counties radio city dunstable broadcast area bedfordshire hertfordshire and buckinghamshire frequency 90.4 fm 92.1 fm 94.7 fm 95.5 fm 98.0 fm 103.8 fm 104.5 fm 630mw 1161mw rds bbc 3cr first air date 24 june 1985 format local news talk and music language s english audience share 5.2 % march 2011 2 owner bbc local radio bbc east website bbc three counties radio 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 broadcasting from studios at grove park in dunstable . the managing editor is laura moss who moved from bbc radio northampton in april 2012 . contents 1 history 1.1 bbc radio bedfordshire 1985 1993 1.2 bbc three counties radio 1993 present 2 transmitters 3 programming 4 past presenters 5 references 6 external links history edit bbc radio bedfordshire 1985 1993 edit radio bedfordshire logo the station launched as radio bedfordshire on 24 june 1985 serving the whole of bedfordshire plus despite the name north bucks and the northern parts of hertfordshire . therefore as well as luton and bedford and the rest of bedfordshire milton keynes hemel hempstead harpenden aylesbury st albans welwyn garden city letchworth stevenage and hitchin were served by the new station . in 1992 the station became known as bbc radio bedfordshire with herts and bucks . bbc three counties radio 1993 present edit 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 to welwyn garden city hatfield and west hertfordshire in late 2005 . bbc three counties radio have studios at willen in milton keynes and have produced separate clarification needed breakfast shows since october 2001 . with the opening of new transmitters in buckinghamshire the milton keynes opt outs were extended across the whole county with a separate drivetime show from november 2004 until october 2005 before producing the separate lunchtime programme which ended in february 2007 with a revamp of the schedule . the buckinghamshire opt out was scaled back to a breakfast show for milton keynes only morning mk with helen legh . the studio at willen was also host to phil lack s early breakfast until late 2009 . in september 2012 morning mk was axed and replaced with a breakfast show for beds herts and bucks from bbc 3cr in luton . 3cr became available on dab radio on 14 february 2013 . 1 since a schedule change in early 2011 the station has been using the bbc local radio generic jingles created by mcasso music production . after 30 years at their luton base three counties moved to brand new studios in dunstable in june 2015 . transmitters edit bbc three counties radio broadcasts on 90.4 fm epping green near hertford 92.1 fm bedmond near hemel hempstead 94.7 fm quainton hill near aylesbury 95.5 fm sandy heath 98.0 fm high wycombe 103.8 fm zouches farm near luton 104.5 fm bow brickhill near milton keynes 630 khz 0.2 kw mw lewsey farm near luton 1161 khz kempston near bedford and streaming from the bbc 3cr website . bbc 3cr is also carried only the herts beds and bucks digital radio multiplex transmitted from sandy heath epping green hemel hempstead chepping wycombe letchworth zouches farm and bow brickhill . the digital radio multiplex was initially relayed to and from the english county of northamptonshire . in northamptonshire digital listeners could choose between bbc 3cr and bbc radio northampton . in the 3cr digital service area listeners could also choose to listen to the bbc radio northampton service as an alternative or bbc 3cr . this duplication was withdrawn on 20 february 2015 . programming edit the majority of the station s programming is produced and broadcast from dunstable . during off peak hours bbc three counties radio also carries regional programming for the east produced from sister stations bbc radio norfolk bbc essex bbc radio cambridgeshire bbc radio suffolk and bbc radio northampton . as with all bbc local radio stations it also airs the networked weekday evening shows originating from bbc radio leeds and produced independently by wire free productions . during the station s downtime bbc three counties radio simulcasts bbc radio 5 live overnight . the station s presenters include andy collins jonathan vernon smith nick coffer roberto perrone geoff doyle luke ashmead justin dealey gareth lloyd and helen legh . past presenters edit tony blackburn iain lee simon lederman former breakfast presenter jon gaunt simon groom john radford dave lee travis former sunday morning presenter stephen rhodes consumer programme and breakfast show andy lloyd former sunday morning and swing presenter nick lawrence former breakfast show presenter ex chiltern fm big george webley former mk breakfast and music presenter ex glr bbc london 94.9 gary whitford now a television director mo dutta john pilgrim presenter out and about with john pilgrim gardening programmes sunday mornings the knowledge quiz thameslink quiz sunday live from venues across the three counties . winner international road safety award for best programming of road safety.published four books based on the out and about programme . references edit 1 radio today . 14 february 2013 . retrieved 14 february 2013 . external links edit official website media uk bbc three counties radio bow brickhill transmitter . epping green transmitter . hemel hempstead bedmond transmitter . high wycombe transmitter . lewsey farm transmitter . kempston transmitter . quainton hill transmitter . sandy heath transmitter . zouches farm transmitter . chepping wycombe transmitter v t e bbc local radio east bbc essex radio cambridgeshire radio norfolk radio northampton radio suffolk three counties radio east midlands radio derby radio leicester radio nottingham east yorkshire and lincolnshire radio humberside radio lincolnshire north west radio lancashire radio manchester radio merseyside north east and cumbria bbc tees bbc newcastle radio cumbria south east radio kent bbc surrey bbc sussex south radio berkshire radio oxford radio solent london radio london south west and the channel islands radio cornwall radio devon radio guernsey radio jersey west radio bristol radio gloucestershire bbc somerset bbc wiltshire west midlands bbc wm bbc coventry & warwickshire bbc hereford and worcester radio shropshire radio stoke yorkshire radio leeds radio sheffield radio york former stations dorset fm radio durham southern counties radio thames valley fm coordinates 51 52 37 n 0 25 05 w 51.877 n 0.418 w 51.877 ; 0.418 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bbc three counties radio & oldid 741800280 categories bbc three counties radioradio stations in hertfordshireradio stations in bedfordshireradio stations in buckinghamshirelutonhitchinflitwickhidden categories use dmy dates from august 2012use british english from august 2012wikipedia articles needing clarification from september 2012coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages polski edit links this page was last modified on 29 september 2016 at 19 06 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by 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