BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

radio station owned and operated by

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of

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 Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

. It is broadcast on radio across

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

and parts of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, and on digital television services across all of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. 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 broadcasts to a weekly audience of 469,000 with a listening share of 17.8% as of September 2022.

Overview

It is the most widely listened to radio station in Northern Ireland, with a diverse range of programmes, including news, talk, features, music and sport. In the Q3 2021 RAJAR survey, the station had 517,000 weekly listeners, with total weekly listening hours of 5.5 million, beating its main local rivals (Cool FM, Downtown Radio, Downtown Country, U105, and Q Radio) on both of these metrics and, logically therefore, average weekly hours per listener (10.64). When taken together, the Bauer-owned stations (both Downtown stations and Cool FM) had higher total audience and listening hours per week, but lower average weekly hours per listener. The station had 135,000 more weekly listeners than its equivalent in Wales, BBC Radio Wales, despite serving a RAJAR population 1.1 million smaller. The station had the highest percentage reach and listening share, per corresponding survey area, of any BBC local, nations or national radio station, at 34% and 19.9% respectively. It is broadcast from BBC Northern Ireland's

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The m ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

. News bulletins are broadcast usually on the hour seven days a week from 6:30 am until midnight (on weekdays), from 6:45 am until midnight (on Saturdays) and from 7:00 am until midnight (on weekends, Christmas holidays, and Bank Holidays). It is available on 92-95 FM,

Digital audio broadcasting Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting syst ...

and Freeview in Northern Ireland and across the UK on

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 tablets, ...

and satellite/cable television. It is also available in the

via

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ven ...

, on smart speakers or on FM in counties bordering Northern Ireland. The station was available on medium wave on 1341 kHz and 873 kHz until 6 May 2021. An opt-out of the station exists in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...

, BBC Radio Foyle, carrying alternative programming and news between 7:00am and 4:00pm weekdays with opt-out news bulletins at the weekend. The station is also broadcast on DAB Digital Radio, digital television and on the Internet. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Ulster simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live programming.

Funding

The BBC reported in the Annual Report for 2017/18 that Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle operated on a budget of £17.6 million with a 38% reach of the population and that the cost per hour of output was 5.8p.

Programmes

*'' Good Morning Ulster'' *''

The Nolan Show ''The Nolan Show'', hosted by Stephen Nolan, airs on weekdays on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle from 9:00am – 10:30am. Nolan has also moved onto a network platform, hosting ''Question Time Extra Time'' every Thursday night and a three-h ...

'' *'' Talkback'' *'' Evening Extra'' *'' Blas'' *''

Country Afternoon with Hugo Duncan ''Country Afternoon with Hugo Duncan'' is a country music radio programme, broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster Mondays to Fridays, 1.30pm-3pm. The show features interviews with country singers and performers, and Hugo regularly takes the show on the ...

'' *''Gardener's Corner'' *'' Across the Line'' *''

Jazz Club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is lice ...

'' *'' On Your Behalf'' *''

Sounds Classical In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' *'' Sunday Sequence'' *''Radio Ulster Folk Club'' *''Ralph McLean'' (BBC Radio Ulster) *''The John Toal Show'' *''The Foodie'' (BBC Radio Ulster) *''Kerry McLean'' *''

Your Place and Mine ''Your Place and Mine'' is a Northern Irish radio programme. The programme went on air for the first time in September 1991 and "was commissioned to bring something different to Saturday mornings on BBC Radio Ulster, which was originally music ...

'' *'' The Blame Game'' ''Thought for the Day''Thought for the Day from Radio Ulster
/ref>

Notable presenters

* Joel Taggart * Chris Buckler * Sarah Brett * Stephen Nolan *Connor Philips * William Crawley *

Hugo Duncan Hugo Duncan (Hugh Anthony Duncan) (born 26 March 1950, in Strabane) is a singer and BBC broadcaster born in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland on 26 March 1950. His nickname is "The wee man from Strabane" or "Uncle Hugo". In the early ...

*Lynette Fay * Declan Harvey * Tara Mills * Richard Morgan *

Tina Campbell Tina Campbell (born 1971)"New job, new baby"
Belfa ...

(newsreader) *

Sean Coyle John "Sean" Coyle (born 1946) is a Northern Irish radio broadcaster from Derry, Northern Ireland who, until 2019, worked for BBC Northern Ireland on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle, hosting ''The Sean Coyle Show'' from 10:30am - Noon, Mon ...

*Sara Neil (business reporter) * Linda McAuley * Tim McGarry * Kerry McLean *

Brian D'Arcy Brian D'Arcy CP OBE (born 1 June 1945) is an Irish Passionist priest based in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. A writer, newspaper columnist, broadcaster and preacher. He is the author of several books of trite musings including ...

* Stephen McCauley * Ralph McLean * Angie Phillips (weather presenter) * Rigsy * John Toal *

Linley Hamilton Linley Hamilton (born 17 March 1965) is a musician, educator and broadcaster from Northern Ireland. He is a Dr. of Jazz Performance and Lecturer of Music at Ulster University Magee. He presents ''Jazz World with Linley Hamilton'' on BBC Radio Ulst ...

* Mickey Bradley

Previous presenters

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

Seamus McKee Seamus McKee is a presenter of "Evening Extra" on Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Ulster. Previously he was a news presenter for BBC Northern Ireland, mainly working in radio. A former French and English teacher and sports presenter he has worked for the ...

* Stephen Clements *

Gerry Kelly Gerard Kelly (Irish: Gearard Ó Ceallaigh; born 5 April 1953) is an Irish republican politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member who played a leading role in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement on 1 ...

Wendy Austin Dr Wendy Elizabeth Austin Hewitt (born November 19, 1951) is a former BBC journalist and broadcaster in BBC Northern Ireland, and former presenter of BBC Radio Ulster’s current affairs programme ''Talkback''. Austin began her career in journ ...

*Karen Patterson *Conor Bradford * Sean Rafferty * Noel Thompson * Kim Lenaghan

References

External links

* {{coord, 54.594, -5.930, display=title, region:GB_scale:5000

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

Radio stations in Northern Ireland Mass media in Belfast Radio stations established in 1975 BBC Northern Ireland 1975 establishments in Northern Ireland Music in Belfast