Aircheck UK - Worcestershire  UPDATED: 19/02/2005     International    UK Home    AIRCHECK Home

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BBC LOCAL RADIO: 

BBC RADIO BIRMINGHAM / BBC WM:  BBC Radio Birmingham came to air on 7th November 1970, later, in 1982, becoming BBC WM to reflect a wider coverage area, and winning four Sony awards - Britain's most prestigious radio awards - namely Station Of The Year in 1998, Best Breakfast Show in 1997 & Ed Doolan Sunday Show 1998 & Malcolm Boyden's Show in 1997.  Predominantly speech-based, the station serves the West Midlands, South Staffordshire, North Worcestershire & North Warwickshire, and has a unique blend of presenters, a strong news, sport and current affairs service and a clear knowledge of the needs of it's listeners.  Travel reports reflect the busy nature of the locality, appearing every half hour and every 15 minutes at peak periods, including car parking news on a regular basis.  BBC WM broadcasts on one target frequency of 95.6.

BBC WM HEARTLANDS:  - This was an opt-out service from Radio WM which operated on 1458AM from April 1989 to 1991, targeted at the eastern part of Birmingham.  

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BBC HEREFORD & WORCESTER: Currently broadcasting from Hylton Road Studios in Worcester, with another office next to the Green Dragon Hotel in Broad Street, it's launch goes back to 14th February 1989.  Today, it operates on 104, 104.6 (Kidderminster) & 94.7FM, and it is now also available on 738, 1104, & more recently 1584 kHz AM, the latter courtesy of a 300 Watt transmitter based at Woofferton near Ludlow, which came on-line in March 2003   BBC Radio Shropshire opened two new FM transmitters just prior, and the technical bods decided on a switch due to listeners in the North of Herefordshire experiencing difficulties in hearing the service. This was a considerable about turn, this being down to the fact that there used to be an AM Hereford transmitter on 819, but this was closed quite some time ago.  

COMMERCIAL:  LOCAL (ILR)

FM 102 THE BEAR: Comparatively, one of the babies of commercial radio, this service commenced transmissions of classic and contemporary hits and local and national news and information for Shakespeare's home town of Stratford-Upon-Avon on 24th May 1996.  It broadcasts from The Guard House Studios in Banbury Road and is currently owned by the CN Group along with Centre-FM ( Tamworth, Staffs) & Oak 107 Loughborough, Leicestershire amongst others).  It's music policy is one of classic and current chart hits serving 217,000 adults aged over 16 who live across South Warwickshire, East Worcestershire & North Gloucestershire.

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BRMB can stake a claim as being one of the first ILR stations outside of London to come on-air - BRMB started transmissions on 19th February 1974 as the fourth of the original 19 commercial stations to start in that decade.  There's always been some doubt as to what BRMB actually stands for - Birmingham Regional Music Broadcasting has been the most popular suggestion, but no-one really seems to know for sure.   

The area was in the grip of a three day working week - power cuts were common place and the station actually went off-air for 35 minutes when the transmitter lost power.  Serving Birmingham, the station originally started broadcasting on 94.8 VHF and 261 meters Medium Wave, with news editor Brian Sheppard the first voice, saying 'It's six o'clock and this is BRMB news.'   The breakfast show presenter of the time was Adrian Juste but it was ATV continuity announcer Kevin Morrison who was the first DJ on launch day.  

Other presenters of the day were Stewart White, also an ATV announcer, on mid-mornings, Ed Doolan, still on BBC local radio today, who presented lunchtime's phone-in show and Nicky Steele operated the afternoon show where listeners could buy and sell things they no longer wanted.  The evenings featured a news and topical debate show from 6pm up until 8pm when specialist music shows started.  From 11pm, Paul Brown presented the late show until closedown.  Sundays included regular religious output.  Other 70's BRMB stars were Les Ross and Tony Butler.  Les had previously applied in 1974, got rejected by them, and so disappeared to Radio Tees.  The damage was repaired in 1976 when Les returned to take over breakfast - albeit with a brief move to AM's XTRA, from 1989-1993, this would last until 2002.  Tony Butler was in charge of sport back then, regularly shouting '....on yer bike' to callers he didn't like very much.  

The 80s, saw new presenters Nick Meanwell on mid-mornings, Stephen Rhodes at lunchtimes, Phil Riley on early afternoons, Brendan Kearney at drive and Phil Holden in the evening slot.  There was plenty of opportunity for Brummies to air their views as talk took up a large amount of air time.  News output remained in the same slot and there were still a host of specialist shows.  1984 saw the creation of The Masked DJ and a show of continuous music - a concept which would flood through the Midlands Radio group stations.  In 1986, the station moved as part of an industry reallocation of frequency - and so the move to 96.4FM took place. 

