As of December 2023, the station has a weekly audience of 109,000 listeners according to RAJAR.[1]
History
An advert for Mercia Sound at Highfield Road, Coventry in 1982
The station began broadcasting as Mercia Sound at 0700 BST on 23 May 1980, with an opening announcement by Programme Director Ian Rufus, followed by breakfast presenter Gordon Astley and a news bulletin read by Mike Henfield.
In 1987, the station moved FM frequencies, along with most ILR stations at the time to 97.0 FM. Shortly after this a new transmitter on 102.9 FM was created to serve South Warwickshire.
In 1989, along with BRMB in Birmingham, the AM frequency was split from the FM transmissions to create a new radio station called Xtra AM which played music from the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1993, the station's owners, Midlands Radio, sold the station to Capital Radio who, shortly afterwards sold it to GWR Group, who re-branded it in-line with their "Today's Best Mix" slogan from 1994 onwards. During this period numerous presenters from other GWR stations joined Mercia, including Craig Strong (Trent FM, Ram FM, Leicester Sound), Tim Gough (Trent FM), Adrian Eyre (Trent FM, Ram FM), Rachael Hopper (Ram FM) and Sean Goldsmith (Trent FM). From 2002 onwards, the slogan was "Playing the best mix of the 80's, 90's and today". In 2007, it reverted to the old slogan of "Today's Best Mix".
On 8 August 2008, it was confirmed that due to competition 'conflict of interests' in the West Midlands (and in other areas), Mercia would be sold by Global Radio, along with other West Midlands owned GCap/Global stations BRMB, Wyvern FM, Heart 106 and Beacon Radio. In July 2009, the station was sold officially to a company, backed by Lloyds Development Capital and Phil Riley,[2] called Orion Media.
At this time, seven hours of local programming were broadcast each weekday with four hours on weekend afternoons and a regional daytime programme on weekdays.
On 8 July 2011, Orion Media announced plans to close Mercia's studios at Hertford Place in Coventry and co-locate the station to the company's headquarters in Birmingham – the move took place two months later[3] and the Hertford Place studios were transferred to community radio station Radio Plus.
On 9 January 2012, Orion Media announced that Mercia would be rebranded as a Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire from April 2012, along with its sister West Midlands stations Beacon, BRMB and Wyvern. The Mercia brand was phased out on Wednesday 21 March 2012 in preparation for the rebrand, which took place at 7pm on Monday 26 March 2012.[4][5]
On 6 May 2016, the station's owners, Orion, announced they had been brought by Bauer for an undisclosed fee, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.[6][7]
In May 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Bauer announced Free Radio's Coventry & Warwickshire breakfast show would be shared with the sister station in Herefordshire and Worcestershire from 8 July 2019, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt.[8] The localised weekday drivetime shows were initially replaced by a single regional show, presented by Andy Goulding.
Regional weekend afternoon shows were axed in favour of additional network programming.[9] As of 2 September 2019, further networked output replaced the weekday drivetime show.[10]
On 23 November 2021, Bauer announced the station's Hits at Breakfast show, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt, would broadcast across all four Free Radio licences.[11]
The move was permitted under OFCOM's local content guidelines. The Coventry and Warwickshire 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 Coventry and Warwickshire from April 17th 2024, as part of a network-wide relaunch involving 17 local radio stations in England and Wales.[12][13]
The station's local news and regional output will not be affected as a result of the relaunch.
Programming
All networked programming originates from Bauer’s London, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle studios.
Regional programming is produced and broadcast from Bauer’s Birmingham studios weekdays from 6-10am, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt.[14][8][10]
News
Bauer's Birmingham newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins for Coventry and Warwickshire 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.
National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried overnight with bespoke networked bulletins on weekend afternoons, usually originating from Bauer's Leeds newsroom.
Related Research Articles
BBC CWR is the BBC's local radio station serving Coventry and Warwickshire.
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 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.
Hits Radio East Midlands is an Independent Local 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.
Heart West Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands from studios in Birmingham.
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.
The One Network was the collective name for thirty-eight regional Independent Local Radio licences operated by GCap Media in the United Kingdom. It was formed from the combination of GWR Group's 'The Mix Network' and Capital Radio Group's 'The Capital Radio Network' when the companies merged in 2005. Its main regional radio network rival was the Big City Network, owned by Bauer Group.
BRMB is a British radio station based in Aston, Birmingham, which is owned and operated by Murfin Music International. It broadcasts on 89.1FM in Aston and surrounding areas, on DAB throughout Birmingham, and online via the station's website and mobile apps.
Heart is a network of thirteen independent adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the stations are owned and operated by Global, while the other three are owned and operated under separate franchise agreements. The national version of the network is widely available on Global Player, Freeview, Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media and Digital One DAB.
Xtra AM was an Independent Local Radio station which was on the air between 1989 and 1998. It was broadcast to much of Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire and was the 'oldies' station which took over the mediumwave frequencies of both BRMB and Mercia FM. The programming came from the BRMB studios in Aston, Birmingham, and the signal was relayed from the Langley Mill transmitter (Birmingham) and Shilton (Coventry). The Coventry station was acquired in 1993 by GWR Group and replaced by Classic Gold, while the Birmingham station continued until 1998 when it was replaced by Capital Gold.
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.
The Hit Music Network was a collection of five Independent Local Radio stations operating in the United Kingdom and owned by Global Radio. Created on 25 June 2008, the stations were formerly owned by GCap Media prior to its takeover by Global and, with the exception of 95.8 Capital FM, were all part of The One Network. Initially the network included Trent FM, Ram FM, Leicester Sound, Mercia FM, and Beacon Radio Wolverhampton until the latter two we removed as they were part of the disposal by Global Radio after the GCap Media purchase and purchased by Orion Media. Mercury FM Crawley, Ten 17 in Harlow and Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6 joined the Hit Music Network at that point, until 26 July 2010. Red Dragon FM in South Wales, whilst part of the Hit Music Network, remained local 24 hours a day taking none of the network programmes.
Orion Media was a UK commercial radio group, founded in 2009 after a management buy-in, with backing from Lloyds Development Capital. It was created from the enforced sale of several radio stations in the English Midlands previously owned by Global Radio.
Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire 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 Shropshire, Wolverhampton and the Black Country.
Greatest Hits Radio Dumfries & Galloway is an Independent Local Radio station based in Glasgow, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Dumfries and Galloway.
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.
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.
References
↑ "RAJAR". www.rajar.co.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
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