BBC Radio Newcastle is the BBC's local radio station serving Newcastle upon Tyne, the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs, Northumberland and north east County Durham.

It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from BBC studios on Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne.

According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 234,000 listeners and a 4.6% share as of March 2025.

Technical

thumb|The "Pink Palace" - the Broadcasting Centre of [[BBC North East and Cumbria, including Radio Newcastle.]]

The Pontop Pike transmitter broadcasts the station's strongest FM signal on 95.4 MHz. The 96 MHz frequency from Chatton covers most of the populated areas of east Northumberland.

The Newton transmitter broadcasts the 103.7 MHz frequency. The Fenham transmitter, broadcasting the 104.4 MHz frequency, is situated close to the studios on Barrack Road and covers West Newcastle and Gateshead.

The DAB signal comes mainly from Burnhope (near Consett), and also from Fenham (lower power), on the Bauer Digital Radio multiplex.

The station also broadcasts on Freeview TV channel 711 and streams online via BBC Sounds.

BBC Radio Sunderland

In January 2021, BBC Radio Sunderland was launched as a temporary sister station. The service provided eight hours of opt-out programming for listeners in Sunderland and the surrounding area each weekday until March 2021.

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Newcastle studios from 6a.m. to 2p.m. weekdays and for sports coverage, including Total Sport every weeknight from 6-8. Weekend programming from 6 a.m. to 6p.m. and the Monday and Thursday evening programmes also broadcast locally.

BBC Radio Newcastle carries the England-wide late show. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Newcastle simulcasts overnight programming from BBC Radio 5 Live. The weekday afternoon show broadcasts from BBC Radio Tees in Middlesbrough.

Notable presenters

<!--Any non-notable presenters (those without Wikipedia articles) added here are liable to be removed - if someone is considered notable (red linking is not enough), write a Wikipedia article on them first, or provide multiple reputable independent sources to show they deserve an article and are associated with the station-->

  • Anna Foster
  • Marian Foster (Garden Mania)
  • Ingrid Hagemann
  • Alex Hall
  • Railton Howes
  • Alfie Joey
  • Anne Leuchars
  • Paddy MacDee
  • Kathy Secker
  • Lisa Shaw
  • Sue Sweeney
  • Frank Wappat
  • Peter Grant
  • Simon Logan (Simon Logan's Fantastic 80s)

Sports commentators

The station's team of sports commentators includes John Anderson, Gary Bennett, Marco Gabbiadini and Matthew Raisbeck.

References

  • History of local radio in Tyneside and Northumberland