Talk:List of radio stations in the United Kingdom

Things to Do

 * Complete the listings, ensuring everything is in the right section (see Categorisation)
 * Freeview and DSAT channel numbers (see Categorisation) Added for national services

For local services I suggest DAB is changed to "Digital" then listed as is for DAB e.g. 12C if area is identical to analogue, 12C (Nottinghamshire) if it differs Then use the same format for TV platforms - e.g. 724 (Freeview)

Examples - Clyde 1 - Glasgow (as already applied)

11C 724 (Freeview)

Heart 106 - East Midlands

11B (Leicester) 12C (Nottinghamshire) 729 (Freeview - East Mids)

Any objections / better ideas?

Length of page
Does anyone else think this page is getting too long? Maybe we need a seperate page for each category. --Northernhenge (talk) 08:15, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Categorisation
Many comments and changes in this section by KevS 15:38, 28 January 2007 (UTC) Looking through the list it appears that there is some confusion as to where stations should be categorised, my suggestions are as follows - has anyone any objections to this? When deciding between Local, Semi-national and National coverage DSAT broadcasts should not be taken into account, but can be noted against the station.


 * 'National analogue and digital stations' - stations which hold UK wide analogue licences, or are broadcast on a GB/UK wide DAB multiplex (i.e. BBC National DAB or Digital1 Network) or which are included in the successful UK Wide commercial DAB licence.
 * 'Semi-National analogue and digital stations' - Stations which have near national coverage thanks to broadcasting near identical programming across multiple stations - the Classic Gold network is a candidate here as it is near identical most of the time, where as the likes of Trent FM (GCAPs The Mix Network) broadcast their own output for much of the day and do not carry identical branding.
 * 'BBC Local Radio' - BBC Radio stations available in a small number of counties only - e.g. BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC Radio Solent.
 * 'BBC Nations Radio' - BBC Radio stations that broadcast to a single nation within the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) only
 * 'Local Commercial Radio' - Stations holding ILR licences issued by Ofcom, divided into there nation of broadcast
 * 'Community radio stations' - Radio stations holding community radio licences
 * 'Student Radio' - Stations operated by or from universities
 * 'School Radio' - Stations operated by or from schools and colleges
 * 'Hospital radio stations' - Stations operated by or from hospitals
 * 'RSL Stations' - Stations that only hold 28 day short term RSLs, and are not Student, Hospital or School radio stations
 * 'Satellite radio stations' - Stations not available on terrestrial radio platforms (i.e. FM, MW, LW, DAB) which are available on digital satellite and/or digital terrestrial television (Freeview).

With regards to 'National analogue and digital stations' should this include stations broadcast to the bulk of the UK but from outside of it? At the moment this only effects RTÉ Radio 1 Europe on 252LW.

With regards to 'Semi-National analogue and digital stations' how much of the UK should the station cover - say 'x' licences is a bit too simplistic as three could be the whole of the North of England covered by an MXR Digital Multiplex or simply The East Midlands (using the combined coverage of Nottingham, Leicester and the future Derby DAB multiplexes).

With regards to 'Local Commercial Radio' - any suggestion on how to handle cross border services - e.g. Marcher Sound and Vibe 101? My suggestion would be stations with significant coverage both sides of a border be listed in both, but those with coverage significantly biased towards one side (e.g. Radio City in Liverpool) should be listed under one country only.

Freeview and Digital Satellite - how should stations which are also available on these platforms be listed - I'd suggest adding them to the DAB column and rename that Digital...

i.e. we'd get Heart 106 - DAB : 12C (Nottingham) DAB : 11B (Leicester) DTTV : Mux A (East Mids)

With regards to
 * There used to be an article for Jam 1575, the student radio station for Hull listed here under Community Stations. It was deleted as being 'unnotable'. I have now placed it in Votes for Undeletion under 5 Jan, asking it to be restored, but in order to do so, you need to lend your support, otherwise I can see more radio station articles being carelessly and needlessly deleted by people who have no involvement in this area of Wikipedia. Please take a few seconds to ask for it to be undeleted. PJBeef 02:04 5 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Should we link to all none ILR/national/BBC services by default, or leave them unlinked until a content page is created?

Capital Radio Group
I think that the stations in this group should be specified as such, as they at various times of the week, share programming, and offer network-wide competitions etc. At the moment if you click on Capital FM (the networks London station), you're taken to the article on GCap Media which is the parent company. At the very least the wikilink should take you to the "captial radio group" section of that article. Any ideas? Amo 17:29, 11 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure how we'd tidily get this in - if we were then it would need to be something like Owner = Emap, Network = Big City in two separate columns or "Emap (Big City)" KevS

Student radio
worth mentioning the Student Radio Association here?
 * IMO no: this page is for listing radio stations, not radio organisations. Also, not all student radio stations are members of the SRA, so really it should be up to those member stations to note their affiliation on their respective Wikipedia pages. — jc 18:22, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I would suggest it might be worth while noting such groups at the bottom if we have articles on them - e.g. IRN, Sky News Radio, AA Vodafone Roadwatch; Alternatively a link to an overview of radio in the UK which can serve as both of an into and jumping off page. KevS

