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, broadcasting virtually all major sports events staged in the UK or involving British competitors. Radio 5 Live was launched in March 1994 as a repositioning of the original Radio 5, which was launched on 27 August 1990. It is transmitted via analogue radio in AM on

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

693 and 909 kHz and digitally via

digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...

, television and on the

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 ...

service. Due to rights restrictions, coverage of some events, particularly live sport, is not available online or is restricted to UK addresses. The station broadcasts from

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside MediaCi ...

in Salford in Greater Manchester and is a department of the BBC North division. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 4.8 million with a listening share of 2.7% as of September 2022.

History

The success of Radio 4 News FM during the first Gulf War (1991) led the BBC to propose the launch of a rolling-news service. Initially the plan was to broadcast a rolling news service on BBC Radio 4's long wave frequency; but this met with considerable opposition, both internally and externally, so the BBC decided to close BBC Radio 5 and replace the old service's educational and children's programmes with a new news service, whilst retaining the sports programmes. BBC Radio 5 Live began its 24-hour service at 5am on Monday 28 March 1994. The first voice on air, Jane Garvey, later went on to co-present the breakfast and drive-time shows with Peter Allen. '' The Times'' described the launch as "slipp ngsmoothly and confidently into a routine of informative banter" and '' The Scotsman'' as "professionalism at its slickest". The news of the first day was dominated by the fatal stabbing at Hall Garth School near Middlesbrough, the first of many major incidents which the network covered live as they unfolded. The tone of the channel, engaging and more relaxed than contemporary BBC output, was the key to the channel's success and set the model for other BBC News services later in the decade. The first audiences were some 4 million, with a record audience of 6.25 million. Among the key editorial staff involved in the design of programme formats and recruitment of staff for the new station were Sara Nathan, later editor of Channel 4 News, and Tim Luckhurst, later editor of '' The Scotsman'' newspaper and professor of Journalism at the University of Kent. BBC Radio Five Live 2000-2007

In 2000, the station was rebranded with a new logo which would remain with the station for another seven years. In addition, on 2 February 2002 a companion station, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, was launched as a digital-only service to complement the range of sport and to avoid clashes; previously

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations. History The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...

stations and the long-wave frequency of BBC Radio 4 were used. Throughout this period, Five Live gained several awards including five Sony Awards in 2005; the single gold award was for its coverage of the

2004 Asian tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

in the News Story Award category alongside another four silver awards and six nominations. The station also began to further its boundaries with the publication of the ''Radio Five Live Sporting Yearbook''. In August 2007, BBC Radio 5 Live was given a new logo in line with the rest of the BBC Radio network, and a new background design featuring diagonal parallel lines.

In 2008, the BBC announced that the station would move to

in Salford. In 2017/18, it was noted the station not only remained as having the fourth highest cost-per-user of all the BBC radio output, but whose costs also increased – rising from 2.3p per hour the previous year to 2.5p per hour, therefore equal to

1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban contemporary, urban music, including Hip hop music, hip hop and Contemporary R&B, R&B an ...

. The audience Appreciation Index figure did not increase, remaining at 79.9; and the average length of time spent on the channel fell from 06:41 to 06:34 – the fourth lowest fall of all of the BBC's radio stations.

Broadcast

BBC Radio 5 Live broadcasts in AM on the

frequencies 693 and 909 kHz nationally, with the frequency 990 kHz used in Cardigan Bay in west Wales; these frequencies had been utilised by the old BBC Radio 5, which in turn had taken over the frequencies from

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

. Uniquely to the BBC Radio network, it is the only station that is neither purely digital (such as

, Radio 4 Extra and 6 Music) nor broadcast in analogue on FM. It is however broadcast in stereo on FM and DAB on BBC Local Radio frequencies overnight, usually from 1am until BBC Local Radio commences morning broadcasts, usually from 5am. BBC Radio 5 Live is also broadcast on BBC Radio Cymru in stereo from midnight until 5:30am, on BBC Radio Scotland from 1am until 6am and on BBC Radio Ulster from midnight until 6:30am. In addition to the AM output, the station also broadcasts digitally in mono on DAB Digital Radio, and on television through satellite services such as Sky, cable services such as Virgin Media, DTT services such as Freeview, Freesat and through IPTV. The station also broadcasts programmes live through

, which allows replaying programmes up to a month after the original broadcast. The service is also available on the

