Wrotham transmitting station

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The Wrotham Transmitting Station is located on the North Downs, close to the village of Wrotham in Kent, England and just north of the M20 motorway. Its National Grid Reference is TQ595604. The current mast on the site was constructed in 1981, is 176.6 metres (579 feet) tall, and was built to replace the original mast of equal height that was constructed in 1951.

It is the main VHF FM transmitter for the national BBC radio networks in London and South East England. It currently transmits BBC Radio 1 (125 kW ERP), Radios 2, 3 & 4 and the independent national network Classic FM (250 kW ERP), Radio Kent on 96.7 MHz (9 kW ERP) and kmfm on 101.6 MHz (0.2 kW ERP). (There are two prominent towers in south London but of these, Croydon only broadcasts local radio services and Crystal Palace, although it is the main UHF television transmitter for the London area, provides only a low power (4 kW ERP) relay of the national radio channels.)

Wrotham was the first station in the UK to broadcast on VHF/FM, with three services beginning officially on 2 May 1955. It broadcast the Home Service (now Radio 4), the Third Programme (now Radio 3) and the Light Programme (now Radio 2). The frequencies it used for these programmes on FM in 1955 are still in use today. On 17 April 1966, it became the first BBC transmitter to broadcast in stereo, with regular stereo broadcasts on the Third Programme from July 1966. On 18 December 1970, it began broadcasting Radio Medway (now Radio Kent) on 97.0 MHz.