BBC Radio York
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| City of license | York |
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| Broadcast area | North Yorkshire |
| Slogan | The BBC for North Yorkshire |
| Frequency | 103.7, 104.3 MHz, 666 & 1260 kHz |
| First air date | 4 July 1983 |
| Format | Local news, talk and music |
| Language | English |
| Audience share | 7.6% (March 2011, [1]) |
| Former callsigns | BBC Radio York, BBC North Yorkshire |
| Owner | BBC Local Radio, BBC Yorkshire, BBC North East and Cumbria |
| Website | BBC Radio York |
BBC York is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of North Yorkshire.
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[edit] Early history
The station was launched at 6:30am on 4 July 1983 - a launch featured on the cover of the Radio Times. A year prior to its launch, a temporary AM service was broadcast for coverage of Pope John Paul II's visit to the city.
BBC York was the only local radio station in North Yorkshire in its first nine years of operation. The independent commercial rival, Minster FM, began broadcasting on 4 July 1992. Stray FM, the independent station covering the Harrogate and Ripon areas, made its first transmission exactly two years to the day after Minster's launch and eleven years to the day after BBC York's launch.
The first station manager was John Jefferson with the late Tony Fish as Programme Organiser. The original team included David Farwig, Derm Tanner, Andy Joynson, Will Hanrahan, Graham Pass, Andy Hitchcock, Chris Loveder and Chris Choi, Charlotte Counsel, Shirley Lewis, and Sandy Barton,
[edit] Technical
BBC York broadcasts from its studios in York on 95.5 (Olivers Mount, Scarborough), 103.7 (Acklam Wold transmitter near Leavening, midway between York and Malton) and 104.3 (Woolmoor, near Upsall four miles north of Thirsk close to the A19 - for Harrogate, Northallerton and the Yorkshire Dales) FM, 666 (Fulford), 1260 (Row Brow, Scarborough) AM and by Real Player from their website. It is not on DAB yet. BBC Local Radio stations have reserved space on the local commercial DAB multiplex. No such multiplex is on air yet for North Yorkshire, however there is an MXR (Chrysalis) regional multiplex broadcasting from Acklam Wold, but BBC York is not part of this.
Acklam Wold is the strongest frequency on 103.7 which is for Ryedale and the Vale of York, and the 140 ft transmitter also has the commercial station, Minster FM on 104.7. The 103.7 signal can be heard as far south as Mansfield on the M1, and can be received in West and South Yorkshire. The transmitter used to broadcast on 90.2 FM, and another on 97.2. The Olivers Mount transmitter also has Yorkshire Coast Radio on 96.2, as well as television and national radio frequencies. The Woolmoor transmitter has national radio frequencies.
Much of BBC York's studio infrastructure was the original Mk3 installation, dating from the station's inception in 1983. This aging equipment had become unreliable, causing the station to "fall off air" regularly [2]. Because the refurbishment required was significant, it would not be possible to continue to broadcast from the existing premised during the refurbishment, and no suitable alternative premises could be identified. Therefore plans were drawn up for BBC York to move in with BBC Leeds temporarily [3] and to retain a presence in North Yorkshire through the BBC Bus, and through increased contributions from district studios in Harrogate and Scarborough. BBC York has since completed refurbishment of studio equipment and news room.
[edit] DAB licence
The DAB licence that BBC York will use only covers the eastern part of North Yorkshire, York, and the north part of East Yorkshire (York and Scarborough). The licence was advertised in June 2007, and will be taken by MuxCo, as it submitted the only application in September 2007. It was supposed be ready in June 2009, then revised to December 2009, but as of December 2009 there is still no sign of anything happening.
[edit] Programming
[edit] Weekdays
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[edit] Friday variations
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[edit] Saturday
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[edit] Sunday
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[edit] Former presenters
Former presenters at the station include ITV Sport commentator Jon Champion, Sky Sports commentator Rob Hawthorne and Will Hanrahan - who went on to present Look North and report for Good Morning with Anne and Nick. Victor Lewis-Smith started his BBC career here, presenting his chat and music programme, "Snooze Button", on Sunday mornings in 1984. Countdown host Richard Whiteley made several guest appearances in the early 2000s. Richard Hammond was also once a presenter.[1]
[edit] Past Programming
Up until 2007, BBC York simulcast evening and weekend programming with counterpart stations in the BBC Yorkshire region (Radio Leeds and Radio Sheffield) including Martin Kelner's Late Thing and The Alex Hall Late Night Phone In. The Early Show from BBC Radio Humberside (within the BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region) was also carried. Recently, networked programming has been replaced with further local output. However, some networked output from the BBC North East and Cumbria and BBC Yorkshire regions continues to air.
BBC York was also a part of The BBC Night Network, a group of ten BBC Local Radio stations in the North of England which featured networked programming every evening. One of those shows Late Night North with David Dunning often aired from the York studios.
[edit] Criticism
North Yorkshire County Council and the City of York Council had criticised the national media for over dramatising the flood of 19 June 2005, which led to the sudden drop of tourism in North Yorkshire for the remainder of 2005. However their reports on the floods of 2005 praised BBC Radio York for its balanced coverage.
[edit] External links
- BBC Radio York
- Media UK - BBC Radio York
- History of local radio in Yorkshire.
- David's Transmitter World
- Acklam Wold transmitter.
- Fulford transmitter.
- Olivers Mount transmitter.
- Row Brow transmitter.
- Woolmoor transmitter.
[edit] References
- ^ Top Gear TV Program, Season 14, Episode 5
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