London Radio Stations - Main Page

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What's on this site?

This site is a guide to stations in frequency order (within each waveband), so you can tune along the dial and instantly decode what you're listening to. It's in an easy-to-print format. There is a short review of most stations along with details such as address and phone numbers and links to station web sites, including live audio links where available. (Note that some live audio links are occasionally out of service).

The list is limited to analogue stations on FM/AM (not DAB or internet-only) that you can receive inside the M25. This is a motorway about 120 miles in circumference around London. Assuming it is circular (it isn't) this corresponds to a radius of about 19 miles or 30 km. With a population of around 8 million, London is by far the biggest market for radio in the UK.

If you find it useful, all I ask in return is that you contact me and tell me! If you get really keen, you could even do one for your own home town or city like some people have done - see the links page.

Quick Jumps...

...to areas of this page:

• FM Stations
• Acknowledgements
• The Legal Bit - important information
• The UK Broadcasting Webring

London Radio Stations sub-pages

These links also appear at the top of every page:

• The AM page
• London radio listening figures
• Some good radio related links
• Why does this page exist?
• How to link to this page
• This page has about 3000 unique visitors per week (Oct 06 figures), are you interested in advertising within it?

Introduction

UK radio stations are either funded by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) or are independent. The BBC is partly funded by the television licence, currently £131.50 per year for a colour set. Independent radio stations are funded by the adverts they carry, typically four to six slots (of 3 or 4 adverts) an hour.

Unless otherwise stated all stations broadcast 24 hours a day. Many independent stations carry news on the hour provided by IRN - Independent Radio News.

Address and telephone details are given for most stations. Phone numbers are given in international format. Dial your international access code in place of the "+". If dialling from within the U.K., replace the "+44" with "0".

The Radio Times (the paper copy, which has been around for a great deal longer than the web version) is great for getting detailed programme information on the BBC national and local stations and one independent national station - Classic FM. You will also find a listing of frequencies for all local and national radio. The local radio section of the magazine is different in each area of the country. The Radio Times covers one week starting Saturdays. It is available from any newsagent from the Wednesday before the week it covers.

All BBC national stations (1 through 5) have schedules available.

This main page deals with FM stations, for AM stations you need to go to the AM page.

All frequencies in this section are in MHz unless otherwise stated. The FM broadcast band stretches from 87.5 to 108 MHz. All stations listed in this section broadcast in stereo.

Most stations in this section also broadcast RDS (Radio Data Service), signalling the station name (PI) and traffic reports (TA), decodable on certain radios (typically car radios). The station name displayed on RDS radios is a maximum of eight letters. The list gives the RDS station name for those stations which transmit it. In these names, an underscore "_" represents a space. Sometimes the stations have an extended RDS service giving changing rolling text, typically containing information about the programme currently being transmitted or about the music being broadcast. This is known as radiotext. Stations which have this facility are marked with a "*" after the RDS name. Note that some stations use the radiotext facility to transmit an unchanging station-identity quote. These stations are not marked with a "*" because, in the author's opinion, this is not a correct use for radiotext feature.

Website Listen live (requires Real Audio Player) Broadcasting House, LONDON, W1A 1AA Tel +44 20 7580 4468, Fax +44 20 7636 9786 RDS _BBC_R2_ *

Middle of the road music and chat. Aiming for people 30 years old and up. Discussion and phone-ins as well, for example, medical discussions. Over recent years Radio 2 has lowered its target audience age. Typical music getting younger - Cliff Richard through to Simply Red & Keane. Also broadcasts on 88.8.

Website Listen live (requires Real Audio Player) Broadcasting House, LONDON, W1A 1AA Tel +44 20 7580 4468, Fax +44 20 7636 9786 RDS _BBC_R3_

Classical music. Some documentaries (normally music based). Often broadcasts live concerts, the best known being The Proms, a series of about 70 concerts from the Royal Albert Hall in London during each summer. Typical music - Beethoven. Also broadcasts on 91.0.