Radioplayer Radioplayer is a radio technology platform, owned by UK radio broadcasters and operated under licence in some other countries. It operates an internet radio web tuner, a set of mobile phone apps, an in-car adaptor, and a growing range of integrati ...

internet site partially run by the BBC. For many years, the station operated from four floors within the News Centre at BBC Television Centre, because of the close connections between the station and BBC News, and the co-location of BBC Sport. However, as part of the corporation's plan to sell off Television Centre, the decision was made in 2008 to move BBC Radio 5 Live to the new broadcast hub at

. The move itself began in September 2011 and took two months. The new studios occupy a single floor in Quay House, with two studios large enough for several guests and a separate studio for large groups. The station continues to have a studio presence in London, with Studio 51A at BBC Broadcasting House in London used for programmes and interviews made in London for the station such as "Kermode and Mayo's Film Review".

List of programmes broadcast on 5 Live

* '' Dotun Adebayo'' (Monday – Friday) * '' Wake Up to Money'' with Sean Farrington,

Mickey Clark Mickey Clark is an English financial journalist, currently working for the London ''Evening Standard'' and BBC Radio 5 Live. Clark re-joined the ''Evening Standard'' in 1999, writing for ''The Times'' and the ''Daily Express'' in the interim per ...

e and Louise Cooper * ''5 Live Breakfast'' with Rick Edwards and

Rachel Burden Rachel Mary Ann Cecilia Burden (born 22 January 1975 in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England) is a newsreader, radio news reporter and presenter. She has presented the BBC Radio 5 Live weekday breakfast show since 2011. She is ...

* '' Nicky Campbell'' (Monday – Friday) * ''

Naga Munchetty Subha Nagalakshmi Munchetty-Chendriah (born 25 February 1975), also known as Naga Munchetty, is a British television presenter, newsreader and journalist. She regularly presents '' BBC Breakfast''. She is also a former presenter of BBC World Ne ...

'' (Monday – Wednesday) & '' Adrian Chiles'' (Thursday – Friday) * ''

Nihal Arthanayake Nihal Arthanayake (born 1 June 1971) is a Sri Lankan radio and TV presenter who broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Live. Early life Nihal Arthanayake was born on 1 June 1971, to Theravada Buddhist, Sri Lankan parents. Nihal began his involvement in ...

'' (Monday – Thursday) * ''Robbie Savage’s Premier League Breakfast'' with Robbie Savage (Friday) * '' Elis James and John Robins'' (Friday) * ''5 Live Drive'' with Tony Livesey and

Clare McDonnell Clare McDonnell (born 1967) is a Sony Radio Academy Awards winning British radio broadcaster and presenter. Career McDonnell began as a reporter in local radio in England, and from there moved on to be a radio presenter. For several ...

* '' 5 Live Sport'' with Mark Chapman (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday), Kelly Cates (Tuesday), Steve Crossman (Thursday and Sunday) and Darren Fletcher (Friday) * '' Colin Murray'' (Monday – Thursday) & '' Stephan Nolan'' (Friday – Sunday) * ''5 live Boxing'' with Mike Costello and Steve Bunce (Saturday) * ''Weekend Breakfast'' with Chris Warburton and Eleanor Oldroyd * '' Patrick Kielty'' (Saturday) * ''

Tailenders In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

'' with Greg James, Jimmy Anderson and Felix White (Saturday) * '' Fighting Talk'' with Colin Murray (Saturday) * ''

Sports Report ''Sports Report'' is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio, and is the world's longest-running sports radio programme. It started on 3 January 1948, and has always been broadcast from 17:00 on Saturday evenings during the foo ...

'' with Mark Chapman (Saturday) * '' 606'' with Robbie Savage and Chris Sutton (Saturday – Sunday) * ''5 live in Short'' with Chris Warburton (Sunday mornings) * ''5 live Science'' with Chris Smith and the Naked Scientists team (Sunday) * '' Helen Skelton'' (Sunday) * ''The Squad'' with Nick Bright (Sunday)

Programming

News

BBC Radio 5 Live @ Quay House, MediaCityUK

BBC Radio 5 Live's remit includes broadcasting rolling news and transmitting news as it breaks. It offers news bulletins every half an hour, apart from during live sports commentaries. The BBC's policy for major breaking news events revolves around a priority list. With UK news, the correspondent first records a "generic minute" summary (for use by all stations and channels); the subsequent priority is to report on Radio 5 Live, then the BBC News Channel, and then any other programmes that are on air. For foreign news, first a "generic minute" is recorded, then reports are to World Service radio, then the reporter talks to any other programmes that are on air. Due to COVID-19, the hourly news bulletins were shared with

from April 2020. Three minute bulletins are broadcast on the hour, with extended five minute bulletins at 06:00, 07:00, 08:00, 13:00 and 17:00 on weekdays, at 07:00 and 08:00 on Saturdays and at 06:00, 07:00, 08:00 and 09:00 on Sundays. Half-hour news headlines are mostly read by presenters and sports journalists, although newsreaders are used during weekday daytime programming between 10:30 and 15:30 and during 5 Live Sport evening and weekend programming.