When XTRA-AM launched in 1989 (see below) BRMB used a strapline 'music power' focusing on playing 90s hits.  It was at this time that presenters, some of whom are still firmly planted in the local radio industry, first appeared: names such as Phil 'Flupp' Upton (now at 100.7 Heart FM), Andy Hollins, Simon Davies, Deborah Kench and the man who found his way somehow to GWR, Graham Torrington, who many argue was much better in his BRMB days than he is now.  After a brief spell away, Brendan Kearney returned.  

It was also around this time that music content took more presidence - long news shows ended and 80s hits returned amongst the 90s favourites.  There were series of music sweeps, announced by 'voice-overs' as '10 strong songs in a row'.  

Approximately 20 years after it's launch, it came under the umbrella of Capital Radio plc. Capital purchased it from GWR who bought the station as part of Midlands Radio plc.  GWR didn't want BRMB or it's sister station X-TRA-AM which was created in the late 80s, and as Capital wanted it for it's 'Capital Cities Portfolio', the deal was done.  Many presenters left or had been fired, but Les Ross moved back to FM until his run ended at the end of September 2002.  He's now at SAGA 105.7 (see regional stations below) where he started the breakfast show on Monday 6th January 2003.  

XTRA-AM was launched as part of the late eighties reorganisation of frequencies by the authorities.  They said, either use the frequencies for different services or have them taken away.  BRMB spent some time practicing a split back in the 80s; using their AM 261 frequency to cover football or to cover bad weather conditions.  XTRA-AM launched on April 4th 1989 using 1152 and 1359 (Mercia Radio's old AM service for Coventry with a separate service with local news, traffic and commercials) kHZ AM to provide 'non-stop classic hits'  from the 1950s to the 1970s.  It quickly surpassed the already high popularity of it's FM sister station.  Les Ross moved over in 1989 with other AM presenters Adrian Stewart, Mick Wright, Mark Edwards, Dave Hickman (now at 100.7 Heart-FM), the sultry sexy voice of Annie Othen, Ted Elliot (who was around for the launch of 100.7 Heart FM but not much longer afterwards) Steve Marsh and Noddy Holder.

It became a proud part of the Midlands Radio plc group, until GWR purchased the group in it's entirety but decided it's didn't want either Birmingham stations in the old Midlands Radio plc group.  GWR sold both to Capital Radio plc for their 'Capital Cities portfolio'.  Tony Prince, the ex-Radio Luxembourg jock was drafted in to replace Les Ross on breakfast on XTRA.  Tony Butler returned from the BBC stations, only to make a later return to the welcoming warm arms of Auntie.  Tony was later replaced by another BRMB old boy, Nicky Steele.  The overall sound of the station, especially, it's music content, changed and audiences plummeted.  

When Capital completed the purchase, there was a need to sort out a few fiddly bits.  Capital got Mercia and sold it to GWR.  GWR said that the Coventry XTRA-AM 1359 service  would be replaced by Classic Gold.  A sudden flash of urgency came over XTRA jocks and they started advising listeners to retune to 1152 - this led to a quicker plug pulling session for the 1359 service.  This loss of audience had quite an effect on XTRA's already low audience.  XTRA ended in the locality in 1998.  

CAPITAL GOLD Birmingham: Having purchased XTRA, it got permission to network on AM for 20 hours a day from London's Capital Radio HQ.  Local presenters were given their cards, all except lucky old Tom Ross who got the element of locality the licence required,  XTRA was renamed Capital Gold and all output bar sports and brekky now comes from London.  Some would argue this is gaining national radio by the back door - and they may have a point.  

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BUZZ FM: It was never going to be easy for another station to come on air in Birmingham - and when it did, Buzz FM was vvery quickly a loss maker.  It closed in December 1993 when it failed to attract new funding.  In 1992, it was purchased for just £1.  £200,000 worth of investment was needed, but it was believed to be losing £4500 per day.  Buzz FM owned by a total of three different companies - none made any inroads to financial viability.  In January 1994, Muff Murfin, production studio and radio station owner, bought what was left of the station - his company reapplied, unsuccessfully, for the Birmingham licence on behalf of Buzz FM.  

