BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC Local Radio service for the English city of Bristol and the surrounding former Avon area. Launched in September 1970, it broadcasts from Broadcasting House in Bristol on FM frequencies 94.9 MHz (Dundry), 104.6 MHz (Bath), 103.6 MHz (Weston-super-Mare), on AM 1548 kHz (Mangotsfield) and on DAB.
The Mendip transmitter, near Wells, used to broadcast BBC Radio Bristol on 95.5 MHz over a very large area, but from 3 December 2007, this was transferred to the new BBC Somerset service. BBC Somerset and BBC Radio Bristol share many programmes, mainly during off-peak hours. Since the BBC relaunched BBC Somerset on FM, BBC Radio Bristol has been left free to concentrate editorially on Bristol, Bath and the rest of the former Avon area.
Radio Bristol's main competitors in the Bristol area are Heart Bristol on 96.3 MHz, 106 Jack FM (Bristol) and The Breeze on 107.2 MHz. In Bath, Radio Bristol faces competition from Heart Bath on 103 MHz and The Breeze on 107.9 MHz. In Weston-super-Mare (which is editorially covered by both Radio Bristol and BBC Somerset), competition comes from Nova Radio.
Kate Adie produced and presented programmes for BBC Radio Bristol in the 1970s alongside Michael Buerk. Theirs were the first two voices to be heard on the station. Chris Morris was also part of the team. Other past presenters include the late Roger Bennett who presented the flagship breakfast programme Morning West for 30 years and Susan Osman who also co-presented Points West for 14 years. Current editor Tim Pemberton took over from Jenny Lacey in spring 2006.
Read more about BBC Radio Bristol: Networked, Simulcast and Overnight Programming, Staff and Management, Controversy
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—Anonymous. quoted in “Quote Unquote,” Feb. 22, 1982, BBC Radio 4.
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Like the ear-drop I gave to Bristol Molly—
O, ‘tis me, not the sentence they’ll suspend.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)