Website Listen live (requires Real Audio Player) Broadcasting House, LONDON, W1A 1AA Tel +44 20 7580 4468, Fax +44 20 7636 9786 RDS _BBC_R4_ *

Broadcasts from approximately 5.30 am to 1 am. At other times the transmitters carry BBC World Service (which is available on AM). Hmmmmmmm, how do you describe Radio 4? A national institution perhaps? "The best channel of spoken word in the world" says the website, with some rather un-British big-headedness. Radio 4 is quite probably unique world-wide. There's lots of news, hourly throughout the day. General interest talk - rarely any music. Broadcasts phone-in shows. Gardening shows. Politics, religion, drama, current affairs, weather, farming, documentaries, consumer affairs, serials - e.g. The Archers (this link is a fantastic labour of love giving daily summaries of the storylines and a vast array of statistics). Comedy quiz shows. Shipping forecasts. Desert Island Discs. I could go on and on.... April 1998 saw some schedule changes with one of the ideas being a constant week-day thread at the same time every day (e.g. a comedy programme each weekday evening at 6.30 pm). Also broadcasts on 93.2, 720 kHz AM and 198 kHz AM.

(Fascinating fact: with a couple of exceptions, Radios 2, 3 and 4 are separated by 2.2 MHz throughout the country (but on different frequencies in different areas), so if you've found one you can find them all!)

Website Listen live 298 Romford Road, Forest Gate, LONDON, E7 9HD Tel +44 333 444 0940 RDS

Started as a temporary station in 2014 and now running as a successful community station serving the East London area of Newham. Live talk, discussion and interviews.

Website Listen live (requires Real Audio Player) 35c Marylebone High Street, LONDON, W1A 4LG Tel +44 20 7224 2424 RDS BBCLONDN

Adult-oriented "London life," including interviews, phone-ins and news during the day and specialist minority programmes by night. Lively week-day lunchtime phone-in show. Good sports coverage on Saturday afternoons. Not everyone's cup of tea, but quite a few people like it (or at least liked it in its former lives), so give it a try. Called BBC GLR - Greater London Radio - until 27 March 2000 when they renamed it, possibly because of poor RAJAR figures, to BBC London Live. Then in October 2001 it was changed to BBC London to merge with web site and TV services ("On TV On Radio On Line"). Excellent web site with London traffic cams. Jonathan 'Jono' Coleman joined to do the breakfast show in the summer of 2005.

Website Listen live - use link on web site 29-30 Leicester Square, LONDON, WC2H 7LA Tel +44 20 7766 6000, Fax +44 20 7766 6100 RDS CAPITAL_

Still the most popular independent radio station in London; in their words "London's number one hit music station." One of the first independent local radio stations in the UK - started broadcasting on 16 October 1973. Pop chart music, aimed primarily at a young audience with lots of disposable income. Comprehensive web site (link above). Sister station, Capital Gold is also based in London on 1548 kHz AM. The breakfast show is the most popular slot which was hosted by Chris Tarrant until 2004(?) when Johnny Vaughan and a team of helpers took over. The high-power high-energy feel of this station makes you feel weary after an hour or so, but if you want pace, current hits and a "being there" feeling, this is your place. In 1997 Capital moved their studios to Leicester Square. Flagship station of the huge and wealthy GCap Media plc, a merger of Capital Radio plc and GWR Group plc on 9 May 2005. Typical music - Razorlight, Beyonce, anything in the top 20 and anything that has charted recently.

Website Dolphin House, North Street, GUILDFORD, GU1 4AA Tel +44 1483 300964, Fax +44 1483 531612 RDS 964EAGLE

Not a London station but based in Guildford, but if you are anywhere in south-west London you should be able to pick it up. Music and news, pretty tame stuff. Seems to change hands/name every year or so...became The Eagle on 4 January 1996. Part of the UKRD group.

Renamed Mercury FM some time in 2001, now part of the huge GCap Media. Again, not a London station, this one based in St Albans (and now the bigger town of Watford), but you should hear it if you are in the northern parts of London. Started broadcasting on 22 October 1994. Originally called Oasis (and part of the Essex Radio Group) the station changed name to the imaginative "96.6 FM" for a while. Then they thought better of it and changed the name back.

Kent based, you may hear it in SE London. See also 1602 kHz AM. Also broadcasts on 97.6, 104.2 and 774 kHz AM.

