Public radio Public radio in the UK is produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which also produces public television and is funded by an annual TV licence fee. The BBC broadcasts five national radio stations on FM and AM, another five on digital radio only and the World Service, broadcast internationally. Contemporary music station, Radio 1, adult contemporary, oldies and easy listening station, Radio 2, classical music and arts station, Radio 3, and current affairs, talk and entertainment station, Radio 4, all broadcast nationwide on FM. News, Sport and Talk station, Radio Five Live broadcasts to the UK on AM. Radio 4 also broadcasts on the long wave AM band with occasional opt-out programmes. The BBC operates a network of 46 local and regional radio stations. These are mostly on FM, but in some places are on AM instead or as well. Commercial radio The UK has both national and local commercial stations. The national stations are Classic FM, which broadcasts light classical music, Virgin radio, which broadcasts mainstream rock music and Talk Sport. These stations all serve the whole of the UK, although Virgin and Talk Sport, which broadcast on AM, have reduced coverage at night. Further national stations are broadcast digitally. The UK has nearly 300 local commercial stations. Everywhere is served by at least one station, with most towns and cities served by 2 to 4 FM stations and an AM station. London has 8 FM and 7 AM local commercial stations covering the whole city and 7 smaller stations. Many of the AM stations belong to the Classic Gold and Capital Gold oldies networks. Networking of local stations on FM is limited to off-peak hours, although several station names are used in more than one place. Community radio Community radio in the UK is still in its infancy. 14 community stations are currently broadcasting on a trial basis, but this will expand significantly during 2005. In addition many hospitals and educational institutes are licensed to operate 1 watt AM stations, officially serving only their sites, but available more widely in practice. The UK also licenses many stations to broadcast for one month trials and a number of the smaller commercial stations are effectively community stations. Digital radio The UK is the world leader in digital radio broadcasting, starting the world's first DAB digital radio network in 1995. Each DAB transmission, known as a multiplex, carries up to 11 different stations. The UK has 2 national and 48 local and regional multiplexes. The UK now has more stations broadcasting on DAB than any other country and half a million DAB radios have been sold (as of mid 2004). However, most UK listeners access digital radio stations via the internet or one of the digital TV systems.	Radio in... Australia Belgium France Germany Ireland Netherlands USA Station directory Digital radio index Features index
	Radio in... Australia Belgium France Germany Ireland Netherlands USA Station directory Digital radio index Features index