BBC Radio Suffolk

BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Suffolk, commencing broadcasts on 12 April 1990. Its studios are at Broadcasting House in St Matthews Street, Ipswich. The station broadcasts on 95.5 (Oulton, near Lowestoft), 95.9 (Aldeburgh), 103.9 (Manningtree) and 104.6 (Great Barton, four miles north-east of Bury St Edmunds near the B1106 and Conyers Green) FM. In 2004, Radio Suffolk was named Station of the Year in the Sony Radio Academy Awards.[1] It is available in parts of Suffolk on DAB 10C and from Sudbury and Tacolneston television transmitters (plus relays of) on Freeview channel 720.

BBC Radio Suffolk
CityIpswich
Broadcast areaSuffolk
Frequency95.5 MHz, 95.9 MHz, 103.9 MHz & 104.6 MHz
RDS: BBC_Suff
Freeview: 720
DAB: 10C
SloganThe sound of Suffolk, and all the music you love
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatLocal news, talk, sport and music
Ownership
OwnerBBC Local Radio,
BBC East
History
First air date12 April 1990
Links
Websitewww.bbc.co.uk/radiosuffolk

According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 104,000 listeners and a 8.3% share as of December 2018.[2]

Transmitters

SE Suffolk The Manningtree frequency 103.9FM is the strongest at 5KW ERP. The 154.4-metre (507 ft)[3] antenna mast transmitter is just south of Manningtree, in Essex, and is also one of the BBC Essex MW transmitters. However, the BBC Radio Suffolk broadcasts are directional to the North.

West Suffolk The Great Barton transmitter on 104.6FM 2KW ERP, also has Heart FM East Anglia on 96.4FM.

Lowestoft and Waveney Due to what was called a "planning error" with Lowestoft at launch, having no coverage, a 50W VP relay started during January 1991 on 95.5FM. It was on the water tower at Hollingsworth Road. It covered just the town of Lowestoft itself, leaving other nearby areas reliant on the transmitters at Manningtree or Great Barton. It was replaced by a higher power transmitter (2KW ERP VP) at Oulton in 2003 to service NE Suffolk. The Oulton transmitter also has The Beach on 103.4FM.

Aldeburgh and East Suffolk The 95.9FM frequency, from the Aldeburgh mast, began in 2004 and had to be approved by the Dutch government in case of interference in the Netherlands. Broadcasts are at 2KW ERP Mixed Polarization. The mast is also used as a TV relay for the Suffolk coastal area. Aldeburgh is a relay of Manningtree on 103.9FM, all the other transmitters have direct links with ISDN backup system in place (August 2017). Aldeburgh was added because of the locally poor reception (as it was on the edge of the Manningtree coverage).

There is no MW frequency. Radio Suffolk is licensed to broadcast commentary on all Ipswich Town league and cup games on FM and DAB, but not on Freeview or via the BBC Sounds app.

DAB signal is on 10C from Mendlesham (Central Suffolk and Ipswich), Puttock's Hill (Bury St Edmunds), Warren Heath (Ipswich), Felixstowe (Town and Dock area). Suffolk MUX testing started on 30 September 2016 and launched on 7 October 2017 at 9:30am.[4] Due to the few masts currently in use, there is a lack of coverage towards the Suffolk Coast north of Felixstowe to Lowestoft. Sudbury, Newmarket, Haverhill, Lowestoft, Southwold and Beccles & Bungay also have very poor or no DAB coverage of the Suffolk MUX. Radio Suffolk is so far the last BBC Local Radio station to be made available on DAB.

Digital TV From 6 June 2016, BBC Radio Suffolk was available on Freeview and YouView channel 720 as part of the nationwide roll out of BBC local radio stations on Freeview.[5] This is only from the Sudbury and Tacolneston transmitter groups, covering the same area as Look East (East).

Programming

Most of BBC Radio Suffolk's programming is produced and broadcast from its Ipswich studios.

During off-peak hours, BBC Radio Suffolk also carries regional programming for the East, produced from sister stations BBC Radio Norfolk, BBC Essex, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, BBC 3 Counties Radio and BBC Radio Northampton. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Suffolk simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live overnight.

Notable past presenters include Nicholas Pandolfi Roy Waller and Stewart White were famous in Radio Norfolk.

See also

References
  1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/3170374.stm
  2. "RAJAR". RAJAR. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  3. http://www.thebigtower.com/live/Manningtree/
  4. http://www.a516digital.com/2016/10/official-launch-for-new-suffolk-dab.html
  5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/news/item104

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