Big L was the name of a short-lived broadcasting company registered by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

licensing authority

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

fro
11 June 2002 to 10 June 2003
for a satellite radio service known as Big L. The license stated that the station ''"… will provide an eclectic mix of rock and pop, both modern and classic. News and weather will be broadcast hourly. The service will be in English language and will be free to air."'' The station was owned by Big L Limited. Though the station targeted audience in the United Kingdom, advertisers developed their commercials mainly to reach English speakers in the Netherlands.

Presenters and staff

The station's presenters included former ''Saturday Superstore'' host Mike Read, who presented a morning show, as well as other former BBC Radio 1 DJs like Adrian John and David Hamilton. To recapture a similar working environment to the days of the pirate ships (such as the original

Wonderful Radio London Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 (in London's case, the " Fab 40") offshore commercial station that operated from 23 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, off Frint ...

) all the DJs lived together at the same house in Frinton-on-Sea, along with station manager Chris Vezey, a former BBC Radio 2 producer who was also programme controller at Classic FM.

Station licence

The station's

licence stated the station was under the ownership of Big L Limited, 1 Colmore Crescent, Moseley, Birmingham B13 9SJ.

Independent media evaluation of Big L 1395

Big L 1395 was featured on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

programme

Get Your Act Together With Harvey Goldsmith ''Get Your Act Together with Harvey Goldsmith'' is a Channel 4 television programme in which promoter Harvey Goldsmith is given six months to help revive the fortunes of six entertainment businesses or performers. The acts and businesses he dea ...

in an episode broadcast 17 April 2007. Presenter

Harvey Goldsmith Harvey Goldsmith (born 4 March 1946 in Edgware, Middlesex) is an English performing arts promoter. He is best known as a promoter of rock concerts, charity concerts, television broadcasts for the Prince's Trust and more recently the Teenage ...

attempted to improve the fortunes of the station but met with resistance and failed to deliver on his promises.

Transmitter information

The station was broadcast on 1395 kHz (215 m)

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 ...

from a transmitter in the Netherlands, and the Internet. Big L returned to 1395 kHz on 3 December 2009, but on 25 January 2011 this 1395 kHz transmitter was switched off and the station currently broadcasts on the internet only.

References

{{reflist

External links

Big L 1395 official websiteBig L Limited
Radio stations in the United Kingdom