| Broadcast area | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Slogan | On digital and online, this is BBC Radio 5 Live
The UK's home of live News and live Sport The World Cup Station The Olympic Station |
| Frequency | MW: 693 kHz, 909 kHz, 990 kHz and on selected BBC Local Radio stations' frequencies overnight. DAB: 12B Freeview: 705 Freesat: 705 Sky: 0105 Virgin Media: 905 TalkTalk TV: 606 UPC Ireland: 911 |
| First air date | 28 March 1994 |
| Format | News and sport |
| Language | English |
| Audience share | 4.5% (March 2011, [1]) |
| Owner | BBC |
| Webcast | WMA |
| Website | www.bbc.co.uk/5live |
BBC Radio 5 Live (formerly styled BBC Radio Five Live and known as BBC Radio 5 until 1994) is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries. It is the principal radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcasting virtually all major sports events staged in the UK or involving British competitors.
Radio 5 Live was launched in March 1994 as a repositioning of the original Radio 5, which was launched on 27 August 1990.[2] It is transmitted via analogue radio in AM on medium wave 693 and 909 kHz (990 kHz at Cardigan Bay) — frequencies originally used by BBC Radio 2 from 23 November 1978 to 26 August 1990 — and digitally via DAB, digital television (satellite, terrestrial and IPTV) and via an internet stream. Due to rights restrictions, coverage of some events (in particular live sport) is not available on-line or is restricted to UK addresses.
The station broadcasts from MediaCityUK in Salford.[3]
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The success of Radio 4 News FM during the 1991 first Gulf War led Liz Forgan to suggest in May 1993[4] the introduction of a combined news and sport network. Accordingly, the "old" Radio 5 closed down at midnight on Sunday 27 March 1994 and the new Radio 5 Live began its 24-hour service on the morning of Monday 28 March. The first voice on air was Jane Garvey, who later went on to co-present the breakfast and drivetime shows with Peter Allen. The launch was described by The Times as "slipp[ing] smoothly and confidently into a routine of informative banter"[5] and The Scotsman as "professionalism at its slickest."[6]
The tone of the channel, engaging and more relaxed than contemporary BBC output, was the key to the channel's success and set the model for other BBC News services later in the decade. The first audiences were some four million, with a record audience of six and a quarter million.
Before the launch of digital broadcasting, the station (and Radio 5 before it) broadcast for several years on analogue satellite with near-FM quality.
Among the key editorial staff involved in the design of programme formats and recruitment of staff for the new station were Sara Nathan, later editor of Channel 4 News, and Tim Luckhurst, later editor of The Scotsman newspaper and currently Professor of Journalism at the University of Kent.[7]
The station won five Sony Awards, one gold and four silver, in 2005 and was nominated an additional six times. The lone gold award was in the News Story Award category for its coverage of the 2004 Asian tsunami. The station also published the Radio Five Live Sporting Yearbook (ISBN 0-00-721598-3).[8]
BBC Radio 5 Live were Official Broadcasters of the 2006 World Cup along with talkSPORT. Both stations broadcast live Premier League commentaries from August 2007, with the 7 rights packages being shared 6 to 1 in favour of 5 Live.
A companion station, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, was launched as a digital-only service on 2 February 2002.[9] In August 2007, BBC Radio Five Live was renamed BBC Radio 5 Live and was given a new logo.[10]
BBC Radio 5 live's remit includes broadcasting rolling news and transmitting news as it breaks. The BBC's policy for major breaking news events revolves around a priority list. With UK news, the correspondent first records a "generic minute" summary (for use by all stations and channels) and then priority is to report on Radio 5 live, then on the BBC News Channel and onto any other programmes that are on air. For foreign news, first a "generic minute" is recorded, then reports are to World Service radio, then the reporter talks to any other programmes that are on air.[11] As a result, BBC Radio 5 Live is often the first place to hear a breaking news story, and it is this quality that appeals to a number of listeners.
BBC Radio 5 live broadcasts an extremely wide range of sports and covers all the major sporting events, mostly under its flagship sports banner 5 Live Sport They are:
Most non-cricket broadcasts are available online only from IP addresses within the UK as both television and radio rights are typically sold on a country-by-country basis. Often UEFA Champions League games are not broadcast live online at all due to rights restrictions imposed by UEFA. This is sometimes not the case for matches in the knockout stage involving English clubs playing at home, whereby domestic radio stations may bid for non-exclusive rights to all coverage, including online broadcast.[12]
Regular shows as of May 2011:
As 5 Live cannot accommodate all of the sports which they have rights to broadcast, they split some of it with its sister station Sports Extra, including:
Sports Extra typically emphasizes full broadcasts of Premier League and Home Nations football if games overlap each other. Five Live carries the first-choice match in such cases.
Despite the fact that commercial stations (such as Sky Sports) have acquired the vast majority of sports television broadcasting rights in the UK, the BBC remains dominant in radio sport with BBC Radio 5 Live and its local radio stations. Its main commercial rival for radio sports rights is TalkSPORT.
Current newsreaders include Justine Greene, Rachael Hodges, Tom Sandars, Richard Foster, Cory Allen, Darren McKenzie, Kate Williams, Theopi Skarlatos, Tamsin Curnow, Suzanne Chislett.
Current sport readers include Vassos Alexander, Bob Ballard, Phillip Studd, Andy Barwell, George Riley, Paul Hawkins, Dave Cribb, Paul Scott, Caroline Barker.
Michelle Dignan will join BBC Radio 5 Live as the travel reporter for the breakfast show when it moves to Salford.[16]
Former presenters include Susan Bookbinder, Jon Briggs, Jon Champion, Adrian Chiles, Edwina Currie, Fi Glover, Nick Hancock, Brian Hayes, Peter Heaton-Jones, Jane Hill, Des Lynam, David Mellor, Louise Minchin, Paddy O'Connell, Jonathan Pearce, Nick Robinson, Sybil Ruscoe, Bill Turnbull, Sian Williams, Eamonn Holmes, Mark Saggers and Wendy Robbins.