Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands is 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 Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...

station based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands. The station forms part of

Greatest Hits Radio Midlands Greatest Hits Radio Midlands is a regional radio station serving the East & West Midlands as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. Localised variants The station has seven variants:

. As of March 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 411,000 listeners, according to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR; ) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and Radiocentre. RAJAR's predecessor was c ...

History

Gold

Orion Media 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 Gl ...

was formed in 2009, following the purchase of five Midlands-based radio stations – namely

BRMB 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 a ...

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

Wyvern The wyvern ( ), sometimes spelled wivern ( ), is a type of mythical dragon with bipedalism, two legs, two wings, and often a pointed tail. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools an ...

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

and

Heart 106 A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

from

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

for a sale price worth £37.5 million. In early 2012, Orion announced plans to rebrand BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern into one station as a means of generating greater revenue. They were renamed as Free on 26 March 2012. Many of these stations had previously operated an AM-based Gold service, all of which had been subsumed over time into Global's

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

network – Orion continued to run the AM stations as part of the Gold network on a franchise agreement, albeit with additional local opt-outs for extra sports coverage, including live football commentaries.

Sports coverage

Up until the rebrand of the FM stations, BRMB, Beacon and Mercia broadcast live football commentaries on

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

matches, under the ''Goalzone'' strand. The commentaries were subsequently moved to ''Gold'', six months before the launch of Free 80s, and continued until the end of the 2014–15 season. The following season, Free 80s continued to air sports programming under ''The Goalzone'' strand, an hour-long chat show on Monday and Friday evenings. On 17 May 2016, the network's head of sport, Tom Ross, presented his final programme after 35 years working for BRMB, Xtra AM, Capital Gold and Free.

Free Radio 80s

On 24 May 2012, Orion Media announced it would relaunch its Gold West Midlands stations on AM frequencies and DAB as ''Free Radio 80s''. Gold was replaced by test transmissions for Free Radio 80s in the final week of August, and was officially launched on 4 September 2012. On 6 May 2016, the station's owners, Orion, announced they had been bought by Bauer for an undisclosed fee, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.

Greatest Hits Radio

On 7 January 2019, Free 80s was replaced by

Absolute Classic Rock Absolute Classic Rock is a national digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. Its music output is non-stop classic rock hits. Formerly known as Virgin Radio Classic Rock, it originally was an int ...

on 990, 1017 and 1152 kHz and on DAB in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Shropshire. The AM transmitters were later closed, 990 and 1017 kHz on 30 April 2020, and 1152 kHz on 30 June 2020. Free 80s rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio West Midlands, replacing Absolute Radio on 105.2 FM. In Coventry and Warwickshire the station broadcast on 1359 kHz (although this later closed on 30 June 2020), and continues on DAB only in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, forming part of

network. On 23 November 2021, Bauer announced it would move GHR West Midlands from its

Brindleyplace Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th-century canal engineer James Brindley) around wh ...

studios in the city centre to a smaller facility at 54

Hagley Road Known as the Hagley Road in Birmingham, the A456 is a main road in England running between Central Birmingham and Woofferton, Shropshire, south of Ludlow. Some sections of the route, for example Edgbaston near Bearwood, are also the route of ...

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

at the end of 2021.

Programming

Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands produces a mix of local and networked programming from Bauer's Birmingham studios. On weekdays, the station opts out of networked programming for a regional three-hour afternoon show from 1-4pm. Late night shows with

Alex Lester Alexander Norman Charles Lester (born 11 May 1956) is a British broadcaster. He presented the weekday overnight/early-morning programme on BBC Radio 2 from 1992 until 2014. From October 2014 until January 2017, he presented the midnight to 3am p ...

and weekend breakfast shows are networked from the Birmingham studios to the

network.Simon Ross moves to Radio City 2 Breakfast
RadioToday, 30 November 2015 The rest of Greatest Hits Radio's output originates from the network's

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

studios, the studios of Greatest Hits Radio Glasgow & The West in Glasgow and Bauer's

Golden Square Golden Square, in Soho, the City of Westminster, London, is a mainly hardscaped garden square planted with a few mature trees and raised borders in Central London flanked by classical office buildings. Its four approach ways are north and so ...

headquarters in Soho.

News

Bauer's Birmingham newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and from 7am to 1pm at weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins. National bulletins from

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations aro ...

are carried at other times.

Frequencies

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

– 107.2 FM
DAB: 12A (

MuxCo MuxCo is an operator of digital radio in the United Kingdom. It is, in joint ventures, the licensee for local DAB ensembles in various parts of England and Wales. It is owned by Arqiva, Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radi ...

) *

West Midlands (county) West Midlands is a Metropolitan county, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north ...

– 105.2 FM &
DAB: 11C (

CE Birmingham CE Digital is an operator of three digital radio ensembles in England. CE Digital is a joint venture between Bauer Media Group and Global Media & Entertainment, and was originally a joint venture between Capital Radio and Emap Radio Bauer ...

)

References

External links

Greatest Hits Radio - Coventry & WarwickshireGreatest Hits Radio - Herefordshire & WorcestershireGreatest Hits Radio - West Midlands (county)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham and The West Midlands Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio Radio stations established in 2012 Mass media in the West Midlands (region) Radio stations in the West Midlands (region) Radio stations in Birmingham, West Midlands