from 2003 until 2014 alongside Bill Turnbull and Charlie Stayt. In 2013, she finished as a runner-up on the elev ...
. John Howard, who produced and co-wrote the station's award-winning 1979 comedy programme ''That Was The West That Was'', was a regular presenter on the station in the late 1970s and went on to be one of the main presenters of ''You and Yours'' on BBC Radio 4. The doctor and comedian Dr Phil Hammond presented a Saturday morning show called ''Saturday Surgery'' for 12 years, but was taken off air in August 2018 after announcing his intention to stand for Parliament.


Controversy

In November 2008, BBC Radio Bristol presenter
Sam Mason Sam Mason (born 1968) is a British radio and television presenter. Mason began her broadcasting career in the late 1980s as a continuity announcer for HTV West and presented the station's overnight strand ''Night Club'' (also broadcast on HTV Wale ...
was dismissed following an incident in which it was alleged that she had made racist remarks in an off-air phone conversation during a weekday afternoon show. Whilst phoning a taxi firm in order to send her 14-year-old daughter from Mason's Clifton home to her grandparents' home, she was said to have asked the company not to send an Asian driver.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Radio Bristol 1970 establishments in England
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
Mass media in Bath, Somerset Organisations based in Bristol Radio stations established in 1970 Radio stations in Bristol Radio stations in Somerset