| BBC Three Counties Radio | |
| City: | Dunstable |
| Area: | Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire |
| Frequency: | FM 90.4 MHz (Welwyn Garden City, Hertford and Stevenage) |
| Rds: | BBC 3CR |
| Former Names: | BBC Radio Bedfordshire (1985–1993) |
| Format: | Local news, talk and music |
| Language: | English |
| Owner: | BBC Local Radio, BBC East, BBC London, BBC South |
| Licensing Authority: | Ofcom |
| Website: | BBC Three Counties Radio |
BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
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.[1]
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".
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.
BBC Three Counties Radio broadcasts on FM on these frequencies (transmitter location in brackets):
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.
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 9pmto 1am with PRS, The Skues Collection and Skues Me.
During the station's downtime, overnight programming is simulcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.