Sport

BBC Radio 5 Live broadcasts an extremely wide range of sports and covers all the major sporting events, mostly under its flagship sports banner '' 5 Live Sport''. Whilst football commentaries form the majority of live commentaries during the football season, the range of events covered by the station include: *Live Premier League (simulcasted with

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

for international coverage) ** 15:00 Saturday matches ** 17:30 Saturday night matches ** High profile 14:00 and 16:30

Sunday Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week. For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...

matches ** 15:00

Boxing Day Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. It ...

matches ** 20:00 Friday night matches ** Select 16:00

matches on the week 38 only ** 20:00 Wednesday and Thursday night midweek matches *Live

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

(simulcasted with BBC World Service for international coverage) *Live FA Cup (simulcasted with BBC World Service for international coverage) ** Select third to fifth round ties ** Select quarter-final ties ** FA Cup semi-finals (Sundays only) ** FA Cup final *Live

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

(simulcasted with BBC World Service for international coverage) ** Select second to fourth round ties ** Select quarter-final ties ** EFL Cup semi-finals ** EFL Cup final *Live Scottish Premiership **

The Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply ...

(simulcast with BBC Radio Scotland) * FIFA World Cup *All Home Nations international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches ** Friendly matches ** UEFA European Qualifiers ** UEFA Nations League ** UEFA European Championship **

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

** UEFA Women's Euro * UEFA Champions League ** Select group stage matches ** Select knockout stage matches ** UEFA Champions League final * UEFA Europa League ** Select group stage matches ** Select knockout stage matches ** UEFA Europa League final (if British side is involved) * UEFA Europa Conference League ** Select group stage matches ** Select knockout stage matches ** UEFA Europa Conference League final (if British side is involved) *

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

(if British side is involved) * Olympic Games * Commonwealth Games * Men's Golf Majors, including full coverage of The Open Championship and The Masters *

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

* England rugby union test matches *The Autumn Internationals and

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

( English,

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

and

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

sides only, simulcast with BBC Radio Scotland and

Radio nan Gàidheal Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

and BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru) * Rugby World Cup * Formula One *Full coverage of

The Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...

and The Cheltenham Festival *Commentary of the

Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, also known as the Epsom Derby or the Derby, and as the Cazoo Derby for sponsorship reasons, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey o ...

and

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...

* Boxing * World Athletics Championships *Full coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships * London Marathon * The Boat Race

Controllers

5 Sports Extra

As 5 Live cannot accommodate all of the sports which they have rights to broadcast, some are covered on sister station

Sports Extra Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

, including: * Test Match Special commentary of all home England cricket tests,

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s and T20 Internationals *

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

ICC Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council. The 2013 tournament was intended to be the final edition of the Champions Trophy, but it was extended to 2017 due to i ...

, and Twenty20 World Cup *Selected County Championship, Royal London One-Day Cup and Vitality Blast games from

*Selected

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

and

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Rugby League games *All 'Grand Slam' Tennis tournaments *Selected Premiership Rugby and

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

games from

* Formula One * IIHF World Championships *Action from any other competition broadcast on 5 Live Sports Extra typically emphasises full broadcasts of Premier League and Home Nations football, if games overlap each other. 5 Live carries the first-choice match in such cases. Also, should 5 Live be needed to broadcast news coverage when scheduled sports programmes were to be aired, the sports coverage is shifted to 5 Sports Extra. The station had originally launched in 2002 as Radio 5 Live Sports Extra but had its name changed in 2022 as part of a rebranding of the BBC.

Awards

In January 2013, BBC Radio Five Live was nominated for the Responsible Media of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Radio 5 Live 5 News and talk radio stations in the United Kingdom Sports radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 1994 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom Radio stations in the United Kingdom Mass media in Salford Organisations based in Salford