BBC Sussex
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|
| City | Brighton |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Sussex |
| Frequency | 104.5, 104.8 & 95.0–95.3 FM 1161 & 1485 AM DAB: NOW Sussex Coast Freeview: 720 |
| First air date | 14 February 1968 (as BBC Radio Brighton) |
| Format | Local news, talk and music |
| Language(s) | English |
| Audience share | 4.1% (with BBC Surrey) (September 2014, ) |
| Owner |
BBC Local Radio, BBC South East |
| Website | BBC Sussex |
BBC Sussex is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Sussex. It began on 14 February 1968 as BBC Radio Brighton, later becoming BBC Radio Sussex and then part of BBC Southern Counties Radio, before adopting its present name on 30 March 2009. BBC journalists Jeremy Paxman, Kate Adie and Des Lynam started their careers at BBC Brighton.
BBC Sussex runs its own programming specifically for Sussex from its studios in Brighton on weekdays from 6-9am and 5-6pm, and on Saturdays from 6-9am and 2-6pm. There are also dedicated news bulletins for Sussex on the hour at some times of the day. The remainder of the station's daytime output is shared with BBC Surrey. It is part of the BBC South East region, based in Tunbridge Wells.
BBC Sussex cover every Brighton and Hove Albion and Crawley Town game live. On Saturdays BBC Sussex Sport starts at 14:00 presented by Johnny Cantor, from wherever Brighton are playing. This show contains interviews and features on all sports from within the region. The frequencies then split shortly before kick off, with Brighton's match on DAB, 95.0, 95.3 and 104.5FM, and Crawley on the remaining frequencies.
When non-traditional kick off times occur, the main presenter for the club in question presents a BBC Sussex sports special on midweek evenings, opting out of networked programming.
BBC Radio Brighton was one of the first wave of BBC Local Radio stations which took to the air during the late 1960s. Broadcasting from Marlborough Place, it officially opened on 14 February 1968, though a short-lived emergency service had been broadcast during the blizzards earlier that winter. Originally broadcast on 88.1 MHz VHF only, the station later acquired a medium wave frequency of 202m, and transferred to 95.3 MHz on VHF.
In common with much of the BBC's early local radio output, Radio Brighton broadcast only for limited daytime hours in its early years, relying on Radio 2 and Radio 4 for a sustaining service, but building to a full daytime service by the mid-1970s. In the early years, the emphasis was on structured programmes rather than the open-ended magazine shows which have since become more common. The flagship was the breakfast news programme 'Coastwise'.
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