Basic Radio Journalism

1 The structure of UK radio

OVERVIEW

Almost all radio stations in the UK are owned and operated by either the BBC or commercial companies. The BBC stations are funded publicly through the television licence fee. They provide a wide variety of entertainment and information in both music and speech formats. The commercial stations rely on advertising and sponsorship revenue. Many of these companies are now owned by large groups such as EMAP, GWR and Capital. The commercial stations are, in general, music and entertainment led, but also feature news and information.

There are two main radio transmitting systems in the UK. The most extensive and widely used is the conventional analogue system, which appears on four wavebands, FM and AM (also sometimes ...