Why do we need this page?
With an automatically-updated UK radio stations category, why is there a need for this manually generated list? Smileyrepublic 22:35, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Radio 4 frequencies etc

 * BBC Radio 4 is also on 94.60 - 96.10 MHz in Scotland (need to check these as just going from memory).
 * There does not seem to be any note of BBC channels on FREEVIEW and digital satellite.  --jmb 13:19, 5 January 2007 (UTC)''

Nevis Radio
Fort William and surrounds. You can probably define the coverage area better by just putting "Fort William and Lochaber" as the relay stations are there to attempt to cover the Lochaber area (though the one in Glencoe seems to be off much of the time!). --jmb 13:28, 5 January 2007 (UTC)


 * 97.0 (Glencoe) Is the Nevis Radio Glencoe transmitter still operational?  Not heard anything from it for a long time.  --jmb 13:08, 9 May 2007 (UTC)


 * It's still listed on the latest (May 8) Ofcom transmitter spreadsheet. Are you in the area to verify? Chillysnow 17:47, 9 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I can't hear from home but go past occasionally, I will make some enquiries with someone who goes down that way more often than me. --jmb 19:19, 9 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I passed through Glencoe a few days ago and there was no sign of Nevis Radio on 97.00 MHz, not even a carrier. --jmb 18:19, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Sortable tables
There is now the possibility that sortable tables can be added to any table in Wikipedia. It might have a positive use here.

For example

Before using

{| class="wikitable"
 * - style="background-color:#C9C9C9"

After using:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

Fuller details on how the table works is here: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Radio Stations

Would it be good to add this sortable feature to the lists here? --tgheretford (talk) 10:48, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Student Radio
Someone, probably overseas, seems to have decided that UK student radio stations should not have Wiki pages and so far has removed at least one (Storm FM). I suggest that people associated with other student radio stations monitor their Wiki pages as they might find them deleted if not enough local people vote to support keeping them as happened with Storm FM. --jmb 10:56, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

BBC Nations Radio
What are BBC Shetland Radio and BBC Orkney Radio doing in the BBC Nations list? Should they not be listed under BBC local radio? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.105.119.52 (talk) 12:30, 17 June, 2007 (UTC)
 * BBC Shetland and Orkney, along with Foyle (listed), Tweed and Aberdeen (not listed) are opt outs from the main BBC Scotland or Ulster service. They are not radio stations in their own right.  Where they should be listed is another matter, but I believe this is why they're where they are. Chillysnow 18:31, 28 June 2007 (UTC)
 * My logic was that they are opt-outs of the bigger Radio Scotland which is unavailable in those areas while the opt-outs are on air. Thanks to DAB and Freeview, BBC Radio Foyle is arguably a Northern Ireland wide station now, where as BBC Shetland (and other Scottish opt outs) could perhaps be better listed as BBC Scotland (Shetland) or BBC Scotland - Shetland - anyone got any better ideas? KevS 15:22, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Gold
I notice that many of the links concerning Gold services actually link to the page about the metal rather than radio stations, so I may do something about this in the next day or two. I'll need to do a bit of researh first though to find out what the links should actually be called. Cheers Paul20070 16:20, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Closed and axed stations
I have noticed that many of the national stations are in the list that have either closed and are not available or have been axed because the 4Digital Group plans for Digital Two fell through. Is there any need for these stations to remain in the list or could they be safely removed? --tgheretford (talk) 23:26, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

Wales
Some vandal twit has deleted nearly all of the stations from the Wales section - can someone add them back please. This is absolutely unaccepatble. Jonny7003 (talk) 15:59, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Done it Jonny7003 (talk) 16:08, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Inconsistant / Excessive external links
The different categories are inconsistent in their use of external weblinks.

Student Radio stations mainly have weblinks in notes column, other categories do not do this. Given that a majority of student stations have their own individual pages external links are not needed on the list page?

Hospital Radio stations - where there are wikipedia pages for individual stations these should be used and weblinks if to be kept put in a separate column to keep consistency with other sections on this page.

Philedmondsuk (talk) 07:43, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

http://www.dancemusicradio.net/
I've reverted an edit by an Anon user adding links to energy fm / http://www.dancemusicradio.net/ - as to the best of the information I can find this is not a UK radio station. The website states the station is based in the Canary Islands, therefore it should not feature on this list.

If there is a UK broadcast outlet for this station, then it should be re-added to the relevant section.

