Nation Radio Wales is a regional radio station, broadcasting to south and west Wales on FM and across

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on DAB. It is owned and operated by

Nation Broadcasting Nation Broadcasting is a British media company headquartered in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It currently owns and operates twelve Independent Local Radio stations across the United Kingdom. History Originally known as Town and Country Broad ...

and broadcasts from studios near the St Hilary transmitter on the outskirts of

Cowbridge Cowbridge () is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for elections to ...

. The station's music playlist originally consisted of new and classic guitar-led music, reflecting the franchise won originally by XFM, but in 2015, the format was changed to a broader format including mainstream pop music. As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 163,000, according to RAJAR.

History

Nation Radio began broadcasting on 16 June 2008, taking over the regional

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 ...

broadcasting licence, which was held by XFM South Wales until

GCap Media GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed on 9 May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index ...

sold the station to Town and Country (now Nation Broadcasting) on 30 May 2008. In 2013, Nation Radio increased its coverage area via DAB - it began broadcasting to north-east Wales and parts of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

and

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

in March, via

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 ...

's Wrexham, Chester and Liverpool multiplex. In August, the station launched in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

and

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

via the Muxco Mid and West Wales multiplex. In December 2017, Nation began broadcasting on FM in Carmarthenshire (102.9 FM) and Pembrokeshire (107.1 FM) Since March 2018, the station has broadcast in stereo on DAB+ in North East Wales. In December 2018, OFCOM gave the station's owners permission to replace sister station

Radio Ceredigion ''Radio Ceredigion'' () was an Independent Local Radio station that was broadcast to Ceredigion. It was broadcast across the county on 96.6, 97.4 and 103.3 FM. On 31 May 2019 the station became a relay of Nation Radio Wales. History From its l ...

with a relay of Nation. Five months later, it was reported Nation had decided to retain the local service and would request to reverse its decision on the station's format. In May 2019, Nation Broadcasting withdrew its request and Radio Ceredigion was replaced by a relay of Nation Radio Wales as originally planned.

Programming & presenters

Programming

Nation Radio Wales broadcasts a mix of regional and networked programming.

Regional Shows

* Weekday Breakfast with Angela Jay * Weekday Drivetime with Mark Franklin

Local Presenters

* Angela Jay * Mark Franklin

Networked Presenters

* Tim Allen * Gary Parker * Mark Collins * Mark Franklin * Tony Shepherd * Roberto * Neil Greenslade * Neil Fox * Greg Burns

Programming

As Nation Radio Wales, local programming is broadcast from 6am to 10am and 3pm to 7pm Monday to Friday. The rest of the time it takes networked programming from

Nation Radio UK Nation Radio UK is a quasi-national radio station in the UK, broadcasting online and on DAB. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting. The digital station was launched in June 2016 as Thames Radio with a line-up of former BBC and Capital ...

, with opt-outs for news, sport, travel and weather updates. During local programming, the station plays a separate playlist to Nation Radio UK. Most of Nation Radio's programming is produced and broadcast from its St Hilary studios.

News

Local news bulletins air hourly from 6am - 7pm on weekdays and 7am - 1pm at weekends with headlines on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime. National news 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 ...

air hourly at other times.Nation Radio public file
April 2022

Frequencies

Nation Radio's main transmitter is at the well-positioned Wenvoe site near Cardiff, broadcasting on 106.8 MHz, serving Cardiff, Newport, the Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend, Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales Valleys, Monmouthshire, the Brecon Beacons and the Gower A.O.N.B. Unofficially, the 106.8 MHz frequency from Wenvoe also serves Bristol, Gloucestershire and parts of Somerset, Wiltshire and Herefordshire. Kilvey Hill serves the Swansea area on 107.3 MHz albeit with a very small coverage area, Carmel serves Carmarthenshire on 102.9 MHz, Preseli serves Pembrokeshire on 107.1 MHz, Mynydd Pencarreg serves East Ceredigion on 96.6 MHz, Penwaun serves Cardigan and Newcastle Emlyn on 97.4 MHz and Blaenplwyf serves Aberystwyth and Ceredigion on 103.3 MHz.

References

An application for the Ceredigion FM licence from Radio Ceredigion LtdReference Offer for the provision of Transmission Services in respect of Re-advertisement of FM local commercial radio licence for Ceredigion

External links

* {{Coord, 51.6585, N, 3.8323, W, display=title Radio stations in Cardiff Radio stations in Wales Radio stations established in 2007 Nation Broadcasting Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom