Greenwich Time Signal Greenwich Time Signal The Greenwich Time Signal (GTS), popularly known as the pips, is a series of six short tones broadcast at one-second intervals by many BBC Radio stations. The pips were introduced in 1924 and have been generated by the BBC since 1990 to mark the precise start of each hour. Their utility in calibration is diminishing as digital broadcasting entails time lags. There are six pips (short beeps) in total, which occur on each of the 5 seconds leading up to the hour and on the hour itself. Each pip is a 1 kHz tone (about halfway between
BBC Radio Stoke MHz and 104.1 MHz FM, 1503 kHz medium wave, and is also available on the UTV-Bauer DAB digital radio multiplex, and online. The current Managing Editor is Andrew Bowman. He joined from BBC Radio Manchester in Salford where he was Assistant Editor. FM MW The Alsagers Bank transmitter is two miles west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, close to the M6. Stations broadcast from it can be clearly heard in most parts of northern Birmingham, and along the M6 from the M54 junction to Skelmersdale. The transmitter also carries Signal 1 (a commercial station owned by UTV), BBC National DAB and Digital One.