Nine groups applied for the two Birmingham licences on offer by the Radio Authority. Buzz FM, who held the FM licence, faced opposition from a consortium set up by South London black music station Choice FM, Fusion FM and Birmingham Country Radio, backed by Allied Radio. Eagle Radio applied for both AM and FM, proposing dance music on FM while AM would carry daytime talk and night time country music. The other four AM applicants proposed Asian services: Sunrise Radio, Birmingham News Radio, Central Band Radio and Supa AM. The winner was announced by the end of April 1994.

CHOICE FM 102.2 were one of the applicants for the licence at the same time as Buzz FM.  Choice applied in February of 1994.  And so the licence was won by offering a '24 hour service of soul and contemporary music, together with news and local information for Afro-Caribbean listeners'. It's viability was also regularly in question, and eventually, Choice 102.2FM was purchased by Chrysalis Radio and was re-launched as dance station Galaxy 102.2 in the area.

GALAXY 102.2: The Galaxy brand has seemingly brought stability to the service since it's inception on 1st January 1995.  It broadcasts it's local dance and r&b music service from studios at 1 The Square, 111 Broad Street Birmingham.  

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107.7 THE WOLF is a SALLIE station, or 'small scale alternative local licence', and is now part of Forever Broadcasting's stable of stations.  As the name would suggest, it broadcasts to the Wolverhampton area with news, information and music from the 70's, 80's, 90's and the best of today, from studios on the 10th Floor of Mander House in Wolverhampton.  It's licence began 7th October 1997, but in the December, it was fined £1,000 plus investigation costs for signal over-deviation and, in February 1998, a further £1,000 for failing to supply recordings of programming to monitor adherence to format - despite general complaints that the station was breaching it's Promise of Performance, it was later found to be operating within the terms of it's promise.  However, the inability to supply the recording hindered the Radio Authority, and so the fine was imposed.  

As of April 2000, Capital Radio, which had begun making a later successful bid for Border Television, owned a 30.90% stake in The Wolf - this was through it's acquistion of First Oxfordshire Radio Company.  At this same time, it was part of a consortium of local business people and companies (Wolverhampton Area Radio Limited) but came under the umbrella of Forever Broadcasting on 8th February 2001 after a buy-out in which the company, which had ambitious expansion plans, acquired the entire issued share capital of WAR Ltd, owners of the licence serving 432,000 adults.  The buy-out was to the value of £5.055m, cleared as £4.055 in cash and balance by the issue of 467,290 new ordinary shares in Forever.  Also under the terms of the acquisition, Forever assumed net liabilities of £45,369.  Up to the end of the 1999-2000 tax year (March 2000), WAR made a turnover of £393,977, a loss after tax of £68,241.  It then had net liabilities of £200,044.  RAJAR audience research figures for the fourth quarter of 2000 showed 63,000 people were tuning in for 8.3 hours each per week, total listening standing at 523,000 hours per week.  

Forever were confident that they could build on this performance and increase the advertising revenues.  Forever was established in September 1999, and then owned Juice 107.6 in Liverpool, serving 1.2m, purchased in November 1999, Bolton & Bury's Tower FM purchased 30th June 2000 serving 311,000 and Brighton's Surf 107 acquired in December 2000 serving 311,000 and subsequently rebranded under the group's Juice format.  

Commenting on the announcement John Josephs, then Chairman of Forever Broadcasting, said: 'Wolf is one of the largest independently-owned stations in the commercial radio industry and we are delighted that it is now part of the Forever group. Wolf, much like Surf 107.2 which was acquired in December, is a relatively new station with considerable potential which we believe we can unlock. The Wolf brand is already strong and is popular with the people of Wolverhampton, and we aim to back it fully with Forever's additional skills and resources.'   Mark Kersen, the first Chairman and one of the founders of 107.7 The Wolf said: 'Forever Broadcasting is one of the fastest growing players on the UK radio scene. I regard their decision to buy The Wolf as an enormous tribute to the team who each day turn out one of the highest quality radio products in the West Midlands. 'The Wolf has been in existence for only three and a half years and has already attracted a significant share of the city's listeners. A wide variety of businesses recognise that advertising on the station makes economic and effective communication sense."

Ownership of the station stayed in Forever's hands until January 2004, when it, along with Juice, Tower and Surf, were sold to The Wireless Group (TWG) for £8.1m.  It had previously owned a 16.1% stake in the group anyway, and agreed to acquire the rest of the company's issued share capital in a 37.6p per-share deal.  TWG said the the three stations would complement it's other operations - national AM sports broadcaster talkSPORT and 13 other analogue radio stations around the UK.  TWG Chairman and Chief Exec Kelvin MacKenzie said the stations were a "superb acquisition" which would have considerable benefits for stakeholders.  

