97.1 Radio Carmarthenshire
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| Broadcast area | Carmarthenshire |
|---|---|
| Branding | Radio Carmarthenshire and Scarlet FM / Radio Sir Gâr |
| Frequency | 97.1 MHz (Carmarthenshire), 97.5 MHz (Carmarthen) |
| First air date | 13 June 2004 |
| Format | Adult Contemporary |
| Audience share | 11.6% (March 2011, ) |
| Owner | Nation Broadcasting |
| Website | radiocarmarthenshire.com |
Radio Carmarthenshire (Welsh: Radio Sir Gâr) is a Independent Local Radio station serving Carmarthenshire. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting and broadcasts on 97.1 and 97.5 FM from studios in Narberth in neighbouring Pembrokeshire.
The station, which uses dual-branding with Llanelli-based Scarlet FM, plays chart music from the 1980s to the present day, alongside local news, travel, Welsh language programming and community information.
History
Following the successful launch of Radio Pembrokeshire in 2002, the owners, led by Keri Jones, founded Radio Carmarthenshire in mid-2003 in order to bid for the Carmarthenshire licence. Another applicant, Carmarthenshire Sound (led by The Wireless Group - owners of Swansea Sound and The Wave) withdrew from the bidding process, leaving Radio Carmarthenshire unopposed.
The station began broadcasting on Sunday 13 June 2004. Four months after launch, the station was given a yellow card warning by the broadcasting regulator OFCOM, following complaints about the levels of Welsh language programming.[1] As of March 2016, Radio Carmarthenshire airs a two-hour Welsh language music show on Monday - Thursday evenings, simulcast with Radio Ceredigion.[2]
In August 2006, the station was sold to Town & Country Broadcasting (now Nation Broadcasting).
Programming
The majority of Radio Carmarthenshire's output is produced and broadcast from Nation Broadcasting's Narberth studios. All programming and presenters - including music - is shared with sister stations Scarlet FM and Radio Ceredigion.[3] Most output is also shared with Radio Pembrokeshire.
Split transmission is used to allow the stations to broadcast local content relevant to their area. In the case of Radio Carmarthenshire, the station uses dual-branding on air, simulcasting the entirety of its output with the separate Llanelli-based licence, Scarlet FM.
Presenter-led shows air from 6am - 9pm on Monday - Thursdays, 6am - 7pm on Fridays, 7am - 6pm on Saturdays and 8am - 7pm on Sundays. The station's main presenters are Jay Curtis (weekday breakfast), Ollie Cole (weekday mornings), Toby Ellis (weekday afternoons, West Wales Sport) and James Southon (weekday drivetime, Saturday mornings).
Specialist programming includes a Welsh language music show on Monday - Thursday evenings and a weekly farming affairs programme on Sunday mornings. The Vodafone Big Top 40 is produced by Global Radio at its Capital studios in London for broadcast on 145 commercial radio stations in the UK every Sunday afternoon.
News
Local news bulletins, produced from Nation Broadcasting's newsroom in St Hilary, air hourly from 7.02am - 6.02pm on weekdays and 8.02am - 12.02pm at weekends with headlines on the half hour during the weekday breakfast and drivetime shows. Radio Carmarthenshire also airs national Sky News Radio bulletins 24 hours a day and detailed local weather forecasts on the half hour.[4]
The station's journalists are Mike Hughes, Brogan Hubber, Natalie Beer and West Wales correspondent Jim Hughes.[5]
References
External links
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Coordinates: 51°47′53″N 4°44′35″W / 51.798047°N 4.743004°W