Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire 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

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

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

Hits Radio Hits Radio is a network of 25 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. As of October 2022, the network has a combined reach of 6.6 million weekly listeners according to RAJAR. Overv ...

network. It broadcasts to

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

and the

Black Country The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ro ...

. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 85,000 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 calle ...

History

Beacon Radio began broadcasting to

and the

from studios at 267 Tettenhall Road in Wolverhampton on

mediumwave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

303 metres, and 97.2 MHz (from

Turner's Hill Turners Hill or Turner's Hill is the highest hill in the county of West Midlands, United Kingdom at above sea level. The hill is in the Rowley Hills range, situated in Rowley Regis, near the boundary with Dudley. The hill can be seen from many ...

) at 6 a.m. on 12 April 1976. The first presenter was Mike Baker and the first song to be played was

Eric Carmen Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He was first known as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries. He had numerous hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Rasp ...

's "''Sunrise''". The station originally set out to broadcast ''Beautiful Music'' including soul and country rock with a heavy bias towards American chart music with artists like

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

and

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

. The station's original managing director was Jay Oliver, an American who, with his Programme Controller Allen McKenzie (a Scot/Canadian), was responsible for the Mid-Atlantic sound that flooded the West Midlands for three years (including a US-style jingle package). As with other UK commercial stations at the time, the station's commitment to news and speech broadcasting under news editor Mike Stewart in its opening year, particularly in the evenings, was extensive; and its late-evening music programmes appeared to offer the presenters a freedom to enlighten, with a wide choice of recordings, as well as to entertain. The station became successful, although facing competition from the already established commercial station, BRMB in nearby Birmingham. However, the station came in for criticism from the UK licensing authority (then, the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...

) for being too American sounding and not wide-ranging enough in its programming. Due to this, the senior management and output changed in mid-1979. Its licence was later expanded in July 1987 to cover

, ostensibly broadcasting from its offices in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

on 103.1 MHz. Actually, only local news was produced in Shrewsbury, with programmes emanating from the Wolverhampton studios — although entirely separate programming for the two areas was provided during daytime hours (this was from time to time slimmed down or expanded as finances allowed). Since January 1989, the station has been FM-only, with Beacon's former AM frequencies of 990 and 1017 kHz becoming branded as a separate service "Nice 'n' Easy Radio WABC". WABC stood for Wolverhampton And Black Country, and presumably was not meant to be confused with, or identified with, New York City's

WABC (AM) WABC (770 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to New York City, New York, New York, carrying a Conservative talk radio, conservative talk format known as "Talkradio 77". Owned by John Catsimatidis' R ...

, former radio flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, or its one-time sister station, current Disney/ABC Television Network flagship station and New York City production center,

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighbor ...

Channel 7. Nevertheless, the station used the same musical logo as the New York station in its jingles. The British station was shortened to "Radio WABC" in 1992. In 1998 the local service essentially closed, and the service was networked (bar afternoon drive time and News bulletins) under the banner of "WABC Classic Gold". This service is currently owned and operated by

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 ...

as Free 80s. The company had been reorganised in the late 1990s into "Beacon Broadcasting and Communications Ltd" (BBCL) — a holding company for the company's various activities. In 1995 GWR Group plc bought Beacon Broadcasting Ltd from BBCL (leaving BBCL as a dormant company). The FM licences transferred to

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 in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. ...

following the

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

's Merger with

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

. GWR re-branded the FM service as Beacon FM in 1997, This brought protests to outside the studios in Tettenhall Road, Due to the number of changes made by the then new owner, It reverted to Beacon Radio 1 April 2005. The thinking behind this reversion to the 'radio' title had been floating around for a number of years within the company — new digital radios do not promote a frequency on 'FM' therefore as a 'radio' station it should be branded as such. On 8 August 2008 it was confirmed that due to competition 'conflict of interests' in the West Midlands (and in other areas), both Beacon Radio stations would be sold by Global Radio, along with other West Midlands owned GCap/Global stations —

BRMB Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a ...

Mercia FM Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Coventry and Warwickshire. As of September 2022, the stati ...

Wyvern FM Free Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire (formerly Radio Wyvern) is a local commercial radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Herefordshire and Worcestershire. As of September 2022, the ...

and

Heart 106 Heart South Wales is an regional radio station that broadcasts to South and West Wales from studios in Cardiff Bay. The station is owned and operated by Global Radio and forms part of the expanded Heart radio network of stations. Background R ...

. In July 2009, the stations were sold officially to a company backed by

Lloyds Development Capital Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Limited (LDC), is a mid-market private equity house and subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group, established in 1981 as Lloyds Development Capital Limited. From 1999 to 2011, it was known as Lloyds TSB Developme ...

and

Phil Riley Phil Riley was Chief Executive of Chrysalis Radio from June 1999 to July 2007, having played a major role in establishing Chrysalis Radio as one of the leading new entrants in the UK radio industry. Phil resigned his post after leading the successfu ...

called

. From Monday 5 July 2010, the two Beacon stations merged to form one station with the loss of separate programming for Shropshire and The Black Country. Separate news and travel bulletins for Shropshire and the Black Country have been retained at peak times alongside advertising. On 9 January 2012, Orion Media announced that Beacon would be rebranded as Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country, along with its sister West Midlands stations

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

and

Wyvern A wyvern ( , sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary winged dragon that has two legs. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, Unit ...

