[5] The success of Radio 4 News FM during the first Gulf War (1991) led the BBC to propose the launch of a rolling-news service.

The first voice on air, Jane Garvey, later went on to co-present the breakfast and drive-time shows with Peter Allen.

The Times described the launch as "slipp[ing] smoothly and confidently into a routine of informative banter"[7] and The Scotsman as "professionalism at its slickest".

[8] The news of the first day was dominated by the fatal stabbing at Hall Garth School near Middlesbrough, the first of many major incidents which the network covered live as they unfolded.

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 professor of Journalism at the University of Kent.

The audience Appreciation Index figure did not increase, remaining at 79.9; and the average length of time spent on the channel fell from 06:41 to 06:34 – the fourth lowest fall of all of the BBC's radio stations.

However, as part of the corporation's plan to sell off Television Centre, the decision was made in 2008 to move BBC Radio 5 Live to the new broadcast hub at MediaCityUK.

[18][needs update] Due to COVID-19, the hourly news bulletins were shared with BBC Radio 2 from April 2020.

One such occurrence was during Euro 2008 where thunderstorms caused satellite disruptions, but BBC One simulcast the 5 Live commentary.

[19] While football commentaries form the majority of live commentaries during the football season, the range of events covered by the station include: As 5 Live cannot accommodate all of the sports which they have rights to broadcast, some are covered on sister station Sports Extra, including: Sports Extra typically emphasises full broadcasts of Premier League and Home Nations football, if games overlap each other.

The station had originally launched in 2002 as Radio 5 Live Sports Extra but had its name changed in 2022 as part of a rebranding of the BBC.