BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the Englishcounty of Suffolk, commencing broadcasts on 12 April 1990. Its studios are at Broadcasting House in St Matthews Street, Ipswich. The station broadcasts on 95.5, 95.9, 103.9 and 104.6 FM. In 2004, Radio Suffolk was named Station of the Year in the Sony Radio Academy Awards. It is available in parts of Suffolk on DAB 10C and from Sudbury and Tacolneston television transmitters on Freeview channel 720. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 104,000 listeners and a 8.3% share as of December 2018.
Transmitters
SE Suffolk The Manningtree frequency 103.9FM is the strongest at 5KW ERP. The 154.4-metre antenna mast is just south of Manningtree, in Essex, and is also one of the BBC EssexMW transmitters. However, the BBC Radio Suffolk broadcasts are directional to the North. West Suffolk The Great Barton transmitter on 104.6FM 2KW ERP, also has Heart FM East Anglia on 96.4FM. Lowestoft and Waveney Due to what was called a "planning error" with Lowestoft at launch, having no coverage, a 50W VP relay started during January 1991 on 95.5FM. It was on the water tower at . It covered just the town of Lowestoft itself, leaving other nearby areas reliant on the transmitters at Manningtree or Great Barton. It was replaced by a higher power transmitter at Oulton in 2003 to service NE Suffolk. The Oulton transmitter also has The Beach on 103.4FM. Aldeburgh and East Suffolk The 95.9FM frequency, from the Aldeburgh , began in 2004 and had to be approved by the Dutch government in case of interference in the Netherlands. Broadcasts are at 2KW ERP Mixed Polarization. The mast is also used as a TV relay for the Suffolk coastal area. Aldeburgh is a relay of Manningtree on 103.9FM, all the other transmitters have direct links with ISDN backup system in place. Aldeburgh was added because of the locally poor reception. There is no MW frequency. Radio Suffolk is licensed to broadcast commentary on all Ipswich Town league and cup games on FM and DAB, but not on Freeview or via the BBC Sounds app. DAB signal is on 10C from Mendlesham, Puttock's Hill, Warren Heath, Felixstowe. Suffolk MUX testing started on 30 September 2016 and launched on 7 October 2017 at 9:30am. Due to the few masts currently in use, there is a lack of coverage towards the Suffolk Coast north of Felixstowe to Lowestoft. Sudbury, Newmarket, Haverhill, Lowestoft, Southwold and Beccles & Bungay also have very poor or no DAB coverage of the Suffolk MUX. Radio Suffolk is so far the last BBC Local Radio station to be made available on DAB. Digital TV From 6 June 2016, BBC Radio Suffolk was available on Freeview and YouView channel 720 as part of the nationwide roll out of BBC local radio stations on Freeview. This is only from the Sudbury and Tacolneston transmitter groups, covering the same area as Look East.
