Radio in England

Commercial radio licences are awarded by government body Ofcom, which advertises a licence for a specific area and holds a contest to determine which station will be granted permission to broadcast in that area. Stations submit detailed application documents containing their proposed format and the outcome of research to determine the demand for their particular style of broadcast. Most commercial stations broadcast to a city or group of towns, or regional stations covering larger areas.

Many local and regional radio stations are owned by large radio groups which broadcast a similar format to many areas. The largest operator of radio is Global Radio which bought the former media group, Gcap Media. It owns Classic FM and London’s most popular commercial station, 95.8 Capital FM. Other owners are Bauer Radio and UTV Radio, which mainly own stations that broadcast in highly populated city areas.


Listening outside the UK
Since 2006, many of the UK’s commercial radio stations have been restricting live stream access to users from the United Kingdom only. This came as a response to PPL’s announcement that they would only grant radio stations the webcasting rights to stream to audiences within the UK only, or to face additional costs. Stations marked ‘UK only’, are restricted to UK IP addresses, those marked ‘Use UK Postcode’, will require you to type in a UK postcode to listen.

Station
Coverage
Frequencies
Bournemouth
102.3 FM, DAB 11B
Warminster, Frome & Westbury
107.5 FM
96.3 Radio Aire (UK only)
Leeds
96.3 FM, DAB 12D
Norwich
99.9 FM
The Bay (UK only)
Morecambe Bay
96.9, 102.3 (Windermere), 103.2 (Kendal)
Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft
103.4, 97.4 (Southwold and Great Yarmouth), DAB 11B (Norw.)
South west England
Various see: The Breeze Website
Swindon
107.7 FM
London, Nationwide (satellite)
95.8 FM, DAB 12C
CFM (UK only)
Carlisle, Penrith & West Cumbria
96.4 (Carlisle), 102.5 (Penrith) 102.2 (Work.), 103.4 (Whit)
Northwich, Winsford, Middlewich
92.5 FM
London
96.9 FM (South), 107.1 FM (North), DAB 11B
Compass FM (UK only)
Grimsby
96.4 FM
Dearne FM (UK only)
Barnsley
102.0, 97.1 FM
Dee 106.3 (UK only)
Chester, Flintshire, N. Wrexham
106.3 FM
North Essex
100.2 FM
Durham FM (UK only)
Durham
102.8, 106.8 FM
Essex
102.6 FM (Mid), 96.3 (South), 97.5 FM (Southend), 12D
Fire 107.6 FM (UK only)
Bournemouth & Poole
107.6 FM
Birmingham, Black Country, Coventry, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire
Various (see website
Various, see website
Various, see website
Groove (UK only)
London
96.8 FM
Hallam FM (UK only)
South Yorkshire
97.4 (Sheffield), 102.9 (Barnsley), 103.4 (Doncaster), DAB 11C
Choose your region
Various, see website
The Hits (UK only)
London
DAB 12A
South Manchester
104.9 FM
Kent
Various, see website, DAB 11C
Isles of Scilly
107.9 FM
Isle of Wight
107.0, 102.0 FM (Ryde), 102.0 FM (Vetnor), 102.0 FM (Cowes)
Oxfordshire
106.8, 106.4 (Bicester)
Birmingham (Urban Radio)
Online
Juice FM (Use UK Postcode)
Liverpool
107.6 FM
Hull
99.8 FM
Key 103 (UK only)
Greater Manchester
103.0 FM, DAB 11C
London, West Yorkshire (Asian)
1035 AM, DAB 11B (West Yorkshire) & on satellite
Kiss Network (UK only)
Choose your region
Various, see website
KL.FM 96.7 (UK only)
Norfolk
96.7 FM
kmfm (UK only)
Kent
Various, see website
Lakeland Radio (UK only)
South Lakes
100.1 (Kendal), 100.8 (Windermere)
London
97.3 FM & 1152 AM, DAB 12C
Lincs FM (UK only)
Lincolnshire
102.2, 96.7 (Grantham), 97.6 (Scunthorpe), DAB 11B (Humberside)
North London
103.3 FM
London Turkish Radio (Londra Türk Radyosu)
North London
1584 AM
