BBC Radio 5 Live
Sky (UK only): 0105 Virgin Media: 905 Virgin Media Ireland: 911 Astra 2E (28.2°E) satellite Intelsat 901 (18°W) satellite | |
Programming | |
---|---|
Language(s) | English |
Format | News and sport |
Ownership | |
Owner | BBC |
Operator | BBC North |
BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra | |
History | |
First air date | 28 March 1994 |
Former call signs | BBC Radio 5 |
Technical information | |
Licensing authority | Ofcom |
Links | |
Webcast | BBC Sounds |
Website | BBC Radio 5 Live on BBC Sounds |
BBC Radio |
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Nationwide |
Digital-only |
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcasting virtually all major sports events staged in the UK or involving British competitors.
Radio 5 Live was launched in March 1994 as a repositioning of the original Radio 5, which was launched on 27 August 1990.[1] It is transmitted via analogue radio in AM on medium wave 693 and 909 kHz and digitally via digital radio, television and on the BBC Sounds service. Due to rights restrictions, coverage of some events, particularly live sport, is not available online or is restricted to UK addresses.
The station broadcasts from MediaCityUK in Salford in Greater Manchester[2] and is a department of the BBC North division.
According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 5.2 million with a listening share of 3.1% as of December 2023.[3]
History
The success of
The news of the first day was dominated by the fatal stabbing at
The tone of the channel, engaging and more relaxed than contemporary BBC output, was the key to the channel's success and set the model for other BBC News services later in the decade. The first audiences were some 4 million, with a record audience of 6.25 million. Among the key editorial staff involved in the design of programme formats and recruitment of staff for the new station were Sara Nathan, later editor of Channel 4 News, and Tim Luckhurst, later editor of The Scotsman newspaper and professor of Journalism at the University of Kent.[7]
In 2000, the station was rebranded with a new logo which would remain with the station for another seven years. In addition, on 2 February 2002 a companion station,
In 2008, the BBC announced that the station would move to
In 2017/18, it was noted the station not only remained as having the fourth highest cost-per-user of all the BBC radio output, but whose costs also increased – rising from 2.3p per hour the previous year to 2.5p per hour, therefore equal to 1Xtra. The audience Appreciation Index figure did not increase, remaining at 79.9; and the average length of time spent on the channel fell from 06:41 to 06:34 – the fourth lowest fall of all of the BBC's radio stations.[12]
Broadcast
BBC Radio 5 Live broadcasts in
For many years, the station operated from four floors within the News Centre at
List of programmes broadcast on 5 Live
- Dotun Adebayo (Monday – Friday)
- Wake Up to Money with Sean Farrington, Mickey Clarke and Louise Cooper
- 5 Live Breakfast with Rick Edwards and Rachel Burden
- Nicky Campbell (Monday – Friday)
- Naga Munchetty (Monday – Wednesday) & Adrian Chiles (Thursday – Friday)
- Nihal Arthanayake (Monday – Thursday)
- Elis James and John Robins (Friday)
- Colin Murray (Friday; Sunday)
- 5 Live Drive with Tony Livesey and Clare McDonnell
- 5 Live Sport with Mark Chapman (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday), Kelly Cates (Tuesday), Steve Crossman (Thursday and Sunday) and Darren Fletcher (Friday)
- Gordon Smart (Monday – Thursday; Sunday) & Stephan Nolan (Friday – Sunday)
- 5 Live Boxing with Mike Costello and Steve Bunce (Saturday)
- Weekend Breakfast with Chris Warburton and Eleanor Oldroyd
- Patrick Kielty (Saturday)
- Tailenders with Greg James, Jimmy Anderson and Felix White (Saturday)
- Fighting Talk with Rick Edwards (Saturday)
- Sports Report with Mark Chapman (Saturday)
- 606 with Robbie Savage and Chris Sutton (Saturday – Sunday)
- 5 Live Science with Naked Scientists team(Sunday)
Programming
News
BBC Radio 5 Live's remit includes broadcasting rolling news and transmitting news as it breaks. It offers news bulletins every half an hour, apart from during live sports commentaries. The BBC's policy for major breaking news events revolves around a priority list. With UK news, the correspondent first records a "generic minute" summary (for use by all stations and channels); the subsequent priority is to report on Radio 5 Live, then the
Due to COVID-19, the hourly news bulletins were shared with BBC Radio 2 from April 2020. Three minute bulletins are broadcast on the hour, with extended five minute bulletins at 06:00, 07:00, 08:00, 13:00 and 17:00 on weekdays, at 07:00 and 08:00 on Saturdays and at 06:00, 07:00, 08:00 and 09:00 on Sundays.
Half-hour news headlines are mostly read by presenters and sports journalists, although newsreaders are used during weekday daytime programming between 10:30 and 15:30 and during 5 Live Sport evening and weekend programming.