Website Borough High Street, LONDON, SE1 Tel +44 20 7738 7969, Fax +44 20 7738 6619 RDS CHOICEFM

Specialist dance/reggae style music, started broadcasting on 31 March 1990. Small coverage area centred around Brixton (South London). Also broadcasts to North London on 107.1. Another official looking web site here. It's not clear which is most current. Another that is part of the huge GCap Media group. Typical music like Beyonce; hip hop and R&B. A bit too hip for me, in fact any website with an option of "FRIDAY NITE FLAVAS PLAYLIST" is likely to be beyond me.

Website Listen live (requires Microsoft Media Player) The Chrysalis Building, Bramley Road, LONDON, W10 6SP Tel +44 20 7314 7300, Fax +44 20 7314 7322

On 6 January 2003 this station changed from ITN-owned News Direct to LBC, owned by Chysalis. This marked a return of the phone in format to this frequency, and a reflection that the old format for this frequency (rolling news, travel, sport and weather) was not a big listener pull. Many famous names broadcast on LBC now, including Angela Rippon (ex BBC News presenter), Howard Hughes (he was Chris Tarrant's news anchor on the Capital Breakfast show for many years), Nick Ferrari (controversial morning presenter), Clive Bull (late night phone-in presenter), Steve Allen (another excellent phone-in presenter) and Brian Hayes (another well established radio presenter). The only place for London-based phone-ins, and many excellent programmes, especially the late night ones (Clive Bull & Steve Allen). Give it a try.

Chiltern Road, DUNSTABLE, LU6 1HQ Tel +44 1582 676200, Fax +44 1582 676201 RDS CHILTERN

Not a London station; based in Luton. General music, receivable in northern parts of London.

Website Listen live (requires Real Audio Player) Or use the radio on demand service Broadcasting House, LONDON, W1A 1AA Tel +44 20 7580 4468, Fax +44 20 7636 9786 RDS _BBC_R1_ *

Radio 1 moved from AM to FM in approximately 1990. Pop/rock/specialist music. Very good at promoting new bands. Audience figures have dropped in recent years to 9.7 million people (remember, of course, this is nationwide). Chris Evans did the ever popular breakfast slot pulling in 7 million listeners a week. However he resigned and left in January 1997 after asking for (and being refused) every Friday off. In a bid to reverse the dropping audiences, Radio 1 created a new look for the breakfast show in October 1997. Zoe Ball (daughter of Johnny "Think Of A Number" Ball) and Kevin Greening took over the flagship programme. Kevin soon moved off the programme leaving Zoe alone with her team, but in early 2000 she left too. CHris Moyles currently broadcasts the breakfast show. Radio 1 also broadcasts on 98.5.

Website Listen live Kiss House, 80 Holloway Road, LONDON, N7 8JG Tel ?, Fax ? RDS KISS_100

Dance music. Started broadcasting legally on 1 September 1990, it was a pirate station some time before that. Very trendy, in fact far too trendy for me...although it had a music policy change (due to management changes) in January 1999 to more mainstream choices. EMAP, the station's owners, are going for a larger slice of the 15-34 age-group market.

Website Listen live (requires Real Audio Player) 7 Swallow Place, Oxford Circus, LONDON, W1R 7AA Tel +44 20 7343 9000 RDS CLASSIC_ *

Classical music, competes with BBC Radio 3 for a younger classical music listener with surprising success. Breakfast show plays short pieces or just segments of longer ones so they can add news/travel between the Beethoven whilst you are eating your toast! The evening drive show has a similar format. The UK's first national commercial radio station, launched in September 1992. Also broadcasts on 100.6 and nationally between 100 and 102.

Launched in December 1999 to West Kent and East Sussex, you can hear this station in the SE London area. Also broadcasts on 96.2. Used to be KFM. Now owned by the same group as the other Mercury FM, on 102.7.

Website Latton Bush Centre, Southern Way, HARLOW, CM18 7BU Tel +44 1279 432415, Fax +44 1279 445289

Launched in 1993, this station's name was briefly changed to Mercury FM in October 2000, until the listeners revolted and the name was changed back. This one broadcasts to East Hertfordshire & West Essex so you may hear it in North East London. Originally owned by GWR, now of course GCap Media.

