BBC Radio Berkshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Berkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds studios at Thames Valley Park near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. 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 call ...

, the station has a weekly audience of 109,000 listeners and a 4.2% share as of September 2022.

History

The station began on 21 January 1992, initially as a sister station of Radio Oxford, broadcasting for part of the weekday and weekend mornings. Due to financial cutbacks, BBC Director-General John Birt announced that it was to merge with BBC Radio Oxford on 9 April 1996 to become BBC Thames Valley FM. On 14 February 2000, the two stations became separate once again.

Awards

The

Andrew Peach Andrew Peach is a radio presenter in the United Kingdom. He presents a daily news and phone-in show on BBC Radio Berkshire which was named 'Best Local Radio Show in the UK' at the 2021 Radio Academy ARIA Awards. He also presents network programme ...

Show was named Best Local Radio Show in the UK at the 2021 Radio Academy ARIA Awards. BBC Radio Berkshire was named Station of the Year in the 2012

Frank Gillard Awards The Frank Gillard Awards are awards for BBC Local Radio stations in the UK. They are named after Frank Gillard who initiated the BBC Local Radio, BBC's local radio network. The award is a head of Frank Gillard and is given as Gold, Silver and Bronz ...

, also winning in the Sports Coverage category for its coverage of Olympic rowing at

Eton Dorney Dorney Lake (also known as Eton College Rowing Centre, and as Eton Dorney as a 2012 Summer Olympics venue) is a purpose-built rowing lake in England. It is near the village of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and is around 3 km (2 miles) west of ...

. Andrew Peach won silver in both the Programme Presenter and The Ultimate Hot Seat categories. In the 2013

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

the Andrew Peach programme won bronze in the category Breakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million). In November 2018, BBC Radio Berkshire moved from Caversham Park House – which the station shared with BBC Monitoring – to new purpose-built studios at Thames Valley Park on the outskirts of Reading.

Transmitters

The Hannington transmitter for BBC Radio Berkshire's 104.1 FM frequency is located on Cottington Hill (close to

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natura ...

). Along with the BBC's signal it also carries television channels and

Heart South Heart South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the south and south east of England from studios in Fareham, Hampshire. The station launched on 3 June 2019 as a result of a me ...

on 102.9 FM. The 104.1 FM signal can be heard over most of Hampshire, certainly more than

BBC Radio Solent BBC Radio Solent is the BBC's local radio station serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Havelock Road in Southampton. According to RAJAR, the station has a ...

. The Fountain House transmitter carries Heart South on 97 FM and BBC Radio Berkshire on 104.4 FM since 1991. The Henley-on-Thames transmitter which carries BBC Radio Berkshire on 94.6 FM also carries Heart South on 103.4 FM. The Windsor transmitter carries BBC Radio Berkshire on 95.4 FM. Since 31 July 2004, DAB broadcasts have come from the NOW Digitalbr>Berkshire & North Hampshire 12D multiplex
from Coppid Beech (at the junction of the B3408 and

A329(M) The A329(M) is a motorway in Berkshire, England. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) long and runs from the west of Bracknell to the north west of Winnersh. It is one of a small number of parts of the motorway system in England that are managed by ...

in west Bracknell), Hannington and Hemdean (just north of Caversham). The Basingstoke DAB transmitter (between

Cliddesden Cliddesden is a parish in Hampshire, England located 3 miles south of Basingstoke, close to the M3 motorway. In the 2001 census it had a population of 489, increasing to 497 at the 2011 Census. The land and housing are currently protected as it ...

and

Winslade Winslade is a hamlet and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. It lies south of Basingstoke, just off the A339 road. The hamlet covers an area of and has an average elevation of . Its nearest railway statio ...

near the A339 in Hampshire) was added on 3 October 2005. Since June 2016, BBC Radio Berkshire has been available 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), ...

TV channel 719. It also streams online via BBC Sounds.

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Reading studios from 6am – 10pm on Sundays – Fridays and from 6am – 6pm and 8-10pm on Saturdays. Off-peak programming, including the late show from 10pm – 1am, originates from

in Southampton. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Berkshire simulcasts overnight programming from BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio London.

Presenters

Notable current presenters include: * Tony Blackburn (Sunday evenings) * Bill Buckley (weekday daytime) *

Paul Coia Paul Coia (born 19 June 1955 in Glasgow) is a Scottish television presenter and continuity announcer who was the first voice to be heard on Channel 4 on its launch in 1982. His career originally began in the late 1970s as a DJ and in the early 19 ...

(Sunday breakfast) *

Kirsten O'Brien Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien (born 23 February 1972) is an English television presenter and actress. She is perhaps best known for her work presenting for the BBC, including the popular CBBC art programme '' SMart'' from 1999 to 2009, and CBeebies ...

(Sunday daytime) *

(weekday breakfast)

References

External links

* {{coord, 51, 28, 50.52, N, 0, 57, 26.98, W, region:GB, display=title Berkshire Organisations based in Reading, Berkshire Culture in Reading, Berkshire Radio stations in Berkshire Radio stations established in 1992