As of September 2024, the station has a weekly audience of 90,000 listeners according to RAJAR.[1]
History
Beacon Radio's initial logo when it began broadcasting at 303 m (990 kHz) mediumwave and FM 97.2 MHz
Beacon Radio began broadcasting to Wolverhampton and the Black Country from studios at 267 Tettenhall Road in Wolverhampton on mediumwave 303 metres, and 97.2MHz (from Turner's Hill) at 6 a.m. on 12 April 1976.
The first presenter was Mike Baker and the first song to be played was Eric Carmen's "Sunrise".[2] The station originally set out to broadcast Beautiful Music including soul and country rock with a heavy bias towards American chart music with artists like Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles.
The station's original managing director was Jay Oliver, an American who, with his Programme Controller Allen McKenzie (a Scot/Canadian), was responsible for the Mid-Atlantic sound that flooded the West Midlands for three years (including a US-style jingle package).
As with other UK commercial stations at the time, the station's commitment to news and speech broadcasting under news editor Mike Stewart in its opening year, particularly in the evenings, was extensive; and its late-evening music programmes appeared to offer the presenters a freedom to enlighten, with a wide choice of recordings, as well as to entertain.
The station became successful, although facing competition from the already established commercial station, BRMB in nearby Birmingham. However, the station came in for criticism from the UK licensing authority (then, the Independent Broadcasting Authority) for being too American sounding and not wide-ranging enough in its programming. Due to this, the senior management and output changed in mid-1979.
Its licence was later expanded in July 1987 to cover Shropshire and North East Wales, ostensibly broadcasting from its offices in Shrewsbury on 103.1. Actually, only local news was produced in Shrewsbury, with programmes emanating from the Wolverhampton studios – although entirely separate programming for the two areas was provided during daytime hours (this was from time to time slimmed down or expanded as finances allowed).
Since January 1989, the station has been FM-only, with Beacon's former AM frequencies of 990 and 1017kHz becoming branded as a separate service "Nice 'n' Easy Radio WABC". WABC stood for Wolverhampton And Black Country, and presumably was not meant to be confused with, or identified with, New York City's WABC (AM), former radio flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, or its one-time sister station, current Disney/ABC Television Network flagship station and New York City production center, WABC-TV Channel 7. Nevertheless, the station used the same musical logo as the New York station in its jingles. The British station was shortened to "Radio WABC" in 1992.
In 1998 the local service essentially closed, and the service was networked (bar afternoon drive time and News bulletins) under the banner of "WABC Classic Gold". This service is currently owned and operated by Bauer Radio as Greatest Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire.
The company had been reorganised in the late 1990s into "Beacon Broadcasting and Communications Ltd" (BBCL) – a holding company for the company's various activities. In 1995 GWR Group plc bought Beacon Broadcasting Ltd from BBCL (leaving BBCL as a dormant company). The FM licences transferred to GCap Media following the GWR Group's Merger with Capital Radio Group. GWR re-branded the FM service as Beacon FM in 1997, This brought protests to outside the studios in Tettenhall Road, Due to the number of changes made by the then new owner, It reverted to Beacon Radio 1 April 2005. The thinking behind this reversion to the 'radio' title had been floating around for a number of years within the company – new digital radios do not promote a frequency on 'FM' therefore as a 'radio' station it should be branded as such.
On 8 August 2008 it was confirmed that due to competition 'conflict of interests' in the West Midlands (and in other areas), both Beacon Radio stations would be sold by Global Radio, along with other West Midlands owned GCap/Global stations – BRMB, Mercia FM, Wyvern FM and Heart 106. In July 2009, the stations were sold officially to a company backed by Lloyds Development Capital and Phil Riley[3] called Orion Media.
