BBC Radio Humberside

BBC Radio Humberside is the BBC's local radio station serving the former county of Humberside which includes the unitary authorities of East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.

It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Queen's Gardens in Hull.

According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 101,000 listeners and a 5.0% share as of December 2023.

History
BBC Radio Humberside began broadcasting in 1971 from studios above a post office on Chapel Street in Hull, three years before the county of Humberside was created. It has retained its name despite Humberside being abolished as a county in 1996.

On the first night of broadcasting, many West Yorkshire rugby league fans were disappointed when the relatively powerful High Hunsley transmitter signal was broadcast instead of BBC Radio Leeds, so they heard a commentary of Hull KR v Widnes. Medium wave broadcasts began in late 1971.

In 1979, Radio Humberside stopped broadcasting dedicated agricultural programmes despite serving agricultural areas.

In the 1970s, the station sponsored the Radio Humberside Handicap horserace at Beverley Racecourse, which became the BBC Radio Humberside Stakes in the 1980s. By the 1990s, this included the Martin Plenderleith Conditions Stakes, the Steve Massam Selling Stakes, the Peter Adamson Maiden Auction Stakes, the Charlie Partridge Selling Stakes and the Chris Langmore Handicap that all took place on the same day in early July.

In line with the other BBC local stations in the area, BBC Radio Humberside was part of the BBC Night Network when it was formed in May 1989, providing the station with regular all-evening programming, albeit regional rather than local although prior to this, regional specialist music programming had been aired. Initially, this was a single Saturday evening 45-minute programme consisting of organ music which aired during the winter sports period at 6:45 pm on BBC Radios Leeds, York and Humberside. Then in August 1986 Radio Humberside joined with the other BBC local stations in Yorkshire in broadcasting an early evening service of specialist music programmes. The launch of the BBC Night Network saw regional programmes broadcast nightly from 6.05 pm (6 pm at the weekend) until midnight. In May 1991, local programming was expanded by an hour, continuing until 7 pm. This co-insided with the Night Networks expansion to include the BBC's north-west stations and the following year, Night Network programming was extended on weeknights until 12:30 am, and to 1 am by the end of that decade. Prior to the start of regional programming, the station generally stopped broadcasting at around 6 pm and carried BBC Radio 2 at all other times.

In 2004, the station moved to a new digital broadcast centre located at Queen's Gardens in Hull, where it was joined by a full TV operation, supporting BBC Look North.

Awards
In May 2012, presenters Beryl Renwick and Betty Smith were awarded the Sony Radio Academy Award for best entertainment programme. Renwick and Smith had presented alongside David Reeves from 2006 to December 2012, after they had been "talent spotted during a tour of the BBC studios in Hull". The pair, aged 86 and 90 respectively, had been the oldest winners of the award. Smith died in November 2014 and Renwick died in September 2015.

In May 2013, the station was named "Station of The Year" at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.

Studio facilities
BBC Radio Humberside has studios at Queen's Court, Queen's Gardens in Hull. The station also has a second studio, which is situated in the Grimsby Institute for Higher Education.

In 2016, BBC Radio Humberside's studios were refurbished as part of the ViLoR programme.

Technical
BBC Radio Humberside broadcasts to East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire on 95.9 FM (High Hunsley), DAB, Freeview TV channel 721, and online via BBC Sounds.

The FM transmitter, between Beverley and South Cave 500 ft up on the Yorkshire Wolds is quite powerful over the relatively flat surrounding area being heard clearly in most of South Yorkshire as well. The signal reaches right across to the highest point of the M62 near junction 22 with the A672, the highest point of the A66, much of Lincolnshire, and as far south as Nottingham on the M1, near the Trowell service station and Newark.

The DAB signals come from the Bauer Humberside 10D multiplex from three transmitters at Cave Wold (most powerful, three miles south of High Hunsley, and a BT microwave transmitter, Buckton Barn, near Bridlington, and Bevan Flats in Grimsby. There is no FM transmitter on the south bank, but there is a DAB transmitter in Grimsby. AM broadcasts ended in January 2018.

Jingles
In the past, BBC Radio Humberside have used music by David Arnold for their jingles. The first package was written by Paul Hart and performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In August 2005, the station began using a custom made package featuring the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, produced by S2Blue in Staffordshire. BBC Radio Humberside were responsible for its artistic commissioning and for the eventual shape and construction of the jingles. In autumn 2008, jingles were refresh for key daytime programmes and presenters. In 2010, the package was completely refreshed by S2Blue, introducing new rhythm tracks to the 2005 package and new instrumentation across the whole set. David Reeves was the station sound producer with Katy Noone and Neil Rudd providing many of the voice-overs.

Travel news
BBC Radio Humberside carries travel bulletins every 30 minutes (every 15 minutes during Breakfast and Drive) from INTRIX Travel Media. Regular traffic presenters include Wayne Foy, Nick Robbins and Ed Sheppard.

Programming
Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Hull studios from 6 am to 10 pm on Mondays to Saturdays and from 6 am to 6 pm on Sundays.

Off-peak programming originates from BBC Radio Leeds (weekday nights) and BBC Radio York (Sunday evenings).

During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Humberside simulcasts overnight programming from BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio London.

Notable current presenters

 * Peter Swan (Sports Talk, Humberside Sport)

Notable former presenters

 * David Burns (Weekday daytime, Sports Talk, Humberside Sport) Now at 107FM, a community station in Hull.
 * Paul Heiney (former reporter for Watchdog)
 * Keri Jones
 * Peter Levy (presenter of BBC Look North)
 * Mike Smartt (later BBC TV News Correspondent and presenter and editor-in-chief BBC News Interactive)

News items

 * Guardian November 2006