Listening to radio is a national pastime. It's ideal for many people, whether they are into music, sports, chat or religion, there is now a radio station in the UK to suit every taste. Unlike watching TV or reading the newspaper, listening to the radio does not require your exclusive concentration.

The main national radio stations in the UK are run by the BBC - these are Radio 1 (BBC Radio 1, radio one), Radio 2 (BBC Radio 2, radio 2), Radio 3 (BBC Radio 3, radio 3), Radio 4 (BBC Radio 4, radio four) and BBC Radio 5 Live (Five Live).

There are also independant national radio stations such as Classic FM, Talk Sport and Virgin Radio.

Many people also listen to their local radio stations - the BBC has a local station in most areas and some major independant local radio stations include Capital FM, Kiss FM, Jazz FM, Heart FM, Southern FM, BRMB, Chiltern Radio, Rock FM, Choice FM, Power FM, Hallam FM, Vibe FM, Red Dragon FM, Essex FM, Kiss 100 FM, Magic FM, Galaxy Radio, Century Radio, Real Radio, Manx Radio and Sunrise Radio.

With the advent of digital radio, radio broadcasts are now clearer and better than ever. As well as the actual radio programme you can view extra digital information such as the artist and title of the song playing and travel news.

If you have Sky Digital you can now listen to lots of great radio stations including all the BBC Radio Stations such as Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live. You can also listen to exclusive radio stations such as Solar Radio and BBC Six Music.

British ex-pats spread around the world and lots of overseas listeners will tune-in to the BBC World Service broadcasts for the latest world news, business and sports stories.

Thanks to the Internet, people can listen to radio stations from all around the world whilst sitting at home or work. Many radio stations have online stations which can be listened-to live via the Internet. As well as original, traditional radio stations which also broadcast on the Internet there are specific Internet radio stations which only broadcast to listeners online. These online radio stations have the advantage of getting too many listeners without having to go over normal radio frequencies and pay high licence fees.

yourname@radiouk.com is a cool e-mail address you can use to show your interest in radio. You don't necessarily have to be a broadcast radio fan, you could be a HAM radio amateur or CB radio user.

Real fans of radio can set-up a web site at www.yourchoice.radiouk.com and bring the many faces of radio broadcasting to the attention of a wider audience.