Radio station in Coventry, England
BBC CWR
(
Coventry & Warwickshire Radio
) is the
BBC's local radio station
serving
Coventry
and
Warwickshire
.
It broadcasts on
FM
,
DAB
, digital TV and via
BBC Sounds
from studios at Priory Place in Coventry city centre.
According to
RAJAR
, the station has a weekly audience of 64,000 listeners and a 3.7% share as of December 2023.
[1]
History
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BBC CWR launch
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BBC Local Radio
in the early 1990s underwent an expansion programme where counties and other areas without a local radio station were identified and five stations were to launch:
BBC Radio Surrey
,
BBC Radio Berkshire
,
BBC Radio Suffolk
,
BBC Wiltshire Sound
and BBC Radio Warwickshire.
The
Radio Warwickshire
working title was changed to
BBC CWR
by the time the station launched on 17 January 1990. The name CWR
(Coventry and Warwickshire Radio)
reflected the wider area that the new station would cover, taking in the city of
Coventry
with the whole of the county of
Warwickshire
, which was then also served by
BBC Radio WM
. The station broadcast from a Victorian-style mansion on Warwick Road, close to
Coventry railway station
. Smaller studios were located in
Atherstone
,
Nuneaton
,
Rugby
,
Stratford-upon-Avon
,
Leamington
and
Warwick
.
Problems and closure
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From day one, BBC CWR faced strong competition from the established commercial radio stations in the area.
Mercia Sound
had been an outstanding success since its own launch ten years earlier in 1980.
Xtra AM
, the
AM
-only sister station of Mercia Sound, also enjoyed high listenership since it split from Mercia and launched in 1989. Consequently CWR seemed to find it difficult to compete for the very large audiences built up by Mercia and Xtra. It was, however, well respected and highly regarded with its regular audience.
BBC WM merger
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The BBC, under then
Director-General of the BBC
John Birt
, deemed that CWR was not sufficiently successful in audience terms to warrant its continuation, and within increasing financial constraints in February 1995 CWR was to close. Regular listeners were hugely disappointed and phoned presenter
Jon Gaunt
to protest about the decision. It was ultimately decided that BBC CWR would merge with neighbouring
BBC Radio WM
in
Birmingham
, but would operate as an opt-out service from Radio WM with the remainder of the schedule as shared programming. This merger took place in May 1995. This had the effect of alienating local listeners, whilst paradoxically presenters from WM, such as
Ed Doolan
,
Malcolm Boyden
and
Tony Butler
received high listening figures and distinctions with three
Sony Radio Academy Awards
, including Radio Station of the Year in 1996.
Its studios were relocated from Warwick Road to much smaller premises on Greyfriars Road. All local programmes except breakfast with
Annie Othen
, the afternoon show with
Bob Brolly
,
Poles Apart
on Wednesdays, and weekend football coverage of
Coventry City
, were replaced with programming from Birmingham.
In 2003 the station was re-labelled as BBC WM across Coventry and Warwickshire.
BBC Coventry and Warwickshire relaunch
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In 2003, the then Director-General of the BBC,
Greg Dyke
, announced on-air that Coventry and Warwickshire would again have its own
BBC Local Radio
station. Describing the situation with presenter
Annie Othen
, Dyke said that the station would be added to the BBC's Local Radio portfolio:
I'm very pleased to announce that we're planning to open a new radio station in Coventry ? an area that's been served by BBC WM since 1995. We hope the new station will be housed in a modern, vibrant building close to
Coventry Cathedral
in the heart of the city. Alongside the radio studios, there'll also be an open centre to provide access to BBC Learning facilities similar to the already established centres in
Blackburn
,
Sheffield
and
Stoke
. Open Centres provide a valuable community role, so this is an exciting venture for the BBC.
He also said that the 1995 closure of CWR was a "mistake":
The decision was made under different circumstances ? and now we're in a position to change it.
BBC Coventry and Warwickshire relaunched as a stand-alone station on 3 September 2005 with full local programming for 15 hours a day.
In February 2020, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire reverted to the BBC CWR name.
Technical
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The BBC initially supplied two powerful
FM
transmitters for BBC CWR to cover the whole of the county. A 2.2
kilowatt
transmitter at an existing tower at
Meriden
provides
Coventry
and North
Warwickshire
with a good signal on 94.8 MHz, a frequency vacated by
BRMB Radio
in
Birmingham
before it moved to 96.4 MHz in 1989.
The South Warwickshire area receives a strong signal on 103.7 MHz from a 1.4 kW transmitter located at an existing television relay site on a hill at Lark Stoke, 4.7 miles (7.5 km) west-northwest of
Shipston-on-Stour
and 7.5 miles (12 km) south of
Stratford-upon-Avon
.
A small pocket of poor reception in
Nuneaton
was later resolved by adding a low power relay transmitter on 104.0 MHz
BBC CWR went digital shortly after the launch of the local
DAB
multiplex on 31 January 2001 with NOW Digital Coventry
[2]
in the Coventry area with transmissions from Samuel Vale House (central Coventry),
Barwell
Water Tower near
Hinckley
, Meriden and
Leamington Spa
.
The station also broadcasts on
Freeview
TV channel 719 in the
BBC West Midlands
region and streams online via
BBC Sounds
.
Programming
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Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's
Coventry
studios from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays to Saturdays and from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
Off-peak programming, including the late show from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., originates from
BBC Radio WM
in
Birmingham
.
During the station's downtime, BBC CWR simulcasts overnight programming from
BBC Radio 5 Live
and
BBC Radio London
.
Sports coverage
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The station provides coverage of a range of sports, including live commentary, reports and updates. The flagship sports programme is
BBC CWR Sport
(also referred on air as
Sky Blues Sport
). It is broadcast mostly on Saturday afternoons (and occasionally on Sundays and weeknights). The mainstay of the coverage is live match commentary of
Coventry City
matches. Clive Eakin is the primary commentator with analysis from former City players
Steve Ogrizovic
and
Gary McSheffrey
.
The Sound of the Sky Blues
, a phone-in programme about Coventry City, airs on Mondays and Fridays.
After their relocation to Coventry but before their 2022 liquidation, the station provided live match commentary of
Wasps RFC
games (as a part of
BBC Sport
's national contract with
Premiership Rugby
).
Coventry RFC
's matches in the
RFU Championship
are also covered live. Alec Blackman, John Butler and Richard Moon are all involved with rugby coverage.
Online match commentary and radio reports of
Leamington
's and
Nuneaton Borough
's games are also provided. Commentary of
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
games can be found on air and online.
Presenters
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Notable current presenters
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Notable past presenters
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See also
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References
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External links
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