The Wolf is licenced to provide a mix of hits from 70s, 80s, 90s and today.  The mix is allowed to vary, but no more than 25% of the tracks are from the current chart and at least 25% must be from the 70s and 80s.  Community news and comprehensive locally relevant information, hourly news bulletins from local staff (at least during peak time) and features must be aired.  Off-peak programming may contain specialist programming which complements the main music output.  Themed music days or special music features can also be aired, i.e. a weekly 80s day or something to mark special events or occasions.  Speech cannot fall below 20% of output during weekdays and Saturdays (15% on Sundays). 

It is a 'relaxed' station targeting a standard 25-54 age group in the Wolverhampton area.  Music played on the station is in line with research carried out amongst the target group.  Station research has shown that it's most loyal listeners are females aged 35-45 - people The Wolf state have veryy little spare time and are juggling family and professional lives.  The station has exclusive right to cover the matches of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC.  

Apart from covering the city of Wolverhampton, it reaches as far as Penkridge in the North, Bloxwich to the East, Allbrighton & Pottingham to the West and Dudley to the South.  Nearby connurbations of West Bromwich and Walsall are not in the official catchment area and are served by nearby FM long-timers, 96.4FM BRMB, and BEACON FM, although it is likely that the signal reaches further than it's intended boundaries.  According to RAJAR/IPSOS-RSL 2001 week 27-50 figures, The Wolf was reaching 14%, 61,000 out of a possible 436,000 listeners.   www.thewolf.co.uk 

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RADIO WYVERN / WYVERN FM: (Thanks go to Colin Day for for clarifying the launch line-up which is different to that originally published here) Radio Wyvern was set up by a consortium which included veteran commercial radio and jingle production man Muff Murfin, who now has well over 20 years of experience of the medium.  BBC Radio stations take their names from the political regions they serve, however Radio Wyvern was named after the two rivers which run through the area, those being the Wye and the Severn.  The station launched on 4th October 1982 with Sammy Southall at the controls.  He presented the breakfast show at the launch, and for the next 18 months or so.  Roy Leonard presented the mid-morning show.  In Herefordshire, the station used AM frequencies 954 and in Worcestershire 1530AM, whilst over on FM, the station broadcast it's simulcast service on 97.6 FM and latterly 96.7 for Kidderminster and 102.8 for Worcestershire.  

During the 1980s, the station shared night-time programming with Beacon Radio - along with Beacon, the station was once part of Midlands Radio plc, which included Radio Trent stations in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire, Leicester Sound, BRMB, GEM-AM & XTRA-AM.  One of the most famous names to have graced the airwaves of Radio Wyvern was the Doctor himself, Neil Fox who abandoned a job selling plastic bags to take up the radio business with them in 1986 following the supply of a successful demo tape.  Within a year of his start for the station, he was signed up to work for Radio Luxembourg for a short time before moving to Capital Radio in September 1987.  

In September 1992, Radio Wyvern won a prize during Noise Awareness Month in which it asked it's listeners to turn down the volume on their radios!  Two years on, and in 1994, Radio Wyvern, then part of Midlands Radio plc, was acquired by GWR - as with all FM stations, Radio Wyveern became Wyvern FM 'Today's Better Music Mix' / 'Today's Best Mix' and the story ends more or less there, with no real difference between it, and the other stations all branded the same, under the mother group's 'Mix' network.

It wasn't until 1996 that the AM/FM split took place with AM becoming the quite simply titled Wyvern AM - as at September 1996, it's a little known fact that the station was 35% owned by Capital Radio plc, who later sold their share upon a change in strategy.   In 1998, it became Classic Gold courtesy of GWR.  However, their ownership of the AM brand was not to continue.  Muff Murfin has had a hand in the local radio stations he helped launch, more or less ever since.  Muff is now the owner of one of, if not the only Classic Gold station NOT to be owned by UBC or GWR - on the AM frequencies of 954 & 15330.  See below for more details.  

Wyvern FM operates from studios at 5-6 Barbourne Terrace Worcester.  

www.musicradio.com (Warning - if you have not previously visited this link, and do not live locally, visiting this link and then selecting on of GWR's stations will set the station you select as default in your browser, meaning next time you visit the link, you'll go straight there unless you clear your PC's 'History' folder!  You have been warned!)  