Website Listen live (requires Microsoft Media Player) 26-27 Castlereagh Street, LONDON, W1H 6DJ Tel +44 20 7706 4100, Fax +44 20 7723 9742 RDS JAZZ_FM_

In May 2005 Guardian Media Group Radio announced that Jazz FM was to be no-more and this frequency was to be re-branded Smooth FM. Their press release stated that most people in London did not try Jazz FM because "were not into jazz music" and that the name put them off. Some of the presenters are to stay including Russell Pockett and Sarah Ward. The Smooth brand has been running in the North West for some time. Over the last months the music output changed on Jazz FM - they dropped Dinner Jazz in the evening for example. According to the press release Jazz FM hasn't made a profit in its 15 year life, so you can understand the commercial descision...but it's still sad. Bye bye Jazz FM, I am sorry to see you go - another station with "different" music bites the dust. Some more interesting stuff about the change. Smooth FM officially launched on 7 June 2005. Well Smooth FM has been going for some time now; and the good news is I still like it :) Typical music includes Lemar, Lionel Richie and Luther Vandross.

The old information about Jazz FM:
Jazz and related music, like soul, blues, big band, traditional. Another station that changes names every now and then (has been known as JFM previously). A great jazz station, I particularly like the relaxing "Dinner Jazz" in the evening (8 to 10pm) and Peter Young (PY the pork pie) later on. Started in March 1990. Simultaneously broadcasts in Manchester to NW England (on 100.4) - some programmes (notably the breakfast show and evening drive show) are different, the rest is the same in both cities apart from the adverts. Around 600,000 listeners in London, half that in Manchester. February 1998 saw the introduction of Robbie Vincent on the breakfast show, great to hear him back on the radio (he did a lunchtime phone-in for many years on BBC Radio London [later GLR and later still London Live], 94.9 FM). Also Tony Myatt presents the Saturday 4 - 7pm show. A graphics-rich web site with live audio. If you like jazz, you'll love Jazz FM.
Jazz FM continues as an internet-only station. Which is quite odd when you think about its name.

Website Radio House, Cliftown Road, SOUTHEND-ON-SEA, SS1 1SX Tel +44 1702 333711, Fax +44 1702 345224 RDS ESSEX_FM

Not a London station, you might get this in eastern parts. Pop music. Nice web site, if a little heavy on the yellow/purple colour combinations and light on the useful content; no live audio either. Also broadcasts on 96.3. Part of the GCap Media group.

Website Broadfield House, Brighton Road, CRAWLEY, RH11 9TT Tel +44 1293 519161, Fax +44 1293 560927 RDS MERCURY_

Based in Surrey so you will only hear it in west and south-west London. A pretty ordinary music station and similar web site, showing only information about the presenters. See also Fame, the sister station on 1521 kHz AM. GCap Media owned.

Based in Reading, if you are in West London you will probably be able to pick up this GCap Media station.

Website Radio House, John Wilson Business Park, WHITSTABLE, CT5 3QX Tel +44 1227 772004, Fax +44 1227 771558 RDS INVICTA_

Based in Kent so you will only hear it in eastern parts of London. Part of the GCap Media plc group; Invicta's web site looks almost identical to Capital FM's. Also broadcasts on 102.8. See also the sister station, Capital Supergold on 1242 kHz AM.

Based in Haringey, inner London, not a very good signal in outer London because of its low output power.

Essex based; you may pick it up in eastern parts of the capital. Also on 765 kHz AM. Also broadcasts on 95.3, 729 kHz AM and 1530 kHz AM.

Not a London station but from Luton, so you will hear it in North London. The three counties it aims to please are Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. Phone-ins, news, sport. Also broadcasts on 95.5, 104.5, 630 kHz AM and 1161 kHz AM.

