BBC Radio Stoke is the BBC's local radio station serving

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

and South

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

. 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 ...

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), a ...

and via BBC Sounds from studios in the

Hanley Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...

area of

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 119,000 listeners and an 9.6% share as of September 2022.

Overview

The station began broadcasting programmes on 14 March 1968 as ''BBC Radio Stoke-on-Trent''. Both of the English counties the station covers have no BBC local radio station for their whole area. In Staffordshire, the south is covered by BBC WM, east by BBC Radio Derby and the west by BBC Radio Shropshire. In Cheshire, north-western areas are served by BBC Radio Merseyside and the north-east by BBC Radio Manchester. The station broadcasts from its studios on Cheapside in

, the biggest of the six towns that make up the city of

. There are also studios and offices in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, Leek and Stafford. The station uses the frequencies of 94.6 MHz and 104.1 MHz FM, and is also available on the Stoke & Stafford DAB digital radio multiplex,

TV channel 726 and via BBC Sounds. The current Managing Editors are Alistair Miskin and Tim Beech.

Tuning details

Transmitters

The Alsagers Bank transmitter is two miles west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, close to the M6. Stations broadcast from it can be clearly heard in most parts of northern

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, and along the M6 from the M54 junction to Skelmersdale. The transmitter also carries

Signal 1 Signal 1 is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Staffordshire and South Cheshire. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 172,000 listeners a ...

(a commercial station owned by Bauer),

BBC National DAB BBC National DAB is a digital audio broadcasting multiplex in the UK, for a number of radio stations which have UK wide coverage. The multiplex is owned and operated by the BBC and is transmitted from a number of transmitter sites across the c ...

and

Digital One Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It conta ...

. The 104.1 MHz frequency is heard in Stafford and the transmitter is on the roof of the County Education building in the town.

signals come from the Stoke & Stafford 12D multiplex from Alsagers Bank, Pye Green (near Hednesford), Sutton Common (between Congleton and Macclesfield in

), and Tick Hill (strongest power, south-east of the junction of the A520 and A52 near the Foxfield Steam Railway between Cookshill and Godleybrook). The Sideway transmitter is right next to the A500 D Road, just south of the A50 junction. Signal 1 (102.6 MHz) and Radio Stoke (94.6 MHz) are clear in most of the area except in some parts of the Staffordshire Moorlands ( Cheadle in particular) and Stafford (which has its own relays).

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Stoke-on-Trent studios from 6am – 10pm each day. The station's late show, airing from 10pm-1am, originates from

BBC Radio WM BBC Radio WM is the BBC's local radio station serving the West Midlands. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Mailbox in Birmingham. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 236,000 lis ...

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

References

External links

BBC Radio Stoke

Alsagers Bank transmitter (including coverage map)

Pye Green (Digital)

Sideway transmitter

Sutton Common (Digital)

Audio clips

2001 Jingle
{{coord missing, West Midlands Stoke Radio stations in Cheshire Mass media in Stoke-on-Trent Radio stations established in 1968 Radio stations in Staffordshire