BBC Three Counties Radio

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BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire (referred to as "Beds, Herts and Bucks"). It broadcasts from its studios on Hastings Street in Luton on 92.1 (Hemel Hempstead) FM, 94.7 (Quainton Hill, near Aylesbury) FM, 95.5 (Sandy Heath) FM, 98.0 (High Wycombe) FM, 103.8 (Zouches Farm, near Luton) FM, 104.5 (Bow Brickhill, Milton Keynes) FM, 1161 (Kempston, near Bedford) kHz MW, 630 (Lewsey Farm, near Luton) kHz MW, and from the BBC 3CR website using Real Player. It started unglamourously as Radio Bedfordshire on June 24 1985, then added the counties of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire to 'BBC Radio Bedfordshire with Bucks and Herts' but quickly changed to its present name on April 5 1993. Since 1995 it has not played music during its daily output, instead relying on pure speech from 4:30am until 7pm, when its specialist and niche programming starts broadcasting.

Milton Keynes 104.5 FM is broadcast from Bow Brickhill, near Bletchley, Milton Keynes, and has the strongest and furthest signal of all three; although none of the frequencies are that powerful, it can be heard in Swindon and as far north as Rugby (where it begins to interfere with Radio Derby). The studios in Willen have produced a separate breakfast show from 6.30am to 10am since Oct 2001, and a separate drivetime show from Nov 2004 until Oct 2005. There is now a separate lunchtime programme for Milton Keynes from 1pm. The Three Counties traffic broadcasts are useful if you are stuck in rush-hour traffic near Luton or Milton Keynes on the M1 motorway.

The Bow Brickhill transmitter, which is no higher than a large mobile phone mast, also has the commercial station FM 103 Horizon on 103.3FM. The Sandy Heath transmitter (95.5FM) has television reception for most of the surrounding counties, national radio frequencies and the commercial station 96.9 Chiltern FM. The 630MW signal from Lewsey Farm can be heard clearly as far north as south Lincolnshire, and can interfere with the Voice of Russia, which is on the same frequency. The Zouches Farm transmitter (103.8FM), between Luton and Dunstable is not particularly high and also has 97.6 Chiltern FM. The Quainton Hill transmitter, near Aylesbury, also has Mix 96 on 96.2FM. There are new transmitters on 90.4FM (Epping Green) for Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and Cheshunt, and 92.1FM (Bedmond, near Kings Langley) for west Hertfordshire.

Justin Dealey, a presenter in his early 20s, always does the early-bird slot from 4.30 - 6.30am on the Early Riser. As no-one's around at that time to have lucid conversations, he chats with correspondents from the USA, Australia, South Africa and the Netherlands, which can be very revealing and uncensored.

The Breakfast shows are presented by Italian-speaking Roberto Perrone in Beds and Herts, and by Big George (Webley) in Bucks. Big George is not known for his timidness, but quite well known for his theme tune to Have I Got News For You.

On Saturdays from 12 - 2pm, Ernie Almond and Jonathan Vernon-Smith create mayhem in their programme called Ern and Vern. It may sound similar to an unsympathetic Blue Peter style Morecambe and Wise. Although never crossing the line of bad taste, it is sometimes a close call. Often listeners calling in have only a passing familiarity with rules of broadcasting. JVS adopts an air of faux-sophistication and innocence to get past the censors. JVS presents a weekday lunchtime consumer slot on Radio Northampton which shares many similarities with the Stephen Rhodes Consumer Programme on 3CR, which he helped out with for a few years. The fact that the same old double glazing and internet auction companies would be regularly discussed may have contributed to his interest in a new northward direction.

From 10am until 1pm everyday, Stephen Rhodes, investigates people's consumer problems. Conmen are his bread and butter, of which the Three Counties region is never facing a shortage. Local dodgy garage proprietors get called up so often, Stephen and his assistants have their numbers as part of their Friends & Family.

While most of the Eastern-region BBC local radio stations link up to Cambridgshire at 7pm for Nick Lawrence and the other regional shows, Three Counties is slowly moving away from this and producing more and more local programming throughout the evening. This includes local sport, of which the Three Counties is never at a loss for with Luton Town, MK Dons, Watford Town and Bedford Rugby Club all in the area. It also includes Origins, a new show (from January 2006), where ex-pirate radio presenters from Luton take control of the airwaves, playing music and discussing issues relating to the many varied communities across the three counties.

Dave Lee Travis also presents a Sunday morning show from 9am-12midday, which includes music, phone-in's & competitions.

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