Beacon's last station logo
From Monday 5 July 2010, the two Beacon stations merged to form one station with the loss of separate programming for Shropshire and The Black Country.[4] Separate news and travel bulletins for Shropshire and the Black Country have been retained at peak times alongside advertising.[5]
On 9 January 2012, Orion Media announced that Beacon would be rebranded as Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country, along with its sister West Midlands stations BRMB, Mercia and Wyvern.[6] The Beacon brand was phased out on Wednesday 21 March 2012 in preparation for the rebrand, which took place at 7pm on Monday 26 March 2012.[7] The station's live football commentaries on West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers matches continued to broadcast on sister station Free Radio 80s on AM and DAB until the end of the 2014–15 season.[8]
In October 2013, the station left its Wolverhampton studios and moved to new smaller studios at Black Country House in nearby Oldbury.[9]
In May 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Bauer announced Free Radio's Birmingham breakfast show would be shared with the sister station in Shropshire & Black Country from 8 July 2019, presented by Dan Morrissey.[10] The Oldbury studios were closed and the local weekday drivetime shows were replaced by a single regional show, presented by Andy Goulding.
Regional weekend afternoon shows were axed in favour of additional network programming.[11] As of 2 September 2019, further networked programming replaced the weekday drivetime regional show.[12]
On 23 November 2021, Bauer announced the two Hits at Breakfast shows would be merged into one regional show across all four Free Radio licences, following the departure of Dan Morrissey.[13] The merger was permitted under OFCOM's local content guidelines.
The new Hits at Breakfast show for the West Midlands, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt, began on Monday 29 November 2021.[13] The Black Country and Shropshire station retains opt-outs for local news, traffic updates and advertising.
Hits Radio rebrand
On 10 January 2024, station owners Bauer announced Free Radio would be rebranded as Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire from April 2024, as part of a network-wide relaunch involving 17 local radio stations in England and Wales.[14][15]
The station's local news and regional output will not be affected as a result of the relaunch.
Controversy
In December 2003, two presenters, Mark Peters and Lisa Freame, left Shropshire's Beacon Radio. On their call-in show, they had asked for opinions on the testimony of the subsequently-convicted murderer Ian Huntley during his trial, despite the matter being sub judice.[16]
Programming
All networked programming originates from Bauer's Manchester studios.
Regional programming, under the Hits at Breakfast banner, is produced and broadcast from Bauer's Birmingham studios weekdays from 6-10am, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt.[17][10][12]
News
Bauer's Birmingham newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am-7pm on weekdays, from 7am-1pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Headlines are broadcast on the half hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins.
Separate news and traffic bulletins are broadcast for the Black Country and Shropshire areas.
National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried overnight with bespoke networked bulletins on weekend afternoons, usually originating from Bauer's Leeds newsroom.
Notable past presenters
This article's list of people may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are members of this list, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(February 2015)
Hits Radio is a network of 26 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.
Hits Radio Coventry & Warwickshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Coventry and Warwickshire.
Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Cool FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. The station is owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of Bauer's Hits Radio Network.
Forth 1 is an Independent Local Radio station based in Edinburgh, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife and Falkirk.
Clyde 1 Ayrshire, formerly West FM, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Glasgow, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Ayrshire and South West Scotland.
Northsound 2 was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire on DAB digital radio and online.
Hits Radio East Midlands is an Independent Regional Radio station based in Nottingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Midlands.
Hits Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Classic Gold WABC was a United Kingdom radio station, broadcasting to much of Wolverhampton and Shropshire from studios in Dunstable. Regional news, weather, events and community information, local advertising and a four-hour live weekday regional programme came from a studio centre in Wolverhampton, home also to Beacon Radio.
Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire, formerly Signal 1, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
Jo Russell is an English radio presenter currently working for Greatest Hits Radio.
Capital East Midlands was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network, broadcasting to the East Midlands from studios in Nottingham.
Hits Radio Liverpool, formerly Radio City, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Liverpool, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Merseyside, Cheshire and parts of north Wales.
Hits Radio Lancashire, formerly Rock FM, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Lancashire, North West England.
Free Radio was a regional group of Independent Local Radio stations in the West Midlands, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network.
Signal 107 was a British Independent Local Radio station serving Wolverhampton and surrounding areas, Telford and Wrekin, Shrewsbury, Oswestry in north and central Shropshire and Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley in north Worcestershire. The station, owned and operated by Bauer Radio, launched on Monday 26 March 2012 as a result of the merger of three stations – The Wolf, The Severn and The Wyre.
Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands. The station forms part of Greatest Hits Radio Midlands.
Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.
Greatest Hits Radio Midlands is a regional radio station serving the East & West Midlands as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network.
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