BBC Essex

BBC Essex

City of license	Chelmsford
Broadcast area	Essex
Slogan	Across the county, broadcasting live from the birthplace of radio
Frequency	103.5 FM, 95.3 FM, 729 AM, 765 AM, 1530 AM
First air date	5 November 1986
Format	Talk / News / Music
Language	English
Audience share	9.6% (March 2010, [1])
Owner	BBC Local Radio, BBC East (Uttlesford, Braintree, Colchester and Tendring) BBC London
Website	BBC Essex

BBC Essex is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Essex. It broadcasts from its studios on New London Road in Chelmsford on 103.5 (Great Braxted) and 95.3 (South Benfleet) FM, and on 729 (Manningtree), 765 (Bakers Wood), and 1530 (Rayleigh) AM. It is also available on DAB and live streaming via the internet.

History

BBC Essex launched on 5 November 1986. It broke from the naming convention of "BBC Radio (county name)" so as to avoid confusion with Essex Radio (later Essex FM, now Heart Essex). There had also been a pirate station called Radio Essex in the 1960s.

BBC Essex set out to be different from existing BBC local stations, which were often perceived as rather "stuffy" and "worthy". It launched with a more up-beat sound, an almost "tabloid" news style and younger presenters than most stations; the BBC Essex symbol also didn't feature the traditional BBC logo. However, over the years the style has been toned down and the format is now more in line with the rest of the BBC local radio family.

The station celebrated twenty years of broadcasting in November 2006.

Transmitters

The strongest signal is 103.5 FM, which comes from a small transmitter between Witham and Tiptree. It reaches into Hertfordshire. The 95.3FM signal is heard in most of the southern Thames Estuary as well. The South Benfleet transmitter also provides Essex FM on 96.3FM and DAB. The 500 ft Manningtree transmitter, the highest of all five, also has national radio frequencies, Absolute Radio, BBC National DAB (the only one in Essex) and Digital One. It is the main FM transmitter for Radio Suffolk. The Bakers Wood transmitter also has Essex FM on 102.6FM, and is one of the DAB transmitters. DAB signals, since 20 May 2002, have come from the Essex 12D multiplex, which has transmitters at Maitland House (Southend-on-Sea town centre), Colchester, Sudbury (in Suffolk), and Rye Hill (south of Harlow - on a water tower). Rye Hill also has Ten 17 on 101.7FM.

Pirate BBC Essex

From 10 to 17 April 2004, BBC Essex marked the fortieth anniversary of offshore radio in Britain by launching their own ship-based radio station, Pirate BBC Essex. Broadcasting from an old light vessel, the station transmitted sixties music and memories twenty-four hours a day all week. This was followed in August 2007 by another broadcast marking the anniversary of the closing of the pirate stations by the Marine Offences Act.

Over the Easter Weekend in April 2009, the popular Pirate Radio Essex programme was resurrected by popular demand from listeners, occurring 5 days after the release of the comedy movie The Boat that Rocked. This was broadcast on the AM frequencies, as well as on the internet, which resulted in many calls from as far away as New Zealand. Presenters included Johnnie Walker, Tony Blackburn, Dave Cash & Keith Skues as well as the stations presenters: Steve Scruton; Ian Wyatt & Ray Clark.

External links

• BBC Essex Online Homepage
• BBC Essex at BBC Online
• Media UK - BBC Essex
• History of local radio in Essex.
• Pirate BBC Essex.
• BBC Essex Introducing Myspace

Audio clips

• 2001 Jingle

Video clips

• Recording jingles at S2 Blue in Leek on YouTube
• BBC Essex's channel on YouTube
• BBC Essex Introducing's channel on YouTube