It is the most listened to radio station in the UK, with its schedule filled with top name presenters like Terry Wogan, Steve Wright, Jonathan Ross and Michael Parkinson. It has a demographic of adult listeners and tends to play music from the 80s and 90s as well as contemporary chart and indie music. Whilst being adult orientated, it does not broadcast complete works of classical music, the domain of Radio 3, or offer in depth discussion, or drama, the job of Radio 4. It does however carry some half-hour comedy shows. The station does offer many musical documentaries and celebrity interviews and, up until the advent of Radio 5 Live, was the BBC's main radio outlet for sports coverage. (Radio 5 - before becoming Radio 5 Live - was originally created by splitting off Radio 2's mediumwave frequencies, leaving Radio 2 on FM only.)
Being a BBC station, it is is funded by the television licence fee, and does not have to broadcast commercials.