BBC Three Counties Radio

For the national radio station, see BBC Radio 3.

BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

BBC Three Counties Radio

Dunstable
Broadcast area	Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
Frequency	FM: 90.4 MHz (Welwyn Garden City, Hertford and Stevenage) FM: 92.1 MHz (Hemel Hempstead, Watford and St Albans) FM: 94.7 MHz (Aylesbury) FM: 95.5 MHz (Bedford) FM: 98.0 MHz (High Wycombe) FM: 103.8 MHz (Luton and Dunstable) FM: 104.5 MHz (Milton Keynes and Buckingham) DAB: 10D Freeview: 712
RDS	BBC 3CR
Programming
Language(s)	English
Format	Local news, talk and music
Ownership
Owner	BBC Local Radio, BBC East, BBC London, BBC South
History
First air date	24 June 1985 (1985-06-24)
Former names	BBC Radio Bedfordshire (1985–1993)
Technical information
Licensing authority	Ofcom
Links
Website	BBC Three Counties Radio

It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable.

According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 125,000 listeners and a 5.8% share as of December 2023.

History

BBC Radio Bedfordshire (1985–1993)

Radio Bedfordshire logo

The station launched as "Radio Bedfordshire" on 24 June 1985, serving the whole of Bedfordshire plus (despite the name) North Buckinghamshire and the northern parts of Hertfordshire. Therefore Bedford, Luton, Dunstable, Milton Keynes, Knebworth, Berkhamsted, Tring, Harpenden, Leighton Buzzard, Aylesbury, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Letchworth Garden City, Stevenage and Hitchin were served by the new station. In 1992, the station became known as "BBC Radio Bedfordshire with Herts and Bucks".

BBC Three Counties Radio (1993–present)

The station changed to its present name on 5 April 1993. The new name was intended to reflect the wider reach across the three counties and to give equal service to all. The editorial area was not, at that point, expanded but enhanced studio facilities and staff were devoted to Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

New transmitters at Epping Green and Bedmond extended the coverage area to Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and west Hertfordshire in late 2005.

BBC Three Counties Radio became available on DAB radio on 14 February 2013. In June 2015, the station moved from its Luton base to new studios in Dunstable.

Technical

BBC Three Counties Radio broadcasts on FM on these frequencies (transmitter location in brackets):

• 90.4 FM (Epping Green, near Hertford)
• 92.1 FM (Bedmond, near Hemel Hempstead)
• 94.7 FM (Quainton Hill, near Aylesbury)
• 95.5 FM (Sandy Heath)
• 98.0 FM (High Wycombe)
• 103.8 FM (Zouches Farm, near Luton)
• 104.5 FM (Bow Brickhill, near Milton Keynes)

The station broadcasts on DAB digital radio on the Herts, Beds and Bucks digital radio multiplex, transmitted from Sandy Heath, Aylesbury, Epping Green, Hemel Hempstead, Chepping Wycombe, Letchworth, Zouches Farm and Bow Brickhill.

The station also broadcasts on Freeview TV channel 712 in the BBC East, BBC London and BBC South regions and streams online via BBC Sounds.

Marlow is officially covered by BBC Radio Berkshire on 94.6 FM, Royston is covered by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire on 96.0 FM and Princes Risborough is served by BBC Radio Oxford on 95.2 FM. Those towns can still receive BBC Three Counties Radio through DAB and Freeview TV.

Programming

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Dunstable studios from 6 am to 2pm weekdays. Weekdays from 2pm to 10pm are now BBC East regional programming. Saturday 6am to 10pm BBC East shared programming. Sundays 6am to 6pm BBC East regional shared programming. Many of the regional shows are broadcast from the studios of Three Counties Radio. All other times such as late and overnight programming is England wide shared programming.

The former Saturday regional late show, broadcast across the eastern counties from 9pm to 1am was from Cambridge for nearly 30 years hosted by Richard Spendlove MBE. Keith Skues was the Weekday Late Show host 1995–2005 10pm to 1am. Keith presented PRS Pirate Radio Skues for 2 years Mondays 10pm to 1am. Keith then carried on Sundays 9pm to 1am with PRS, The Skues Collection and Skues Me.

During the station's downtime, overnight programming is simulcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

Presenters

Notable current presenters

• Andy Collins (weekday breakfast)
• Jonathan Vernon-Smith (weekday consumer programme)

Notable past presenters

• Nana Akua
• Tony Blackburn
• Mo Dutta
• Jon Gaunt
• Simon Groom
• Tony Hadley
• Nick Lawrence (Former Breakfast Show presenter, ex-Chiltern FM)
• John Radford
• Stephen Rhodes (Former breakfast / consumer show presenter)
• Dave Lee Travis (Former Sunday morning presenter)

External links

• Official website