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RADIO WYVERN / WYVERN AM / CLASSIC GOLD 954/1530 / CLASSIC HITS 954/1530:  (Thanks go to Colin Day for for clarifying the launch line-up which is different to that originally published here) Radio Wyvern was set up by a consortium which included veteran commercial radio and jingle production man Muff Murfin, who now has well over 20 years of experience of the medium.  BBC Radio stations take their names from the political regions they serve, however Radio Wyvern was named after the two rivers which run through the area, those being the Wye and the Severn.  The station launched on 4th October 1982 with Sammy Southall at the controls.  He presented the breakfast show at the launch, and for the next 18 months or so.  Roy Leonard presented the mid-morning show.  In Herefordshire, the station used AM frequencies 954 and in Worcestershire 1530AM, whilst over on FM, the station broadcast it's simulcast service on 97.6 FM and latterly 96.7 for Kidderminster and 102.8 for Worcestershire.  

During the 1980s, the station shared night-time programming with Beacon Radio - along with Beacon, the station was once part of Midlands Radio plc, which included Radio Trent stations in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire, Leicester Sound, BRMB, GEM-AM & XTRA-AM.  One of the most famous names to have graced the airwaves of Radio Wyvern was the Doctor himself, Neil Fox who abandoned a job selling plastic bags to take up the radio business with them in 1986 following the supply of a successful demo tape.  Within a year of his start for the station, he was signed up to work for Radio Luxembourg for a short time before moving to Capital Radio in September 1987.  

In September 1992, Radio Wyvern won a prize during Noise Awareness Month in which it asked it's listeners to turn down the volume on their radios!  Two years on, and in 1994, Radio Wyvern, then part of Midlands Radio plc, was acquired by GWR.  

It wasn't until 1996 that the AM/FM split took place with AM becoming the quite simply titled Wyvern FM - as at September 1996, it's a little known fact that the station was 35% owned by Capital Radio plc, who later sold their share upon a change in strategy.  See above for more details on the rest of the FM service's history.  GWR finally rolled out the Classic Gold branding in 1998 - however, their hold over the AM frequency was not to last, and in January 1999, the man who helped kick things off, Muff Murfin, purchased the station, with the help of his wife Ginny, from GWR.  Having originally maintained the Classic Gold title, albeit with a totally different appearance and station colour scheme, it also adopted the tag 'The Magic AM'.  Both the Classic Gold and Magic brands operate completely separately to this station and it's thought this is the reason why the station is now branded as Classic Hits.

Classic Hits 954 / 1530 is locally run for local people.  The station targets 460,000 listeners aged 35 and above and, according to IPSOS/RSL audience figures for July - December 2002, was hitting 7%, 33,000 of them - however, airplay includes a range of music for all ages, hence a healthy family orientated audience.  The station celebrated it's 20th birthday in October 2002.  954AM serves Herefordshire and 1530AM Worcestershire as specified above.  It can also be heard on the net - see the link below to visit and start listening to the individually branded and sounding Classic Gold in Stereo.  Whatsmore, and interestingly, both Muff and Ginny actively encourage listeners to have their say in the development of the station, and welcome contact via the station's website.  It operates out of PO Box 262 in Worcester WR6 5ZE and from 18 Broad Street in Hereford HR4 9AP.  It's format operates as follows: Classic pop hits from 10-45 years prior to broadcast, with hits less than 10 years not taking up more than 15% of the output.  Speech does not exceed 40% of output, apart from sports coverage, with the licence remit promising a reasonable balance of information from across the are each day with drop ins of three per hour.  At least 15 hours per day weekdays and 12 hours weekends is locally produced and presented.

Along with Classic Gold 954/1530, Murfin Media International also operates Radio Maldwyn and Ludlow's Sunshine 855.    www.classichits.co.uk 

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RADIO XL 1296AM: Originally called SUPA AM as a working title for the licence application, this station launched 30th May 1995.  Serving the ethnic community of Birmingham, it aims to build a strong relationship with the city's community as a whole.  Radio XL was the first 24 hour Asian Radio station to broadcast in the West Midlands and hits approximately 250,000 people aged 15 or over.  Asian people are amongst the most dedicated radio listeners and most households keep a station such as this on around the house whilst they carry out their lifestyles from a wide range of religions and cultural backgrounds.  The station feels that the Asian community has been overlooked by many companies for a considerable period of time.  To this end, it aims to meet the needs of the community it serves, and therefore provides a mix of music, conversation and debate, plus general entertainment and a general sense of humour.  Radio XL estimates an audience reach of 55% with each listener tuning in for nine hours per week.  Programmes are aired in a cross-section of languages from across the Asian world, namely, Bengali, Gujerati, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi as well as programming elements in English.  

