Radio BBC 5

BBC Radio 5 Live (formerly styled BBC Radio Five Live) is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries. It is the principal radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcasting virtually all major sports events staged in the UK or involving British competitors.Original 1990s Five live logoThe success of Radio 4 News FM during the 1991 first Gulf War led Liz Forgan to suggest in May 1993 the introduction of a combined news and sport network. Accordingly, the "old" Radio 5 closed down at midnight on Sunday 27 March 1994 and the new Radio 5 Live began its 24-hour service on the morning of Monday 28 March. The first voice on air was Jane Garvey, who later went on to co-present the breakfast and drivetime shows with Peter Allen. The launch was described by The Times as "slipp[ing] smoothly and confidently into a routine of informative banter" and The Scotsman as "professionalism at its slickest."The tone of the channel, engaging and more relaxed than contemporary BBC output, was the key to the channel's success and set the model for other BBC News services later in the decade. The first audiences were some four million, with a record audience of six and a quarter million.Before the launch of digital broadcasting, the station (and Radio 5 before it) broadcast for several years on analogue satellite with near-FM quality.Among the key editorial staff involved in the design of programme formats and recruitment of staff for the new station were Sara Nathan, later editor of Channel 4 News, and Tim Luckhurst, later editor of The Scotsman newspaper and currently Professor of Journalism at the University of Kent.Former presenters include Susan Bookbinder, Jon Briggs, Jon Champion, Adrian Chiles, Edwina Currie, Fi Glover, Nick Hancock, Brian Hayes, Peter Heaton-Jones, Jane Hill, Des Lynam, David Mellor, Louise Minchin, Paddy O'Connell, Jonathan Pearce, Nick Robinson, Sybil Ruscoe, Bill Turnbull, Sian Williams, Eamonn Holmes, Mark Saggers and Wendy Robbins.[citation needed]2000-2007 Five live logoIn 2005 the Radio Five Live Sporting Yearbook (ISBN 0-00-721598-3) was published.The station won five Sony Awards, one gold and four silver, in 2005 and was nominated an additional six times. The lone gold award was in the News Story Award category for its coverage of the 2004 Asian tsunami.BBC Radio 5 Live were Official Broadcasters of the 2006 World Cup along with talkSPORT. Both stations broadcast live Premier League commentaries from August 2007, with the 7 rights packages being shared 6 to 1 in favour of 5 Live.[citation needed]A companion station, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, was launched as a digital-only service on 2 February 2002. In August 2007, BBC Radio Five Live was renamed BBC Radio 5 Live and was given a new logo.