It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on St Helens Street in Derby.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 127,000 listeners and a 8.3% share as of December 2023.[2]
Overview
BBC Radio Derby's satellite van pictured in Osnabrück - Derby's twin city
BBC Radio Derby began broadcasting officially on 29 April 1971, though it went on air two months earlier than planned to cover the bankruptcy of the local aero-engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. The station's logo was a Rams head in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Much of the station's output is speech based, featuring news, sport, weather, travel, interviews, and discussions, mixed in with music and competitions. The station's primary audience is aimed at listeners aged over 45, though the sports and weekend shows attract a greater age range.
BBC Radio Derby Sport broadcasts live match commentaries from local football teams, especially Derby County and Burton Albion. There is also extensive coverage of Derbyshire cricket during the summer.
The station won the prestigious "Station of the Year" award in the category for radio stations that serve between 300,000 and 1 million listeners at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2007, 2010 and 2011, becoming the first BBC local radio station to win it three times.[3] Also, in both 2017[4] and 2009, Radio Derby was named Station of the Year in the BBC local radio station Gillard awards.
104.5 MHz FM is the primary frequency for BBC Radio Derby, and comes from a 200 ft FM transmitting mast on Drum Hill, four miles north of the Derby City Centre, the other side of the A38 from Little Eaton, next to a Scout camp. This service used to come from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter. There is a second FM transmitter for the Bakewell and Matlock areas based at Stanton Moor on 95.3 MHz FM, and a third FM transmitter, which is relay of that frequency for the Buxton area on 96.0 MHz FM.
In addition, all of BBC Radio Derby's area is served via its medium wave service on 1116 kHz (269 metres), which comes from its single 500W AM transmitter site at Burnaston, just south of the city, close to the Toyota car plant.
The station broadcasts on DAB via the multiplex known as NOW Derbyshire. A local Derbyshire DAB licence was advertised by OFCOM in January 2007, and was awarded to "Now Digital" with an "on air" date originally planned for July 2008, which was delayed until July 2014.[5] The multiplex is transmitted from five transmitter sites; Chesterfield, Drum Hill, Tibshelf, Stanton Moor, and Lichfield. There are also long-term plans for further transmitters at Buxton, Ashbourne, and Glossop.
The football focused evening programme is available as a podcast called 'Rams Daily'.[7]
News items, videos, audio clips and photos are posted on Twitter to the general @BBCDerby account, and on the Facebook page with the same handle. Sports related updates are posted on Twitter to the @BBCDerbySport account.
Programming
Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Derby studios from 6 am to 2 pm on Mondays to Fridays with all other programming since 2023, apart from sports coverage, being regional or national, and during the overnight downtime, BBC Radio Derby simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live.
In 2025 it was reported that BBC Radio Derby and Sabras Radio presenter Pam Sidhu and her husband were recruiters for the Educo Cult and that the BBC had ignored safeguarding reports about her.[8][9][10][11]
The station's jingles have varied greatly over the years as trends in music and technology have changed; indeed, the jingle that plays prior to every hourly news bulletin (one of a new batch of tunes introduced in January 2017), features the slogan, On Radio, TV and Mobile - this is BBC Radio Derby; a reflection of the different ways in which the station's output can be heard these days. In the mid-1980s, the station's slogan was "Rise and shine on 269!"; the '269' referring to the 269 metres wavelength of the 1116 kHzmedium wave frequency. This slogan formed the basis of many jingles in this era, but was phased out in the 1990s as FM listening increased. Nowadays, only the actual frequency of the medium wave signal (1116 MW) is mentioned on the station.
From the commencement of the 96 FM frequency for the Buxton area until April 2007, the jingles were provided by Bespoke Music of Penryn, Cornwall (being exactly the same as BBC Radio Wiltshire). From 2007 to 2011, jingles were provided by Wise Buddah Productions of London. Then there were Mcasso jingles from 2011 until 2020. Currently, jingles are provided by Reelworld.
On 3 June 2016, Radio Derby unveiled the UK's first public UV meter in Markeaton Park.[12] It was a joint venture with the charity Skcin and was paid for with proceeds from the Colin BloomfieldMelanoma Appeal. Later in the year, a second meter was unveiled in Long Eaton's West Park.
Money Mountain appeals
From 1983 until 2008, BBC Radio Derby held its annual 'Money Mountain' event. In later years this took place on the second Sunday of October; however it was originally held over the course of the entire weekend, and was presented from a marquee in the station's car park. This idea was abandoned a few years prior to the event's demise and all presenting took place inside the station building itself.
The idea of the event was to support local charities with donations from listeners. The day commenced with 'Dial a Hymn'; where listeners dedicated hymns to loved ones in exchange for a donation. This was followed at 9 am by an on-air auction which lasted until late in the evening. Lots typically consisted services by local companies (such as car valeting) and unique items (such as signed celebrity photographs, behind-the-scenes tours and home-made products).
In 2004, the amount of money raised over the years passed the one million pound mark. The person who pledged the bid to surpass this figure was rewarded with a cut glass trophy.
The 2008 auction was to be the last. Twenty-five years had passed since the first auction, and it was decided for the event to "go out on a high" in the anniversary year. The final lot was to win the actual gavel used during the auction over the years. This raised £350; the final total for the 2008 auction was £20,951.31, bringing the grand total over the twenty-five years to £1,121,010.31.
Related Research Articles
BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire.
BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Suffolk.
BBC Radio Northampton is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Northamptonshire.
BBC Radio Devon is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Devon.
BBC Radio Cornwall is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cornwall.
BBC Radio Nottingham is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire.
BBC Radio Leeds is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of West Yorkshire.
BBC Radio Sheffield is the BBC's local radio station serving South Yorkshire, north Derbyshire and North Nottinghamshire.
BBC Radio Newcastle is the BBC's local radio station serving Newcastle upon Tyne, the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs, Northumberland and north east County Durham.
BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving the cities of Bristol and Bath and the unitary authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
BBC Radio Gloucestershire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Gloucestershire.
BBC Radio Stoke is the BBC's local radio station serving Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
BBC CWR is the BBC's local radio station serving Coventry and Warwickshire.
Tay FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Edinburgh serving Dundee, Perth and Tayside in Scotland. The station is owned by and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK and forms part of the Hits Radio network.
Manx Radio is the national commercial radio station for the Isle of Man. It began broadcasting on 29 June 1964, almost ten years before legal commercial radio was licensed in the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man, having its own government and laws, was not subject to the rules prohibiting commercial broadcasting in the UK. However, the Manx Government still had to apply to the UK's General Post Office for a frequency and for permission to broadcast. First requested in 1960, a licence was eventually granted in May 1964. It was allocated an FM frequency of 89.0 MHz and a comparatively low power of 50 watts. In October 1964, an additional frequency of 1594 kHz AM was allocated to the station to provide greater coverage, although again at a limited power of 50 watts. It broadcasts primarily in English with several hours per week of Manx language programming.
BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays.
Hits Radio Manchester, formerly Key 103, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester.
BBC Radio Sussex is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of East and West Sussex.
BBC Radio Surrey is the BBC's local radio station serving Surrey and north-east Hampshire.
Downtown Radio is a Hot Adult Contemporary music radio station based in Newtownards, County Down, that serves all of Northern Ireland using a network of FM and DAB transmitters.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
