Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and Newport and the surrounding areas from studios in Cardiff Bay.

History

The station originally took to the air in Cardiff only. Known as CBC (Cardiff Broadcasting Company), the station launched on 11 April 1980 on broadcasting on FM and AM. Following the closure of neighbouring

Gwent Broadcasting Gwent Broadcasting (also known on air as GB Radio) was an Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the B ...

in April 1985, CBC began relaying its service as a temporary measure to southern Gwent on FM and AM. This became permanent when CBC re-launched as Red Dragon Radio on 14 October 1985. Initially, there were separate

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cl ...

shows for Glamorgan and Gwent, but these were dropped for a single service by the early 1990s. Simulcasting on and AM ended in 1990, with the launch of Touch AM. On 3 January 2011, the station was rebranded from Red Dragon FM to Capital South Wales as part of a merger of owners

's Hit Music and Galaxy networks to form the

Capital FM network Capital is a network of twelve independent contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Nine of the stations are owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, while the oth ...

. On 6 February 2014, Global Radio announced it would be selling Capital South Wales to

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia ...

. Capital's network programming and brand name are retained under a franchise agreement. Global's Heart South Wales station shares facilities at the Capital studios in Cardiff Bay. On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed the station's local breakfast and weekend shows would be replaced with networked programming from April 2019. The weekday drivetime show was retained alongside news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.

Coverage area

Initially, CBC broadcast to Cardiff on and Newport on FM. These frequencies were switched to and respectively in 1987, following a national reorganisation of UK FM frequencies. The signal, which is the stronger of the two, comes from the transmitter at Wenallt near Cardiff, with the signal being transmitted from

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

in Newport. The signals reach as far out as the South Wales Valleys to the north and part of

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

to the west. Capital South Wales also broadcasts on the NOW Digital South East Wales DAB multiplex and online.

Programming

All networked programming originates from Global's

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

headquarters, including ''

Capital Breakfast ''Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp'' is a British national breakfast radio show on Capital. The show is broadcast from 6am to 10am each weekday.

'' with Roman Kemp. Local programming is produced and broadcast from Global's Cardiff Bay studios from 4-7pm, presented by Josh Andrews and Kally Davies.

News

Global's Newsroom broadcasts hourly regional news updates from 5am-7pm on weekdays and 8am-12 midday at weekends with headlines on the half-hour during ''Capital Breakfast'' on weekdays. The bulletins are produced for Communicorp by Global's Cardiff Bay newsroom, which also produces bulletins for Heart South Wales,

Heart North Wales Heart North and Mid Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North and Mid Wales from studios in Gwersyllt, near Wrexham.

and

Smooth Wales Smooth Wales is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Cardiff area of South Wales and to the Wrexham area of North Wales, as well as parts of Cheshire in England. All programming content is now shared to both areas. It is the on ...

Former presenters

Sacha Brooks Sacha Brooks is a British radio presenter and DJ from Nottingham, England. She is currently employed by Global Radio. Sacha's radio career started on the pirate radio station Globe 107.7fm in Nottingham and she went on to launch Choice 102.2 i ...

* Carlos * Rich Clarke *

Andi Durrant Andi Durrant (born 1981) is an English radio presenter, company co-founder, disc jockey and record producer from Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Durrant currently hosts The Dance Music Archive radio show on Kisstory in the UK Radio presenter ...

* Jason Harrold *Dave KellyDave Kelly to replace Neil Fitzmaurice at Radio City
at How-do.co.uk * Bobby McVay * Vaughan Roderick * Noel Sullivan

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Capital South Wales South Wales Communicorp Radio stations in Cardiff Radio stations established in 1980 1980 establishments in Wales