May be heard in western parts of London. A few years back, BBC Radio Berkshire and BBC Radio Oxford were combined to produce BBC Thames Valley FM as part of a cost-cutting exercise. Then in around April 2000 they split them up again. The usual BBC local radio mix of speech (news, sport, weather, travel, phone-ins, advice shows, entertainment) and adult music (very little Beyonce here). BBC local radio stations located out of large city areas have traditionally appealed to the older generation, this one is no exception. Having said that, the local news coverage on this station is nothing short of excellent. Andrew Peach at breakfast is an excellent presenter and normally endears himself to most people he interviews; strangely addictive. He also reads the news on Radio 2, typically on a Saturday afternoon. The main downside of BBC Radio Berkshire is that it sometimes feels like BBC Reading Football Club FM, because of the huge amount of coverage the local football club gets as well as live commentaries of all games. Also broadcasts on (deep breath) 95.2, 104.1, 104.4, 95.4 and 94.6 though most of these will be out of London range.

May be heard in south-western parts of London. An all-talk BBC local station covering Surrey, Sussex and NE Hampshire. You might also catch it on 104.0 or on 1368 kHz AM. Also broadcasts on 95.0, 95.1, 95.3, 104.5, 104.8, 1161 kHz AM, 1485 kHz AM.

Website Listen live (requires Real Audio Player) 29-30 Leicester Square, LONDON, WC2H 7LA RDS __X_F_M_

Started on 1 September 1997. "London's Only Alternative" is what they used to say. Alternative music. Bought by the Capital Radio Group in approximately August 1998 and changed sound to more mainstream music, only to be promptly fined by the Radio Authority for not keeping to their PoP (Promise Of Performance, a document created when the station is given its licence) in October 1998. The fine came after listeners wrote to complain about the change in music policy. Now part of the huge GCap Media group. You're likely to hear the Artic Monkeys, The Lemonheads and The Ordinary Boys.

Website Listen live (requires Microsoft Media Player) 97 Tottenham Court Road, LONDON, W18 9HF Tel +44 20 7436 1515, Fax +44 20 7504 6021 RDS __MAGIC_

This station was called Melody FM ("Your relaxation station" and "the stress-free way to spend your day"). It started broadcasting on 9 July 1990. On 15 June 1998 EMAP took over Melody. Then over a period of months the name was changed through presenters saying "Melody - the magic of London" and then "London's Magic 105.4 Melody FM" - they then dropped the Melody part at the end of December 1998. Middle-of-the-road relaxing music, competes with BBC Radio 2, plays similar but more modern music, typically from someone like Paul Simon or James Blunt. After the take over the music became slightly more modern, but the station still has a sound which is different to anything else available in London - to its credit. The presenters are given little room for ad-libbing and often they can be heard simply identifying the station between tracks. Calming music to drive to, especially recommended when sitting in a Monday-morning traffic jam! Melody had moved frequency from 104.9 (now used by XFM) in 1996 after complaining that listeners in south-west London suffered from interference, apparently from BBC Southern Counties. Presenters include the excellent Graham Dene in the evening - Capital's breakfast DJ in the 1980's. Another ex-Capital DJ also features - Neil "Doctor" Fox is the morning presenter, a strange move since he was associated with more modern pop music at Capital and presented the top 40 on independent stations on Sunday afternoons. In the late evening the shows are normally automated. There are still no jingles, just as there weren't any on Melody. EMAP, the station's owners, are a large radio group owning many stations in the North East of England. They own a series of stations called Magic (playing "long sweeps of easy favourites"). Their web site was slow off the mark (still being under construction in September 2001).

Website Listen live (choose player preference) 1 Golden Square, LONDON, W1R 4DJ Tel +44 20 7434 1215, Fax +44 20 7434 1197 RDS _VIRGIN_

Broadcasts "Classic tracks and today's best music" to London on this frequency. Nationally (same programme for nearly all the time) on 1215 kHz AM. Rock music and news, good stuff, aimed at an older audience than, say, Capital. Typical music - Oasis, Robbie Williams, Coldplay. Virgin reckon they are "The UK's Most Listened to Commercial Radio Station" with 7 million listeners UK-wide. On 13 October 1997 Chris Evans started a 10-week run on the Virgin breakfast slot; the show lasted until June 2001 when he was sacked. Mr Evans must have enjoyed his stay with the station...in December 1997 he acquired Virgin Radio from Richard Branson. And in January 2000 he sold his company (Ginger Media Group) to Scottish Media Group for about £225 million. This effectively means that Scottish Media Group (now known simply as SMG plc) own this station.

