BBC Radio Leicester high point in Charnwood Forest, part of the National Forest. Since 6 December 2002, the station's DAB signal has come from the NOW Digital East Midlands (NDEM) Leicester 11B multiplex, which comes from Copt Oak and Houghton on the Hill. The Waltham transmitter and Houghton-on-the-Hill have a Digital One multiplex and Waltham has a BBC National DAB multiplex. The Copt Oak transmitter also broadcasts Gem 106. The majority of the station's programming is produced and broadcast from Leicester. During off-peak hours, BBC Radio Leicester also carries regional programming for the Midlands and East Midlands regions, produced from sister stations BBC
BBC Radio Orchestra disbanded in 1991, with the BBC Big Band retained as a full-time ensemble till 1994 when the corporation made the band a freelance unit, whilst allowing it to retain its name and identity. When the BBC Radio Popular Music department was formed in the early 1960s, it inherited both the BBC Revue Orchestra and the BBC Variety Orchestra and immediately began to investigate the possible amalgamation of the two ensembles, which had similar instrumentation and virtually duplicated each other's outputs. Michael Standing, the then head of sound broadcasting at the BBC, suggested creating an orchestra that would form a flexible