BBC Radio Foyle

BBC Radio Foyle (Irish: BBC Raidió Feabhail) is a BBC Northern Ireland local radio station, serving County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It is named after the River Foyle which flows through Derry, the city where the station is based. The station broadcasts from BBC's Northland Road studios on 93.1 FM and 792 MW in Derry, County Londonderry. There is also a small television studio based there used for interviews with the interviewee sitting in front of a CSO screen which normally has a live view of Derry. Since it broadcasts from a point close to the County Donegal (Republic of Ireland) and County Londonderry border it includes some coverage of the former county.

BBC Radio Foyle
CityDerry
Broadcast areaCounty Londonderry,
Northern Ireland
FrequencyFM: 93.1 MHz
MW: 792 kHz
Freeview: 720 (NI only)
Freesat: 717
Sky: 0152 (NI only)
Virgin Media: 933
Online:
First air date11 September 1979
FormatNews, Music, Sport
OwnerBBC,
BBC Northern Ireland
WebcastWMA
Websitewww.bbc.co.uk/radiofoyle

It is an opt-out from BBC Radio's main Northern Ireland service, BBC Radio Ulster. BBC Radio Foyle's weekday schedule begins at 7:00am and continues until 5:00pm.

Programmes
  • Caschlár
  • Stephen McCauley (Electric Mainline) ("Afternoon Show")
  • The Breakfast Show
  • News bulletins including sport, News at One and Sportsound
  • Rejoice
  • Stephen McCauley in the Afternoon
  • The Friday Show

Weekday opt-out programmes

BBC Radio Foyle weekday schedules are as BBC Radio Ulster except for the following opt-outs

  • 7.00am until 9.00am - The Breakfast Show: Local, national and international news, sport, traffic and travel updates for the north west
  • 1.00pm - The News at One: Local, national and international news and sport from the north west of Northern Ireland
  • 1.30pm - The Mark Patterson Show: News, views, issues and culture from a north west perspective with Mark Patterson
  • 3.00pm - The Sean Coyle Show: Sean presents an hour of requests, dedications and music to brighten up your afternoon

At 4.00pm BBC Radio Foyle hands over to BBC Radio Ulster - BBC Radio Foyle does provide occasional evening opt outs including live coverage of local football games in the city area.

BBC Radio Foyle News bulletins air at 7.00am, 7.30am, 8.00am, 8.30am, 9.00am, 10.00am, 11.00am, 12.00pm, 1.00pm, 2.00pm and 3.00pm on weekdays.

Weekend opt-out programmes

Weekend programming on BBC Radio Foyle have been cut back in recent years. On Saturdays apart from BBC Radio Foyle news bulletins at 9.00am, 10.00am, 11.00am and 12.00pm, there are no other opt-outs on the station, and BBC Radio Foyle airs the main BBC Radio Ulster programming.

The local religious programme Rejoice with James McClelland continues to air on Sundays from after the 5.00pm news until 6.00pm. BBC Radio Foyle News on Sundays airs at 11.00am and 12.00pm only. [1] Between 0655 and 0100, all other programmes are broadcast from Radio Ulster. Between 0100 and 0655, Radio 5 Live programming is simulcast.

Digital

BBC Radio Foyle is available online and is carried on Freeview in Northern Ireland (occupying the slot held by BBC Radio nan Gàidheal in Scotland and by BBC Radio Cymru in Wales). It was not initially available on DAB digital radio, however; the Northern Ireland multiplex licence only requires carriage of Radio Ulster.

In June 2010, the BBC announced a trial scheme under which Radio Foyle would be available on DAB as a part-time sidecar station to Radio Ulster, using a similar format as the part-time longwave-programming optouts of BBC Radio 4 on the BBC National DAB multiplex. During this trial, the bitrate of Radio Ulster would drop during Foyle's separate broadcast hours, with Foyle carried as a split audio stream in the remaining space; outside of split shows, the full bitrate would revert to Radio Ulster.[2]

When the Digital One ensemble commenced broadcasting in Northern Ireland certain stations that used Digital One in the rest of the UK left the Northern Ireland ensemble, leaving space for Radio Foyle to broadcast in Stereo without the need for the Radio Ulster capacity to be split.[3]

References
  1. "12/07/2015, Rejoice - BBC Radio Foyle". BBC.
  2. Carey. "DAB Ensembles Worldwide - Latest News & Updates". www.wohnort.org.
  3. Carey. "DAB Ensembles WorldWide - UK Local & Minimuxes". www.wohnort.org.
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