Sport
BBC Radio 5 Live broadcasts an extremely wide range of sports and covers all the major sporting events, mostly under its flagship sports banner 5 Live Sport. In the event that the broadcast rights to a particular event are also on BBC Television and a technical fault were to ensue, the commentary of 5 Live is simulcast on the affected BBC channel until the problem is rectified. One such occurrence was during Euro 2008 where thunderstorms caused satellite disruptions, but BBC One simulcast the 5 Live commentary. [17]
Whilst football commentaries form the majority of live commentaries during the football season, the range of events covered by the station include:
- Live Premier League (simulcasted with BBC World Service for international coverage)
- Live FA Community Shield (simulcasted with BBC World Service for international coverage)
- Live FA Cup (simulcasted with BBC World Service for international coverage)
- Select third to fifth round ties
- Select quarter-final ties
- FA Cup semi-finals
- FA Cup final
- Live EFL Cup (simulcasted with BBC World Service for international coverage)
- Select second to fourth round ties
- Select quarter-final ties
- EFL Cup semi-finals
- EFL Cup final
- Live Scottish Premiership
- The Old Firm
- FIFA World Cup
- footballmatches
- Friendly matches
- UEFA European Qualifiers
- UEFA Nations League
- UEFA European Championship
- FIFA Women's World Cup
- UEFA Women's Euro
- UEFA Champions League
- Select group stage matches
- Select knockout stage matches
- UEFA Champions League final
- UEFA Europa League
- Select group stage matches
- Select knockout stage matches
- UEFA Europa League final (if British side is involved)
- UEFA Europa Conference League
- Select group stage matches
- Select knockout stage matches
- UEFA Europa Conference League final (if British side is involved)
- FIFA Club World Cup (if British side is involved)
- Olympic Games
- Commonwealth Games
- The Masters
- Ryder Cup
- England rugby union test matches
- The Autumn Internationals and Radio Cymru)
- World Series
- Super Bowl
- Rugby World Cup
- Formula One
- Full coverage of The Grand National and The Cheltenham Festival
- Commentary of the Royal Ascot
- Boxing
- World Athletics Championships
- Full coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships
- London Marathon
- The Boat Race
- The Tour de France
Controllers
Years served | Controller |
---|---|
1997–1999 | Roger Mosey |
2000–2007 | Bob Shennan |
2008–2012 | Adrian Van Klaveren |
2013 – September 2019 | Jonathan Wall |
2019–present | Heidi Dawson[18] |
5 Sports Extra
As 5 Live cannot accommodate all of the sports which they have rights to broadcast, some are covered on sister station Sports Extra, including:
- Twenty20 World Cup
- Selected Vitality Blast games from BBC Local Radio
- Selected Super League and Challenge Cup Rugby League games
- All 'Grand Slam' Tennis tournaments
- Selected Premiership Rugby and European Rugby Champions Cup games from BBC Local Radio
- Formula One
- IIHF World Championships
- Action from any other competition broadcast on 5 Live
Sports Extra typically emphasises full broadcasts of Premier League and Home Nations football, if games overlap each other. 5 Live carries the first-choice match in such cases.
Also, should 5 Live be needed to broadcast news coverage when scheduled sports programmes were to be aired, the sports coverage is shifted to 5 Sports Extra.
The station had originally launched in 2002 as Radio 5 Live Sports Extra but had its name changed in 2022 as part of a rebranding of the BBC.[19]
Awards
In January 2013, BBC Radio Five Live was nominated for the Responsible Media of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.[20]
See also
References
- ^ "Radio launches 2". Radiomusications. Transdiffusion. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- ^ Radio 5 Live move to Salford delayed guardian.co.uk, 19 March 2010
- ^ "RAJAR".
- ^ "Jenny Abramsky Oxford lecture two" (Press release). BBC. 3 April 2007.
- ^ Frean, Alexandra (29 March 1994). "Radio's new voice greets the dawn". The Times. London.
- ^ McAlpine, Joan (29 March 1994). "Alive and kicking". The Scotsman. Edinburgh.
- ^ "Our Staff" Archived 2009-03-10 at the Wayback Machine. University of Kent.
- ^ The Many Lives of BBC Radio Sport Archived 13 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine Transdiffusion
- ISBN 0-00-721598-3
- ^ "New logos for BBC Radio – cool or balls?". The Guardian. London. 8 August 2007.
- ^ a b "BBC appoints Head of External Affairs to world-class media project" (Press release). BBC. 21 July 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ "BBC Annual Report 2017/18" (PDF).
- ^ Smith, Nigel. "A peek inside 5 live's new HQ". BBC Radio 5 Live Blog. BBC. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ Van-Klaveren, Adrian. "The Salford move and the latest RAJARs". BBC Radio 5 Live Blog. BBC. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ Cooper, Will. "Tony Livesey's guide to the 5 live studios". BBC Radio 5 Live Blog. BBC. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ "Editorial Processes – How BBC News Works". 22 January 2007. Retrieved 19 June 2007.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgDlZPhpZiY BBC One simulcasting 5 Live coverage of Euro 2008 during fault
- ^ "Heidi Dawson appointed as BBC Radio 5 live Controller".
- ^ "BBC Annual Plan 2022/23" (PDF). BBC. 23 March 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
- ^ "Winners honoured at British Muslim Awards". Asian Image. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
External links
- Media related to BBC Radio 5 Live at Wikimedia Commons
- BBC Radio 5 Live at BBC Online