. The Beacon brand was phased out on Wednesday 21 March 2012 in preparation for the rebrand, which took place at 7pm on Monday 26 March 2012. The station's live football commentaries on

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

matches continued to broadcast on sister station

Free Radio 80s Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands. The station forms ...

on AM and DAB until the end of the 2014–15 season. In October 2013, the station left its Wolverhampton studios and moved to new smaller studios at Black Country House in nearby Oldbury. In May 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Bauer announced Free Radio's

breakfast show would be shared with the sister station in Shropshire & Black Country from 8 July 2019, presented by Dan Morrissey.Free to reduce local breakfast and drive shows
Radio Today, 30 May 2019 The Oldbury studios were closed and the local weekday drivetime shows were replaced by a single regional show, presented by Andy Goulding. Regional weekend afternoon shows were axed in favour of additional network programming.Hits Radio Network stations to drop local weekend programmes
Radio Today, 30 May 2019 As of 2 September 2019, further networked programming replaced the weekday drivetime regional show.Bauer to network drivetime across 11 licences in North and Midlands
Radio Today, 5 August 2019 On 23 November 2021, Bauer announced the two ''Hits at Breakfast'' shows would be merged into one regional show across all four Free Radio licences, following the departure of Dan Morrissey.Bauer ends separate Hits at Breakfast shows on Free Radio
Radio Today, 23 November 2021 The merger was permitted under OFCOM's local content guidelines. The new ''Hits at Breakfast'' show for the West Midlands, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt, began on Monday 29 November 2021. The Shropshire and Black Country station retains opt-outs for local news, traffic updates and advertising.

Controversy

In December 2003, two presenters, Mark Peters and Lisa Freame, left Shropshire's Beacon Radio. On their call-in show, they had asked for opinions on the testimony of the subsequently-convicted murderer

Ian Huntley The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and ...

during his trial, despite the matter being ''

sub judice In law, ''sub judice'', Latin for "under a judge", means that a particular case or matter is under trial or being considered by a judge or court. The term may be used synonymously with "the present case" or "the case at bar" by some lawyers. I ...

''.

Programming

All networked programming originates from Bauer's Manchester studios. Regional programming, under the ''Hits at Breakfast'' banner, is produced and broadcast from Bauer's Birmingham studios weekdays from 6-10am, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt.Free - Public File
/ref>

News

Bauer's Birmingham newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am-7pm on weekdays, from 7am-1pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Headlines are broadcast on the half hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins. Separate news and traffic bulletins are broadcast for the Black Country and Shropshire areas. 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 ar ...

are carried overnight with bespoke networked bulletins on weekend afternoons, usually originating from Bauer's Leeds newsroom.

Notable past presenters

Gordon Astley Gordon Astley (born 1 December 1948, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire) is a British radio presenter. He is best known for his role a presenter on BBC Southern Counties Radio, which he left in February 2009 after almost 15 years. He was also presente ...

* Peter Deeley * Abeer MacIntyre *

Gavin McCoy Gavin McCoy is an English radio broadcaster born and educated in Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, ...

* Mike Baker * Dave Owen *

Davinia Palmer Davinia Palmer (born 7 March 1980) is a Welsh TV presenter and voiceover artist now based in the US. Radio career Davinia Palmer began her career in entertainment as a radio host in 1997. She was a ‘new music’ reviewer on Leigh Jones' eveni ...

Nick Piercey Nick Piercey (born 7 December 1960) is a broadcaster. Early career Nick Piercey started his broadcasting career on University Radio Stations in Bath, Somerset, Bath in 1979 and 1980, and University of Kent from 1981 to 1984, before becoming ...

(now at

Wave 105 Wave 105 is an Independent Regional Radio station based in Fareham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex and Wiltshire, and until September 20 ...

and

BBC Radio Oxford BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Summertown area of Oxford. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audien ...

) * Stephen Rhodes (deceased) * Jo Russell (Now at

Gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

) *

Dale Winton Dale Jonathan Winton (22 May 1955 – 18 April 2018) was an English radio DJ and television presenter. He presented the shows ''Dale's Supermarket Sweep'' from 1993 until 2001 and again in 2007, the National Lottery game show ''In It to Wi ...

(deceased) *

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...

(deceased) *

Charlie Wolf Stephen Linsky (born 12 April 1959) better known as Charlie Wolf, is a British-based American radio talk show host, disc jockey and political commentator, and formerly the Communications Director of Republicans Abroad UK. Wolf previously pres ...

Sybil Ruscoe Sybil Ruscoe (born 8th August 1960, Shropshire, England) is a English people, British radio and television presenter. Ruscoe was born in Wem, Shropshire, and began her career on the ''Express & Star'' newspaper in Wolverhampton. She then moved ...

References

External links

Free

Free Radio jingles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free Shropshire and Black Country Bauer Radio Hits Radio Mass media in Wolverhampton

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 ...

Radio stations in Shropshire Radio stations established in 1976 Black Country