BBC Hereford and Worcester

BBC Hereford and Worcester

City of license	Hereford, Worcester
Broadcast area	Herefordshire and Worcestershire
Frequency	RDS: BBC H&W, 104 MHz, 104.4 MHz, 104.6 MHz, 94.7 MHz, 738 kHz, 1584 kHz, DAB
First air date	14 February 1989
Format	Local news, talk and music
Language(s)	English
Audience share	10.5% (March 2014, )
Owner	BBC Local Radio, BBC Midlands
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/bbcherefordandworcester/

BBC Hereford and Worcester is the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It broadcasts from its studios in both Worcester and Hereford on 104 (Worcester), 104.4 (Redditch) 104.6 (Kidderminster) and 94.7 (Hereford) FM; as well as 738 (Worcester) and 1584 (North Herefordshire) MW on AM plus DAB. Although the short lived administrative County of Hereford and Worcester was abolished in 1996 and reverted to the traditional historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, the name of the station was not altered to reflect the change.

It serves the rural communities across Herefordshire as well as the more populous Worcestershire with a range of programmes from jazz, folk, country, funk and new music to daily local news, everyday discussion and outside broadcasts.

History

BBC Hereford and Worcester's studio building

The station began broadcasting on 14 February 1989 (St Valentine's Day), and to mark the unusual, two-centre set-up for the radio station, the first record played was the song Two Hearts by Phil Collins. The original team of presenters included Graham Day (mid-morning), Gill Capewell (afternoons) and Allan Lee (drive). Other staff included Robert Piggott (now BBC Religious Affairs correspondent), TV journalist Liz MacKean and former LBC presenter Jeremy Dry.

When the station first began, Jane Garvey (of Radio Five Live) was one of the team of journalists. A few months later, she took over the Breakfast Show and went on to win a Sony Award with it.

Transmitters

BBC Hereford and Worcester still transmits on both AM and FM. The original, and two strongest FM transmitters are on 104 FM (Great Malvern, serving Worcestershire) and 94.7 FM (Ridge Hill, between Ross On Wye and Ledbury near Much Marcle, serving Herefordshire), These signals are not particularly powerful, and have limited coverage outside the two counties, unlike stations such as BBC WM. An additional FM transmitter on 104.6 has recently improved coverage in the Kidderminster area & in February 2006, a new transmitter was turned on for Redditch (Headless Cross) on 104.4FM, as reception in the town had been unreliable.

The main AM transmitter on 738kHz is on the western edge of Worcester and covers most of the two counties. Originally, there was another AM transmitter for Hereford on 819 kHz. That frequency was given up to accommodate a new commercial station for South Shropshire. However, due to adjacent channel problems with 828kHz from BBC WM,855kHz was used for that licence. There is a more recent addition to AM, a small transmitter on 1584 kHz at Woofferton, just south of Ludlow on the A49. Although they have weaker FM signals compared to other BBC local radio transmitters, the 94.7FM signal can be heard clearly in the north of Bristol and even in Weston-super-Mare, as well as along the M4 from the Severn Bridge to Cardiff. The 738MW signal can also be heard in the north of Bristol. The station started broadcasting on DAB in 2013 with the new MuxCo Herefordshire and Worcestershire multiplex at the Bromsgrove, Ridge Hill and Malvern transmitter sites.

Programming

The majority of the station's programming is produced and broadcast from the Hereford and Worcester studios. During off-peak hours, BBC Hereford and Worcester also carries regional programming for the Midlands, produced from sister stations BBC WM and BBC Radio Shropshire. As with all BBC Local Radio stations, it also airs the networked weekday evening shows, originating from BBC Radio Leeds and produced independently by Wire Free Productions. During the station's downtime, BBC Hereford and Worcester simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live overnight.

Notable presenters

External links

BBC Local Radio

East	BBC Essex Radio Cambridgeshire Radio Norfolk Radio Northampton Radio Suffolk Three Counties Radio

East Midlands	Radio Derby Radio Leicester Radio Nottingham

East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire	Radio Humberside Radio Lincolnshire

North West	Radio Lancashire Radio Manchester Radio Merseyside

North East and Cumbria	BBC Tees BBC Newcastle Radio Cumbria

South East	Radio Kent BBC Surrey BBC Sussex

South	Radio Berkshire Radio Oxford Radio Solent

London	Radio London

South West and the Channel Islands	Radio Cornwall Radio Devon Radio Guernsey Radio Jersey

West	Radio Bristol Radio Gloucestershire BBC Somerset BBC Wiltshire

West Midlands	BBC WM BBC Coventry & Warwickshire BBC Hereford and Worcester Radio Shropshire Radio Stoke

Yorkshire	Radio Leeds Radio Sheffield Radio York

Former stations	Dorset FM Radio Durham Southern Counties Radio Thames Valley FM

Radio stations in Worcestershire in England

Longwave AM stations	198 BBC Radio 4 252 RTÉ Radio 1

Mediumwave AM stations	693 BBC Radio 5 Live 738 BBC Hereford and Worcester 855 Sunshine 1053 Talksport 1215 Absolute

FM stations	88.3 BBC Radio 2 90.5 BBC Radio 3 92.7 BBC Radio 4 96.4 Free Birmingham 96.7/97.6/102.8 Free Herefordshire and Worcestershire 97.9 BBC Radio 1 100.1 Classic FM 100.7 Heart 102.0 Touch FM 102.2 Capital 104.0 BBC Hereford and Worcester 105.2 Planet Rock 105.7 Smooth 105.9 Sunshine 106.7 Youthcomm 107.2 Signal 107

DAB multiplexes	Local: CE Birmingham MuxCo Herefordshire and Worcestershire

United Kingdom radio markets Aberdeen Glasgow London Liverpool Manchester Northern Ireland South West England West Midlands West Yorkshire Worcester See also: List of radio stations in the United Kingdom

Coordinates: 52°11′39″N 2°13′59″W / 52.1942°N 2.2330°W / 52.1942; -2.2330

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