BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

. It broadcasts on FM,

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * '' Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dą ...

, digital TV and via

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a 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 phones and tabl ...

from studios in the Summertown area of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. 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 88,000 listeners and a 5.0% share as of September 2022.

History

BBC Oxford radio transmission van Cowley Road Festival 2010

*Early 1970 – Oxford was chosen as a location for BBC local radio and premises in Summertown found at 242-254 Banbury Road. The site is known as Barclay House and was previously a Rolls-Royce showroom. *Mid 1970: Staff were recruited, a small number with BBC experience but mostly local people, and the studios at Summertown are built. *September 1970 – On air staff trained at The Langham Hotel in London *Early October 1970 – Three weeks of test transmissions begin. *29 October 1970 – BBC Radio Oxford officially begins transmission at 5pm on 95.0 MHz VHF. *31 December 1970 – ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves ...

'' lists BBC Radio Oxford programmes for the first time. *5 October 1972 – Due to high demand by residents who did not have VHF/FM on their radios, BBC Radio Oxford begins broadcasting on 202 metres medium wave (1484 kHz). The station would also be available on the local cable network on 'Rediffusion Channel A'. *26 June 1973 – BBC Radio Oxford moves its VHF frequency to 95.2 MHz to avoid interference with BBC Radio London on 94.9 MHz. *22 May 1976 – The station opens its studios to the public for an open weekend. *October 1980 – BBC Radio Oxford celebrates 10 years on air by publishing a magazine. *April/May 1989 – BBC Radio Oxford moves to purpose built studios at 269 Banbury Road, Summertown. *9 April 1996 – Radio Oxford merges with

BBC Radio Berkshire 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. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience ...

to form the short-lived BBC Thames Valley FM. Local programming is restricted to separate news bulletins for the two counties. *14 February 2000 – Radio Oxford is revived, although most output continues to be shared with Radio Berkshire. *2004 – BBC Radio Oxford relaunches with a new line-up of presenters. By now, the station has regained a full line-up of local programming. *April 2008 – The station is rebranded as ''BBC Oxford 95.2FM'' as part of a relaunch involving the regional TV news programme ''BBC Oxford News'' (previously ''South Today Oxford''). *October 2010 – The station celebrates its 40th anniversary and reverts to the Radio Oxford branding. *21 December 2012 – BBC Radio Oxford's

service is launched.NOW Digital – Oxford.
. Retrieved 5 January 2013

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Oxford studios from 6am – 10pm on weekdays, from 6am – 6pm and 8-9pm on Saturdays and from 6am – 6pm and 10pm – 1am on Sundays. Off-peak programming, including the late show from 10pm – 1am, originates from BBC Radio Solent in Southampton and

in Reading. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Oxford 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 Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...

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: *

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC ...

(Sunday evenings) *

David Prever David Prever (born ca. 1967) is a four time Sony Award winning radio presenter, and thriller author. Early life David was born in London and grew up in Chigwell, Essex. He was educated at Bancroft's School in Woodford Green and attended the Sylvia ...

(weekday breakfast) *

Bill Rennells Bill Rennells (born 25 July 1931) is an English broadcaster and former journalist, who currently presents ''Harmony Night'' on BBC Radio Oxford. Rennells previously hosted the late night programme ''Nightride'' on BBC Radio 2 for 14 years. Born ...

(''Harmony Night'')

Notable past presenters

* Richard Allinson (now on

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 Rad ...

and Scala Radio) * Malcolm Boyden (departed October 2014 to return to BBC Hereford & Worcester after leaving the station in 2008) *

Jon Briggs Jon Briggs (born 24 January 1965) is an English television, radio presenter and narrator. He is best known for his voice-over work, and particularly as the British voice used by Apple Inc.'s Siri virtual assistant software. Career Briggs's vo ...

(original UK voice of Apple's Siri) *

Humphrey Carpenter Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (29 April 1946 – 4 January 2005) was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J. R. R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inkl ...

(died 2005) *

Anne Diamond Anne Margaret Diamond (born 8 September 1954) is a British journalist and broadcaster. She presently hosts the weekend breakfast show on GB News with Stephen Dixon as her co-presenter. She hosted '' Good Morning Britain'' for TV-am and ''Good ...

Mike Dickin Robert Michael Dickin (28 September 1943 – 18 December 2006), was an English radio DJ, best known as the late-night host on the radio station talkSPORT. Early life Dickin was born in 1943 in Reading, Berkshire. Career Dickin started ou ...

(died 2006) * Will Gompertz *

Jonathan Hancock Jonathan Bruce Hancock is the author of 'The Study Book', a columnist for Reader's Digest magazine, and the Founder of The Junior Memory Championship. A two-time Guinness World Record-Holder and former World Memory Champion, he also spent fifteen ...

* Bob Harris (now on

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. ...

) * Bill Heine (died 2019) *

Alex Lester Alexander Norman Charles Lester (born 11 May 1956) is a British broadcaster. He presented the weekday overnight/early-morning programme on BBC Radio 2 from 1992 until 2014. From October 2014 until January 2017, he presented the midnight to 3am pr ...

(now on

) * Timmy Mallett * Andrew Peach (now on

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 ...

and

) *

Libby Purves Elizabeth Mary Purves, (born 2 February 1950) is a British radio presenter, journalist and author. Early life and career Born in London, a diplomat's daughter, Purves was raised in her mother's Catholic faith and educated at convent school ...

(later at

, now on Times Radio) * Alan Roberts * Sybil Ruscoe * Martin Stanford (formerly of

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the he ...

, now at

LBC News LBC News is a rolling news radio station based in the United Kingdom. It broadcasts in Greater London on AM and UK wide on DAB and online. History The 1152 AM frequency in London has a complicated history of format and ownership. Continuous ne ...

) *

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians *T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs * Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and prod ...

(now on

)

References

External links

BBC Radio Oxford

BBC Oxford

Media UK – BBC Radio Oxford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Oxford Radio stations established in 1970