Website Listen live (requires Microsoft Media Player) The Chrysalis Building, Bramley Road, LONDON, W10 6SP Tel +44 20 7468 1062, Fax +44 20 7470 1062 RDS _HEART__

"London's best music mix" (it used to be "London's better music mix") - a mix of light music and entertainment, launched in September 1995. Music is less rock oriented than, say, Virgin. A friendly female feel to this station. They reckon they are the second biggest independent station in London, after Capital FM, with 1 million listeners a week. No more than 12 adverts or promotions per hour. Typical music - Simon Webbe, Scissor Sisters. Jamie Theakston presents the breakfast show alongside Harriet Scott.
Heart's History:
Australian Jonathan Coleman ("Jono," axed from Virgin in February 1998) was part of the breakfast team, along with Erika North. He used to present the show with Kara Noble until she was sacked for selling a photo of Sophie Rhys-Jones to a national newspaper just weeks before Sophie's wedding to Prince Edward in June 1999. See this news report. Kara used to team up with Chris Tarrant on Capital's breakfast show before her Heart days.

Website The Observatory Shopping Centre, SLOUGH, SL1 1LH Tel +44 1753 551066, Fax +44 1753 512277 RDS STAR_FM_

Available in West London only. First broadcast as Star FM on 21 May 1993 to Windsor, Slough and Maidenhead in Berkshire. My local radio station, unfortunately. The music is aimed at adults but unfortunately the DJs traditionally have not been. Recently changed name to Time 106.6 to link in with other Time stations in the London Media Company, this station's parent company. In May 1995 Star FM moved to their current frequency from 101.6 because of interference complaints.

Based in south-east London, not a good signal in western parts. Aimed at listeners aged between 25 and 45. Changed its name from "RTM Thamesmead" to Millennium FM in early 1997. Covers Greenwich, Bexley and Dartford. Owned by London Media Company.

A station based in Lewisham, South East London. On air 8 February 1999. Was called FLR = First Love Radio. Adult contemporary music. Changed name to Time, a group of Time stations owned by London Media Company.

From Romford, to the East of London. Started on 18 May 1998. Small broadcast footprint. Music and local news. Changed name from Active FM to Time, a group of Time stations owned by London Media Company. Coverage of Romford, Barking and Dagenham.

Website Paddington House, The Walks Shopping Centre, Basingstoke, RG21 7LJ Tel +44 1256 694000, Fax +44 1256 694111

SW London listeners may just pick this one up, it's based in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Launched on 18 May 1998. Now part of the Tindle Radio South Group.

Website 110 Tolworth Broadway, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 7JD Tel +44 20 8288 1300, Fax +44 20 8288 1312

This frequency, based around south-west London was first used by Thames FM which started broadcasting on 10 March 1997. They re-launched just over a year later (20 April 1998) as Thames Radio. The station was put up for sale in February 2003 and bought out by the management team behind the 80's pirate station Radio Jackie (which was based in the same area). From the Radio Jackie website: "Since the purchase of Thames in March [2003] the station's output has been completely revamped to include live local presentation around the clock and the inclusion of local news every hour. In July [2003] the station moved to new studios in Tolworth. On Sunday 19th October 2003 the station will re-launch as Radio Jackie - the Sound of South West London."

Acknowledgements

With grateful thanks to Mike Brown who put me right on a few things :-) His web-pages about Channel 5 (the terrestrial TV station which started broadcasting in March 1997), teletext and Kenny Everett (a very innovative DJ who has now passed away) are well worth a look.

My thanks to Jeff Brown, of BBC World Service and Hospital Radio Hillingdon, for his help.

Thank you to James Cridland, the creator of the Media UK Internet Directory.

The Legal Bit

All trademarks/copyrights are acknowledged.

This is a fun web site, designed to be helpful. The author cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions (though he will gladly correct mistakes as soon as possible if you contact him).

London Radio Stations and all original material on this site is © (Copyright) Paul Baker, Maidenhead England, 1997-2012.

London Radio Stations - Main Page

FM/main page | AM | Listening figures | Links | Why? | Link to us | Advertising

Originally created on 19 January 1997
© (Copyright) Paul Baker, Maidenhead England, 1997-2021
Last updated 29 January 2021