Greatest Hits Radio Dumfries & Galloway 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 2003, ...

station based in

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

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Rad ...

Network. It broadcasts to Dumfries and Galloway. As of September 2023, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 75,000, 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 call ...

Overview

The station in Dumfries and Galloway is one of three FM stations forming part of the

Greatest Hits Radio network Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Ra ...

and carries networked programming, with local news and travel. In September 2019, all local programming from Dumfries ended and local breakfast and drive is coming from Glasgow. The station was rebranded from ''West Sound'' to ''Greatest Hits Radio Dumfries and Galloway'' on 3 April 2023.

History

Westsound began broadcasting in May 1990, from studios at Campbell House in the grounds of the Crichton Estate, under the name South West Sound FM. The station later moved to studios in Dumfries's shopping centre, The Loreburne Centre, where it remained until its local shows were axed in 2019. On 3rd April 2023, Westsound rebranded to form Scotland’s first national commercial radio station, Greatest Hits Radio, along with its sister stations from the Scottish Greatest Hits Radio Network and Radio Borders. Seven hours of Scottish programming were retained, Ewen & Cat At Breakfast and Webster in the afternoons.

Programming and presenters

Much of the station's programming is produced in

's studios in Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Some output is produced from GHR's

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

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and Manchester studios and broadcast on both networks in Scotland and England. Presenters currently on Greatest Hits Radio Dumfries & Galloway are; Ewen Cameron and Cat Harvey (Ewen & Cat At Breakfast, weekdays 6-10am), Ken Bruce (weekdays 10am-1pm), Stuart Webster (weekdays 1pm-4pm), Simon Mayo (Drivetime weekdays 4pm-7pm and Album Show Sunday 1pm-4pm), Jackie Brambles (Monday-Thursday 7pm-10pm), Martin Kemp (Friday 7pm-10pm), Andy Crane (Sunday-Thursday 10pm-1am), Des Paul (Rhythm Of The Night Friday and Saturday 10pm-1am).

News

The station 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 sport and 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 overnight with bespoke networked Scottish bulletins on weekend afternoons, produced from Radio Clyde's newsroom in Clydebank.

References

External links

* Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio Radio stations in Scotland Dumfries and Galloway Radio stations established in 1990 1990 establishments in Scotland {{Scotland-stub