Commercials and jingles are produced by an in-house production team, and is therefore best able to tailor a package and sound to suit listeners and advertisers alike.  Additionally, there is a community action desk, manned totally by volunteers, which aims to maintain and forge further links with the community served by the radio station.  The station arranges and stages regular concerts and other outdoor events, live links from local businesses and fund raising initiatives for local charity. Radio XL is based at KMS House, on Bradford Street in Birmingham, just of the main A34 route of Birmingham's City Centre.  It is available on 1296AM, on-line and via the Birmingham DAB network, the latter launched in November 2001.  www.radioxl.net 

COMMERCIAL:  REGIONAL

100.7 HEART FM: One of the first regional radio stations, and the first for the West Midlands, appearing on air 6th September 1994, and launched by Nick Wright.  Studios are based at 1 The Square, 111 Broad Street in the centre of Birmingham.  The station is licenced to cover Warwickshire & the West Midlands which contains a potential audience of 3.4million people.  The station has over 90,000 adults listening per week and targets the 25-44 year old age group.  

To get on air, Heart FM were the victors over 12 other applicants - Apna Radio, Buzz FM, Central Band, Easy FM, Enterprise Radio, EZ-FM, LGD, Love FM, Sunrise Radio, Supa FM, United Christian Broadcasters and WFM.  

One of the 'bug-bares' quoted by radio listeners is the commercials - however, Heart-FM never play more than four ads in a break and never more than 16 per hour.  As you would expect, the station takes revenue from various methods of commercial opportunities - sponsorship of features or events, tailor made promotions, and opportunities to advertise on the station's website or via SMS text messaging to mobile phones.  

Heart-FM's signal needs to be strong to cover it's intended area, however, counties lying outside the broadcast radius hoard loyal listeners who have found the station provides a better alternative to the local ILR or BBC station.  It has even featured advertising for a furniture store which, in it's commercial, credits it's branch at the Kingsway Retail Park, just off the A38 in Derby.  Since it launched, several presenters have moved over from BRMB as they 'outgrew' it to move the regional station - for example, ex-Piccadilly Radio's Carl Emms (Carlos) & Paul Bryant.  Another presenter to have appeared briefly is ex-Trent & Century 106 presenter Colin Woolley.  

It has to be said that Heart is radically different now to how it sounded back in 1994.  It launched with a strapline 'Radio across Warwickshire & the West Midlands just got 100.7 degrees cooler...' and the station was very laid back.  Nowadays it is more likely to feature more pop-dance material and numerous artists that wouldn't have been considered back in 1994.  It is owned and operated in conjunction with it's London sister station Heart 106.2 by Chrysalis Radio, who also own the Galaxy regional radio brand.  

The station's 8-year initial licence was renewed by the Radio Authority in August 2001.  This was because the station's owners, Chrysalis Radio, are set as a provider of a digital sound programme service on the West Midlands regional multiplex.  A little known fact is that it shares the building with three other Chrysalis broadcasters, Galaxy 102.2, The Arrow and Digital News Network.

There are 6 studios. Studio 1, is the Heart FM on-air studio. The Arrow broadcasts it's digital service from Studio 2. Studio 3 is a production suite. Studio 4 is mainly used for commercial production.  Studio 5 is the Galaxy on-air studio and Studio 6 is the back up studio. There are additional studios for the news team.

The Heart FM play list is formed by a panel of programming staff who listen to all the forthcoming releases. The play list combines both new artists and established acts who are of interest to the over 25s. Eminem won't be heard but other arguable bad boys Robbie Williams and Oasis will!   www.heartfm.co.uk

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KERRANG! 105.2: On 2nd October 2003, the Radio Authority awarded the UK's seventeenth regional licence, and the West Midlands' 3rd to Kerrang! Radio (Kerrang! Radio (West Midlands Ltd).  The award comes after the closing date for applications on Tuesday 13th May 2003.  Each applicant had to pay £12,000 in non-refundable application fees, meaning that with eleven applicants, this netted the Radio Authority (RA) a cool £180,000.  The RA had to conduct a series of public interest tests on two of the applicants due to their existing interests in the local radio marketplace.  The 1996 Broadcasting Act stipulates that a company can only own two radio services on the same waveband in an overlapping area if the RA determines that the proposed arrangement could not be expected to operate against the public interest.  Capital Radio plc already operate two other services, 96.4FM BRMB and Capital Gold Birmingham 1152AM, and GWR Group plc already operate Beacon FM for Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford.  

