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 on 95.5 (Oulton, near Lowestoft), 95.9 (Aldeburgh), 103.9 (Manningtree) and 104.6 (Great Barton, four miles north-east of Bury St Edmunds near the B1106 and Conyers Green) FM. In 2004, Radio Suffolk was named Station of the Year in the Sony Radio Academy Awards.
The Manningtree frequency is the strongest. The 470ft antenna mast transmitter is just south of Manningtree, in Essex, and is also one of the BBC EssexMW transmitters. However, the BBC Radio Suffolk broadcasts are directional. It also has Absolute Radio on 1233kHz, BBC national FM, BBC National DABand Digital One. The Great Barton transmitter also has Heart FM East Anglia on 96.4FM. The Oulton transmitter also has The Beach on 103.4FM and Digital One (since 16 December 2005). The 95.9FM frequency, from the Aldeburgh mast, is only recent and had to be approved by the Netherlands government in case of interference in theNetherlands. The mast also has TV channels. There is no MW frequency or DAB signal. A mast at Sudbury (near Assington), which is the main TV transmitter for South Suffolk, has the NOW Digital Essex 12D multiplex, which has BBC Essex, even though the mast is in Suffolk. (However the broadcasts are directional). The mast at Oulton/Lowestoft, and one near the Suffolk border at Thetford have the NOW Digital Norfolk 11B multiplex, which has Radio Norfolk.
