- Swansea Bay Radio
Infobox Radio Station
name = Swansea Bay Radio
city =Swansea
area =Swansea & Surrounding Areas.
branding =
slogan = The New Sound Of South West Wales
airdate =5 November 2006
frequency = 102.1 MHz
share = 4%
share as of = March 2008
share source = [http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php]
format =Adult contemporary /Oldies
power =
erp =
class =
callsign_meaning =
owner = Town and Country Broadcasting
website = [http://www.swanseabayradio.com Swansea Bay Radio]Swansea Bay Radio is an independent local radio station (ILR) broadcast from
Neath ,Wales , UK. It launched on 5 November 2006 with the first song being Take That's "Back for Good". Its signal originates from theKilvey Hill transmitter.Licence Bid
Swansea Bay Radio (SBR), spearheaded by former Wave/Swansea Sound supremo Andy Griffiths and backed by Town and Country Broadcasting and the Radio Pembrokeshire Group, fought off competition from SA FM (spearheaded by former Swansea Bay Radio RSL presenter and local media lecturer Binda Singh and Laser Broadcasting) and Diamond FM (backed by the Macquarie Bank - who despite numerous licence bids only went on to win one licence, in controversial circumstances in Plymouth).
Ownership & Management
The Station is owned by Town & Country Broadcasting Ltd.
The company now owns and operates six local radio stations across south
Wales including:
*Bridge FM
*Scarlet FM
*Radio Carmarthenshire
*Radio Pembrokeshire
*Radio Hampshire
*Swansea Bay Radio As well as a South Wales Regional station named *
Nation Radio and *Dragon Recruitment Martin Mumford (formerly of
Brunel FM inSwindon ) is the group managing director.Presenters
*
Jay Curtis
*Lee Jukes
*Ceri Langridge
*Louise Apsee
*Mike Doyle
*Tim Cooper
*Helen Enser MorganNewsreaders
*Gareth Ford-Lloyd
*Nicola Cornick
*Sam Burson
*Rachael Williams
*Adam Wheelerhows
Swansea Bay Radio hired former Swansea Sound veteran Rob Pendry as its first Breakfast presenter. Rob presented "Breakfast on the Bay" from 6-11am every weekday as well as transferring his highly popular "Rendezvous" format from Swansea Sound to Swansea Bay Radio.
Later the breakfast show was passed to Ruth Davies a former Radio Pembrokeshire Presenter who now works on a sister station. Then more recently to Jay Curtis after his success on Drive Time.
SBR had run a regular "At Work Network" feature presented by Helen Enser-Morgan each weekday from 11am, but the Breakfast show was later extended to midday to replace the feature.
More recently the stations line-up includes Lee Jukes who now presents the Afternoon show and Ceri Langridge on Drive Time. The station still employs former BBC Radio Wales presenter Karen Vincent, and Tim Cooper, who does the Saturday Sports show.
The group's newest recruit is Jay Curtis a former Reporter for News quest Media Group,A Gannett Company who has worked on television, film and on radio stations across Wales. He joined Town and Country in January 2008 and following 5 months on Drive Time was given the Breakfast show in a group re-shuffle. Popular local comedian Mike Doyle also presents his own show every Sunday morning from 9am. This can be heard on some of the groups other stations, as can the other Presenters.
Swansea Bay Radio also airs Tony Dibbin with the Welsh Chart Show on Saturday afternoon which replaced David Hamilton's "Million Sellers" syndicated show. This chart show is part of
The South Wales Chart .Management
Andy Griffiths, the former Wave/Swansea Sound Programme Director has assumed the same position at Swansea Bay Radio as well as the overall title of Programme Director for Town & Country's five stations.
The primary operation of the business is delivering profitable and popular local radio stations and the Group holds six OFCOM analogue radio licenses, one regional license in South Wales, four local licenses across South and West Wales and the other in Hampshire.In addition, Town and Country Broadcasting publish The Visitor Magazine in Pembrokeshire and also run a highly successful CV matching service in West Wales – Dragon Recruitment.
Securing their future in a digital media environment, most recently the Group has invested in the DAB multiplexes in Wrexham and Chester, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Mid Wales.
Awards
In 2008 SBR received a top industry award at the annual Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in London. The radio commercials they made for Trade Centre Wales was named in the best UK ads winning the ‘Commercial Radio Station Creative’ award category. The adverts which still play out on all local stations in South Wales, featured a comedy character called ‘Trevor’,which beat off competition from hundreds of entries from radio stations across the UK.
ee also
*
Nation Radio
*Scarlet FM
*Radio Pembrokeshire
*106.3 Bridge FM
* Real Radio
*Radio Carmarthenshire External links
* [http://www.swanseabayradio.com/ Swansea Bay Radio]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
