What is the LBC DAB frequency in the Glasgow area?
– David
The talk radio station LBC is broadcast on DAB digital radio across the UK, as well as 97.3FM in London.
It’s not normally necessary to select a digital radio station like LBC by using its frequency. To find the station on a digital radio you would perform a scan for stations and if the station is available it will be shown in the list.
However, some digital radios do allow you to tune manually. Digital radio stations don’t have their own frequency as is the case on FM or AM radio. Instead the stations are broadcast as part of an ensemble. Manually tuning to the frequency (or block) for LBC will also find other stations on that ensemble.
LBC is broadcast on the Digital One multiplex, which uses block 11D at 222.064 MHz in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland the Digital One multiplex is broadcast on block 12A and the frequency is 223.936 MHz.
The same details apply for sister station LBC News which is also broadcast on Digital One. LBC News is broadcast using the newer DAB+ format rather than DAB, but the frequency is the same. Not all radios receive DAB+ stations and if you can receive LBC in Glasgow but not LBC News this could be why.
There are approximately 15 transmitters in Scotland which carry LBC and LBC News. They cover Tayside, Brechin, Edinburgh, Ayr, Aberdeen, Stirling, Glasgow, Perth, Moray Firth, Redmoss, Rosneath and the Scottish Borders. Three transmitters provide coverage of UK-wide stations in the Glasgow area.
If you are not able to receive these stations you can use a postcode coverage checker to see which digital stations should be available in your area. The manual for your DAB radio should explain if a manual tuning mode is included and how to use it.
We have provided an example of manual tuning with a Sony DAB radio on our article about tuning into Virgin Radio.