BBC Radio Cymru

Broadcast area Wales
Frequency FM: 93.0, 104.9 MHz
DAB
Freeview: 720 (Wales only)
Freesat: 715
Sky (Wales): 0152
Sky (Rest of UK): 0154
Virgin Media: 936
First air date 3 January 1977
Format News, Music, Sport, Entertainment
Language(s) Welsh
Operator BBC Cymru Wales
Owner BBC
Webcast BBC iPlayer Radio
Website www.bbc.co.uk/radiocymru

BBC Radio Cymru is BBC Cymru Wales' Welsh-language national radio network. It broadcasts two stations throughout Wales from studios in Cardiff, Bangor, Aberystwyth and Carmarthen on FM, DAB, digital TV and online.

The main network broadcasts for ​18 1⁄2 hours a day from 5:30am to midnight with overnight programming carried from BBC Radio 5 Live during downtime. A second station, Radio Cymru 2, broadcasts on digital and online platforms, and provides separate breakfast programming for two hours every morning.

The managing editor of BBC Radio Cymru is Betsan Powys.

Overview

BBC Radio Cymru began broadcasting on the morning of Monday 3 January 1977, its first programme being an extended news bulletin presented at 6:45am by Gwyn Llewellyn and Geraint Jones. This was followed at 7am by the first edition of the breakfast magazine show Helo Bobol!, presented by Hywel Gwynfryn with contributions from a network of local reporters in studios across Wales. The first record played on Radio Cymru was Ffrindiau Bore Oes by Hergest.

The station was the first broadcasting outlet dedicated wholly to programmes in Welsh, allowing much more airtime for such output than had previously been available on the old Radio 4 Wales (or its predecessors the Welsh Home Service and, before that, the BBC Welsh Regional Programme).

At the time of the station's launch, it was the only radio service in the UK broadcasting exclusively on FM (VHF). Initially, the service was part-time and restricted to breakfast shows, extended news bulletins at breakfast, lunchtime & early evening and a number of off-peak opt outs from a sustaining Radio 4 Wales feed.

In November 1979, Radio Cymru's programming was expanded to 65 hours a week, introducing mid-morning output on weekdays, along with a growing line-up of dramas, light entertainment and documentaries. The network continued to expand over the next two decades before achieving a continuous service of up to 20 hours a day.

Later developments in the 21st century saw Radio Cymru introducing a nightly youth strand, C2, and regional opt-outs for South West Wales, which were axed in 2008 but later reintroduced to provide live commentary of Swansea City A.F.C. matches. The station has also been streaming online since January 2005.[1]

Radio Cymru is similar in format to many "general" radio stations, with news programmes at breakfast (Post Cyntaf, 'First Post'), lunchtime (Taro'r Post – a debate-centred programme), and drive-time (Post Prynhawn, 'Afternoon Post'); together with presenter-driven sequences mixing music with chat to invited studio guests, calls from listeners, competitions etc. Radio Cymru also produces drama, features, current affairs, youth, and sports programming.

Over the years, it has done much to promote the language, with its sports commentators coining new terms which later became accepted by Welsh linguists. One of its more unusual - and longest-running - programmes is Y Talwrn, a poetry competition in which teams must come up with poetry in specific styles on specific topics.

Listening figures

As of March 2018, the station had 121,000 weekly listeners and a 2.9% market share.[2] An average Radio Cymru listener listened to the station for 12.4 hours each week. Radio Cymru has seen its weekly audience increase by 2,000 listeners since March 2017, where its weekly audience amounted to 119,000 listeners.[3]

Notable presenters

Radio Cymru 2

On Monday 19 September 2016, BBC Cymru launched a second radio service, Radio Cymru Mwy (Radio Cymru More), as a trial pop-up station broadcasting for three months in the run-up to the station's 40th anniversary. Consisting of five hours of music-led entertainment programming each weekday, Radio Cymru Mwy was available on DAB in south east Wales and online.[4]

Six months after the station closed, BBC Cymru announced it would launch a permanent second station, Radio Cymru 2. The new service airs for two hours every morning on digital and online platforms, as a music and entertainment alternative to the main network. Radio Cymru's morning output on the main service consists of the breakfast news programme, Post Cyntaf, and a topical magazine show presented by Aled Hughes.[5]

BBC Radio Cymru 2 began broadcasting at 6.30am on Monday 29 January 2018.[6] It airs as an opt-out service from 6.30am - 8.30am on weekdays, 7-9am on Saturdays and 8-10am on Sundays. The daily breakfast show broadcasts from Cardiff (Monday - Saturday) and Bangor (Sundays) with short news bulletins on weekdays from Aberystwyth.

Transmitters and frequencies

Main transmitters

Relays

See also

References

  1. ↑ "BBC re-launches internet radio - everything in one place" (Press release). BBC. 24 January 2005. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  2. ↑ RAJAR
  3. ↑ "BBC Radio Cymru - listening figures". media.info. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  4. ↑ BBC Radio Cymru Mwy takes to the digital airwaves, bbc.co.uk, 2 August 2016
  5. ↑ BBC to boost Wales' national radio stations, bbc.co.uk, 23 June 2017
  6. ↑ The countdown begins - BBC Radio Cymru 2 takes to the airwaves in January 2018, bbc.co.uk, 27 November 2017

Coordinates: 51°29′53″N 3°13′38″W / 51.49806°N 3.22722°W / 51.49806; -3.22722

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