Two Boroughs Radio (known on air as 2BR) was an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

station serving East and Central

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. It was owned and operated by

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

and broadcast from studios at

Clayton-le-Moors Clayton-le-Moors is an industrial town in the borough of Hyndburn in the county of Lancashire, England. located two miles north of Accrington. The town has a population of 8,522 according to the 2011 census. To the west lies Rishton, to the ...

near

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

. 2BR was merged with

Capital Manchester Capital Manchester was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. The station broadcast from their studios at Global's Manchester HQ in the XYZ Building in Spinningfields, Manchester. In Apri ...

and relaunched as part of the

Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

radio network on 8 April 2019.

History

2BR launched on 25 July 2000, serving the

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Pendle Pendle may refer to: * Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England ** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency) * Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England ** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill * Pendle College of the University of Lancaster * ...

and

Hyndburn Hyndburn is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Accrington and covers the outlying towns of Clayton-le-Moors, Great Harwood, Oswaldtwistle and Rishton. The borough was created in 197 ...

areas from studios at the Lomeshaye Industrial Estate in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

with its transmitter located on

Pendle Hill Pendle Hill is in the east of Lancashire, England, near the towns of Burnley, Nelson, Colne, Brierfield, Clitheroe and Padiham. Its summit is above mean sea level. It gives its name to the Borough of Pendle. It is an isolated hill in the Pe ...

Newchurch in Pendle Newchurch in Pendle is a village in the civil parish of Goldshaw Booth, Pendle, Lancashire, England, adjacent to Barley, to the south of Pendle Hill. It was formerly part of Roughlee Booth until its transferral in 1935. History Famous for the ...

, near

Fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its whole length. ...

. A common misunderstanding is that the station's name originally referred to the "BB" postcodes of

. This is incorrect. 2BR simply stood for Two Boroughs Radio. Whilst the name 'Two Boroughs Radio - 2BR' was used on the three trial broadcasts (1997 and 1998), 'Two Boroughs Radio' was dropped upon the full-time launch. Broadcasting stations in the United Kingdom do not use callsigns, but as "2" is a prefix assigned by the

ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

to callsigns in Great Britain, 2BR is technically a valid radio callsign. In August 2010, the station moved to new studios at

, co-locating with The Bee. On 4 April 2016, UKRD announced 2BR would merge with sister Lancashire station The Bee as part of an expansion onto DAB across the county. The merged station carried the same 2BR programming and identity, alongside opt-outs for local news, traffic and advertising in the Burnley, Blackburn and Preston & Chorley areas. DAB transmissions, via the Lancashire multiplex, commenced on Wednesday 1 June 2016. On 31 July 2018, Global Radio announced it had bought 2BR from UKRD. The sale followed Global's acquisition of another Lancashire station, ''The Bay'', which relaunched as

Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria (formerly The Bay) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to north Lancashire and south Cumbria from studios in Lancaster. History The Bay The st ...

in March 2018.

Closure

On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed 2BR would be relaunched as Capital Lancashire and form part of the

radio network on 8 April 2019. The station was merged with Capital's Manchester station. 2BR ceased broadcasting at 7pm on Friday 29 March 2019, with the station entering a transition period ahead of the full relaunch as Capital. The station's studios at Clayton-le-Moors closed with operations moving to Manchester. The final song played on the station was '' Unwritten'' by

Natasha Bedingfield Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is a British singer and songwriter. Bedingfield released her debut album, '' Unwritten'', in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R&B music. It enjoyed intern ...

. Local output for Greater Manchester and Lancashire consists of a three-hour regional Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. Separate local news services are produced for the Blackburn & Preston and Burnley & Pendle areas.

Frequencies

* 96.3 FM:

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

* 99.8 FM:

and

* 106.5 FM: Preston and

South Ribble South Ribble is a borough in the county of Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Leyland. The population, at the 2011 Census, was 109,057. Notable towns and villages include Walton le Dale, Bamber Bridge, Leyland and Penwortham. It ...

* 107 FM:

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...

and

Both 99.8 FM and 107 FM work in Accrington.

External links

*
Pendle Forest Transmitter

References

4. Two Boroughs Radio Ltd 5. 2BR {{DEFAULTSORT:2br Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in Lancashire Radio stations established in 2000 Radio stations disestablished in 2019 The Local Radio Company Mass media in Hyndburn Mass media in Burnley Mass media in the Borough of Pendle