The same user removed the bfbs gurkha radio from the list - I suspect in error. This station appears to still be an active licensed station so I have replaced this entry

Philedmondsuk (talk) 10:10, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Avoiding AfD - how to go ahead with this article
After a related articles for deletion (AfD) debate based on the concerns around WP:NOTDIR as a business directory or promotional tool for businesses and with excessive information contained and related within, I am encouraging debate as an impartial editor on what should be and not included within this list, as per guidance and related debates elsewhere, so that AfD is a last resort for this article. --tgheretford (talk) 12:45, 3 November 2012 (UTC)
 * I accept this article could do with being cleaned up. However, as far as I can tell there is absolutely no consensus as to how to go about it. Removing digital channels but favouring analogue ones is somewhat arbirtrary. Let's not forget that the UK government has a target of analogue radio switch-off, which means that analogue frequencies are going to start becoming increasingly irrelevant.
 * To be honest I am somewhat shocked by this wholesale deletion of channel lists as some sort of "marketing tool" of the platform providers. Unfortunately, those AfD seem to have passed me by. I would have argued that far from being a "marketing tool", these lists often highlighted how little potential (and current) customers were getting for their money.  The various platforms sell themselves on having hundreds of channels for X amount of money. However, when you start digging (primarily using one of these lists - the platform providers dont provide this information readily) you start to find that a huge proportion of those "hundreds of channels" is made of channels that are free (i.e. can be viewed without a subscription), tele-shopping/gambling/religious channels, timeshifts, HD/SD variations, regional variations (in some cases the regional difference being adverts) and  "super-premium" subscription channels outside the normal packages where you could quite easily spend hundreds per month to get the whole lot. Pit-yacker (talk) 13:12, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

As I have said elsewhere, and during the AfD processes, that EPG numbers on Wikipedia articles replicates on-screen/on-display programme guides, and that's against the principle of WP:NOTDIR doktorb wordsdeeds 20:05, 3 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Putting aside the ongoing debate about whether EPG numbers are encyclopedic, you also removed DAB broadcast channels. These are not EPG numbers. As far as I can tell many DAB radios hide this information from you. Why are analogue broadcast channels encyclopedic but digital ones not? Pit-yacker (talk) 11:38, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
 * If DAB channels are not part of the process of finding/selecting stations, or programmes broadcast on those stations, then they can be retained. If I made a mistake on that, I hold my hand up. doktorb wordsdeeds 11:54, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Agree this article needs some major tidying up. The questions I see is how much information is relevant on this article, what should only be on the radio stations own article (assuming it has one) and what is totally irrelevant information for wikipedia? I see the main use of this article is the fact that it collects a list of stations by different types of station in a much more meaningful way than just a 'category list' page would do. Basic format information for each station, and means by which they are transmitted is also useful for a reader who wishes to gain an understanding of the types of radio station which operate in UK, say in comparison to other countries. However extensive 'directory' information on each station I think is best kept out of this listing, when resources such as the excellent Mediauk.com directory do a much better and relevant job as a directory than wikipedia should.

DAB channel numbers, while of some note to the technically minded, I'm not sure if it is of use to be included here, as the user doesn't tune by DAB channel, arguably which multiplex the service is carried on may be equally as relevant. Sky/Freesat/Freeview/Virgin EPG numbers is very directory like, may change from time to time and location of the receiver. My view is that all we need to include in this article is the fact that they are on such platforms, not specific EPG nmumbers.

If we have DAB "channel numbers", then why not satellite transponder details? The people interested in raw technical details of satellite broadcasts are a small number of technically minded users with 'free to air' receivers or other technical interests, I'd suggest DAB channel numbers fall into a similar only 'tech heads' interest group. That not to say that either piece of information might not have a place somewhere on wikipedia, probably this article is not the place.

I think we need to come up with a list of column headings that are relevant and can be applied to every category of radio station, which would make the list more friendly, links to station websites, as inconstantly used in the student and hospital radio sections I'd suggest need removing. Where a station does not have a wikipedia article of their own, links to the 'host establishment' article I would suggest would be relevant. In fact if the radio station itself is not sufficiently notable to have it's own article, in most cases reference to the station existing would be a worthwhile addition to the the host establishment's article.

RSL stations section needs a major re-think - on what grounds are the stations listed any more notable than the thousands of others which have broadcast over the past 25+ years?

Satellite radio stations section - just merge with 'national stations' section, and 'other stations' - the sports stations are technically RSL's, as is BFBS, just leaves prison radio - a difficult one, as it could fall in the same camp as 'in store radio' services which are not listed at all on this article

Philedmondsuk (talk) 17:52, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

CR list
What I noticed:

1) There are two Hull Kingston Radios there - both in Hull but with a one-tenth different frequencies; 2) "Keith Community Radio", in fact, changed their name recently - to "KCR 107.7".

I guess there can't be other peculiarities there too...:) Take a look, somebody... :whistle:

77.51.35.238 (talk), Josh — Preceding undated comment added 12:35, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Owners
An owner/operator collum be put into some of the tables this informs people of who runs the stations without having to go into the articles anyone else think it would be a good idea. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chocolateediter (talk • contribs) 14:27, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

Local multiplexes
Should we include a section which lists all of the local country-wide multiplexes (the set of DAB multiplexes which carry the BBC local and major commercial stations) and list the stations carried on those multiplexes? I think we should as this is a major omission from this article. Rillington (talk) 16:11, 7 March 2022 (UTC)