Magic (UK only)
Choose your region
Various, see website
Mansfield
103.2 FM
Reigate and Crawley
102.7 FM, 97.5 FM (Horsham)
Metro Radio (UK only)
Tyne and Wear
97.1, 102.6 (Alnwi), 103.0 (Newcastle), 103.2 (Hexham), DAB 11C
Minster FM (UK only)
North Yorkshire
104.7 FM
Mix 96 (UK only)
Aylesbury
96.2 FM
More Radio (UK only)
Eastbourne, Hastings, Mid Sussex, Worthing
107.5 (Eastbourne), 107.7 (Worthing), 107.8 (Hastings). 106,4 (Mid Sussex)
North Norfolk
96.2, 103.2 FM
Portsmouth and Winchester
97.5 (Portsmouth), 96.7 (Winchester), DAB 11C (S. Hampshire)
Palm 105.5 (UK only)
South Devon
105.5 FM
London, Yorks, Midlands
Various, see website
Sussex Coast
DAB 11B
North Derbyshire
102.0 (Matlock), 107.4 (Chesterfield), DAB 10B
Pirate FM 102 (UK only)
Cornwall
97.5 & 102.5 FM, DAB 11B
Bradford, Halifax, and Yorkshire
97.5 FM (Bradford), 102.5 FM (Halifax & Huddersf.), DAB 11B
Bradford, Halifax & Huddersfield
1278 am (Bradford), 1530 am (Halifax and Huddersf.), DAB 11B
Radio City 96.7 (UK only)
Merseyside
96.7 FM, DAB 11B
Exeter & the surrounding area
107.3 FM
Radio Hampshire (UK only)
Southampton
107.8 FM, DAB 11C (South Hampshire)
SW London & North Surrey
107.8 FM
Blackpool and the Fylde
96.5 FM
Tees Valley, County Durham, North Yorkshire
102.6 FM (Richmond), 102.8 FM (County Durham), 103.2 FM (Darlington), 103.5 FM (Northallerton), 106.8 FM (Bishop Auckland)
Manchester
106.1 FM, DAB
Ridings FM (UK only)
Wakefield
106.8 FM, DAB 12D (Leeds)
97.4 Rock FM (UK only)
Central Lancashire
97.4 FM, DAB 12A
Rother FM (UK only)
Rotherham
96.1 FM
Rutland Radio (UK only)
Rutland
107.2, 97.4 (Stamford)
Leicester (Asian)
1260 AM, DAB 11B
Bristol, Swindon, Thames Valley and the South Coast
106.5 (Bristol), 106.0 & 106.6 (South Coast), 107.7 (Swindon)
Staffordshire & Cheshire
102.6, 96.9 (Stafford), 96.4 (Cheshire), DAB 12D (local)
Staffordshire & Cheshire
1170 AM, DAB 12D
Macclesfield
106.9 FM
Smooth Radio (UK only)
See website for regions
Various, see website
Sussex
102.4, 96.9 & 103.5 (Brighton), 102.0 (Hastings)11B, DAB (Sussex Coast)
London (Multi Ethnic)
558 AM, DAB 12A
Spire FM (UK only)
Salisbury
102.0 FM
Spirit FM (UK only)
South West & West Sussex
106.6, 96.6 (Chichester), 102.3 (Littlehampton)
Star 107 (UK only)
Cambridge and Ely
107.1, 107.9 FM
Harrogate
97.2 FM
Sun FM (UK only)
Sunderland & Wearside
103.4 FM
Sunrise FM (UK only)
Yorkshire (Asian)
103.2 FM, DAB 11B (Bradford)
London & Huddersfield
1458 AM, DAB 12C
Shropshire, Herefordshire & Worcs
855 AM (Shropshire), 954 AM (Herefordsh) 1530 AM (Worcs)
Harlow
101.7 FM
TFM Radio (UK only)
Teesside
96.6 FM, 11B
The Bay (UK only)
Lancaster
96.8 & 102.3 FM
South West
Various, see website for details.
Oldham & Rochdale
96.2 FM
Shrewsbury & Oswestry
106.5 FM (Shrewsbury), 107.1 FM (Oswestry)
Wolverhampton
107.7 FM
Kidderminster
107.2 FM
Time 106.6 (UK only)
Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead
106.6 FM
Time 107.5 (UK only)
East London & West Essex
107.5 FM
Bolton & Bury
107.4 FM
Town 102 (UK only)
Ipswich
102.0 FM
Trax FM (UK only)
Doncaster & Bassetlaw
107.1, 107.9 FM, DAB 11C
Viking FM (UK only)
Humberside
96.9 FM
Wave 105 FM (UK only)
Solent & Isle of Wight
105.2 FM, 105.8 FM (Poole), DAB 11B & 11C
Wessex FM (UK only)
Dorchester & Weymouth
96.0, 97.2 FM
Warrington
107.2 FM
The Wirral
97.1 FM
Wigan & St Helens
102.4 FM
Hereford & Worcester
96.7 FM (Kidderminster), 97.6 FM (Hereford), 102.8 FM (Worcest)
London & Manchester
104.9 FM (London) & 97.7 FM (Manchester), DAB 12C
Scarborough & Whitby
96.2 FM, 103.1 FM (Whitby), 102.4 FM (Bridlington)

 

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