The licence is designed to serve Birmingham, Wolverhampton and surrounding areas as well as parts of Warwickshire & Staffordshire.  But as with existing regional services from 100.7 Heart FM (Chrysalis Radio), and SAGA 105.7FM (SAGA Radio), the service is likely to be heard across those boundaries to some effect. The West Midlands is now the only region in the UK to be served by three regional licences.  The Radio Authority has previously indicated that it did not feel that the East Midlands is able to sustain any further development, particularly of this scale, so it remains to be seen what decisions by OFCOM will either change this West Midlands' originality or keep it.

For the launch, the news team was led by Laurence King, Head of Speech and Content, who joined after 10 years at Brighton's Southern FM.  A team of five people present news output including locally produced bulletins seven days a week and an additional 15-minute programme every weekday evening - 'The Source' which airs at 5:45pm.  Caroline Beavon moved from local regional station 100.7 Heart FM to take on the role of Breakfast Editor, with sports news content from Ian Powell and James Williams, who moved over from 96.4 BRMB, and Chris Hill, previously weekend editor at Centre FM in Tamworth.

Programming on the station includes a weekly feature called 'Uncovered' - a 'rockumentary' on a particular rock band or artist.  The overall operations model for Kerrang! 105.2 is based on that of London's dance station Kiss 100, looking to challenge in the ratings during the day, and to carve out a reputation for night.  Guitar driven tunes feature in the day time, with a mix of music, specialist music and talk at night.  Having moved from it's Birmingham FC base, the station is now based at HQ in Lionel Street, Birmingham.

For the record, here's a list of the unsuccessful applicants, along with what they proposed:

MEAN COUNTRY 105.2 (Mean Fiddler), operators of Mean Country 1035 in London were previously tabled as a bidder, although the final declaration refers to the 3C brand as detailed above.  No explanation is known for any possible drop out, takeover or change of decision to apply.  

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SAGA 105.7FM: The history of how this station came to air can be traced back to the heady days of the Midlands Radio Group - home of stations such as Radio Trent, GEM-AM, BRMB, XTRA AM, Mercia Sound & Leicester Sound.  At the helm of the Radio Trent stations was a man called Ron Coles.  In 1994, GWR, as part of their mass acquisition of any radio station that moved, took control of Midlands Radio Group.  Through the revolving doors went Ron along with a whole host of other staff, to all points of the radio compass.  Ron wasn't out of things yet.  

On 23rd September 1997, Ron, with the backing of Border Radio Holdings, launched East Midlands regional station Radio 106FM.  This, in time, became Century 106FM, a Border brand, and out went Ron again - to take up the helm of SAGA plc's radio division.  It had already launched Primetime, a digital radio service for the over 50s, but SAGA, owned by the De Haan family,  had other ideas too, and Ron's radio division, set about applying for analogue radio licences across the UK.

In 2000, the Radio Authority advertised a 2nd regional licence for the West Midlands.  As with all regional licence applications, the West Midlands 2nd regional licence application process was a busy one.  By the closing date at the end of August 2000, there were 12 applicants in the running.  Having already been operating BIG AM stations, The Wireless Group applied as Big FM, Central Radio was proposed by Forward Media, Jazz FM, Radio Minar, N-Joy Radio, Score Radio / Scottish Radio Group / Lincs FM Group proposed a country station called Route 105, and there were also bids from Spice FM, The Storm (GWR), Today FM, Variety FM (GMG) and Voice FM.  However, the winning applicant was set to provide a service for the over 50s, up until then, largely uncatered for, especially from a musical perspective. 

From a total of 12 applications, they awarded the new regional radio licence to Saga Radio.   For years, SAGA had previously tried to get a terrestrial / analogue licence to offer their 'over 50's' service - now, they'd finally done it.  On making the award, the Chair of the RA, Richard Hooper, said that Members of the Authority found deciding on which applicant should be awarded the licence was a “challenging decision.”

Having departed the Border Radio East Midlands station of Radio 106 after setting it up and watching it morph into Century 106, ex-Midlands Radio plc boss Ron Coles went to take the helm of SAGA's new radio division - and it was Ron that took them to licence application success.  It launched with the expected appearance of a lot of ex-Radio Trent/GEM presenters - Tony Lyman & Andy Marriott for starters - the latter as the station's head of music  - at 6:00am, on 16th October 2001.  Also on board for the launch, was Peter Tomlinson, Mike Baker, Tony Brandon, Jane Markham, David Yarnall, Mike Hollis, and Jeff Harris.  It was the first commercial radio station in the UK to be programmed specifically for people aged 50 and over.  Ex-Trent/GEM presenters were also joined by ex-Radio 1, Radio 2, Capital Gold, Melody Radio etc presenter David Hamilton, who presented breakfast before moving to it's sister station in the East Midlands when it launched in 2002.  Les Ross took over from David having left BRMB.  SAGA 105.7FM broadcasts from studios on the 3rd Floor of Crown House, Beaufort Court, 123 Hagley Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham, playing easy, melodic music from the past six decades mixed with news and lifestyle oriented speech, and with the now familiar catchphrases of '...your life, your music' and 'From Frank to Hank & Bing to Sting', the station broadcasts on 105.7FM from studios on the 3rd floor of Crown House, Beaufort Court, on the busy Hagley Road in Edgbaston, Birmingham.  The station reached it's first-year audience target in quick time, just nine months - this isn't surprising - as 40% of the area's population is reported to be aged over 50. 

