101.8 WCR FM is a

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

station that broadcasts to the city of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

, England, on the VHF frequency of 101.8 MHz under an

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

Community Radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

licence, at 6:00 a.m. on 30 March 2007 originally from studios in the Newhampton Arts Centre. Jason Forrest hosted that first show with Beverley Knights ‘Greatest Day’ being the first song played. WCR FM aims to be a vibrant, informative and hyperlocal station providing the city with an alternative service with a mix of speech, specialist and niche programming. The station's licence states it must broadcast a speech content of no less than 30% of its total output and this is achieved primarily by a weekday lunchtime magazine show hosted by Jason Forrest and a heavier, local news/current affairs series with the station's Community Director, Chris Allen. Other programmes offer additional speech content to cover the requirement. It operates from a purpose developed three-studio broadcast, production and training complex on the second floor of the Mander Centre following a move from their launch studios at Newhampton Arts Centre in April 2022. Programme content is primarily produced in-house with a degree of syndicated programming from external sources. Wolverhampton has a mixed-race population of approximately 260,000 and although primarily an English-language station, WCR FM also offers a broadcasting platform for various ethnic and community groups.

Notable presenters

* Les Ross *Caroline Martin

History

WCR FM is related to Wolverhampton Campus Radio, WCR AM, which broadcast to the Wulfrun campus of Wolverhampton College.

Ofcom Breaches

In March 2023, WCR FM were found in breach by

OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

in March 2023 after playing a song that contained offensive language. WCR FM were found in breach of Rules 1.14 and 2.3 after playing a song during its Drivetime programme on 2 November 2022 that contained the "F" word. The full response can be seen at

References

External links

* {{coord missing, West Midlands Radio stations in the West Midlands (region) Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Mass media in Wolverhampton 2007 establishments in England