HOSPITAL RADIO:  

RSL: No details known

DIGITAL:

INTERNET: 

Worcester and county has it's analogue radio stations, but it also has a 24hour internet station - Youthcomm - but they're currently in the middle ooof a Radio Authority Restricted Service Licence, operating on 105.2FM.  The service commenced on March 3rd and runs until the 30th providing 'news, views and today's best music' targeted at young people.  Presentation staff include a group of experienced radio personnel operating alongside local youngsters who are trained by the station's own Radio Training Unit.  

Breakfast programming kicks off at 8:00am, with morning and daytime programming coming from local high schools in the City area.  Ex-Wyvern FM, and Ireland's Today FM & Atlantic 252 presenter Enda Cauldwell presents the weekend breakfast slot, and also on a Saturday night, there's a non-stop mix of popular dance and club tunes from a local prominent nightclub jock.  Drivetime programming features 20:20 traffic and travel, presented along with the rest of the show(!) by ex-Oxygen FM and Boss 603 presenter Paul Evans. 

The group history stems from 1996 when a set of young people applied for funding to set up an advice line for the area's 14-25 age group, operated by trained people aged 16-25.  It launched in 1997 tackling a wide range of youth issues in that time.  Two years later, the first period of funding ceased - so a further bid was made, this time to move into the provision of an internet radio station.  75% of funding came from the Government and the local County Council supplied the rest.  Amongst those same plans was an element to get the station available to a wider audience.  Funding was sought to provide six RSL broadcasts around the county - to include training and volunteer opportunities to the young people locally.  

The first four broadcasts covered Malvern, Bromsgrove, Evesham and Bewdley.  Locals in the Worcestershire area are invited to get involved with Youthcomm's various enterprises including the radio sector, by calling 0800 096 1425 or by visiting www.youthcomm.org.uk 

THE FUTURE: In 2004, OFCOM, the broadcast regulator, advertised a new 12 year FM radio licence for Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley with small bleed over into Stourbridge, Worcester and Bromsgrove, although again, the licence remit will not be designed to cover these areas, and OFCOM will not approve proposals which stipulate firm plans to target these areas in particular.  No transmission site or frequency has been specified until the winner provides it's transmission plans.  200w mixed is expected to achieved upon and after launch.    The potential audience for this licence is around 100,000 adults aged 15 or over.  The exact coverage of the licence will depend on the broadcast transmission site and other technical statistics.  Applicants were required to submit the appropriate papers by 5:00pm on Thursday 18th November 2004 with a non-refundable fee of £1,500 for each submission.  Follow all the licence news here and on our AIRCHECK Radio News page.  

Three applications were made for the licence which looks set to compete against Wyvern FM for Hereford & Worcester & Classic Gold WABC for Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford.  The applications were from:

ACE FM (www.acefm.co.uk): A truly local, classic hit radio station with news, information and features of particular relevance to Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley.

KIDDERMINSTER FM (www.kidderminsterfm.co.uk): A music led station featuring great hits from the last four decades designed to appeal across a broad range with an emphasis on local news, information, sport and features along with national and international news.  

THE WYRE FM: A music-led station for 25-54 year olds in Kidderminster and the Wyre Forest, dedicated to providing comprehensive local news and information.  

All bidders are offering a mainstream music output for the over 20s with local news and information.  The licence will cover Kidderminster and the surrounding Severn Valley region.  In February 2005, OFCOM awarded a new 12-year commercial radio licence for Kidderminster to Ace FM.  The station is owned by MNA Broadcasting Limited, owners of Telford FM and local newspapers, the Kidderminster Chronicle and the Express & Star.  The group have been campaigning heavily for several years, and have held five short term licence broadcasts.  The station plans to provide a locally focused music, news and information service for 25-54 year olds in the Kidderminster area.

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