BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

**BBC Coventry & Warwickshire** is British local public radio station owned by British Broadcasting Corporation. The station broadcasts local news, talk shows and music progrmamings.

## History

BBC Local Radio in the 1990s underwent an expansion programme where counties and other areas without a local radio station were identified and five stations were to launch: BBC Radio Surrey, BBC Radio Berkshire, **BBC Radio Suffolk**, BBC Wiltshire Sound and **BBC Radio Warwickshire**.

**Radio Warwickshire** working title was changed to **BBC CWR** by the time the station launched on 17 January 1990. The name **CWR** *(***Coventry and Warwickshire Radio***)* reflected the wider area that the new station would cover, taking in the city of Coventry with the whole of the county of Warwickshire, which was then also served by BBC Radio WM. The station broadcast from a Victorian-style mansion on Warwick Road, close to Coventry railway station. Smaller studios were located in Atherstone, Nuneaton, Rugby, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick.

From day one, **BBC CWR** faced strong competition from the established commercial radio stations in the area. Mercia Sound had been an outstanding success since its own launch ten years earlier in 1980. Xtra AM, the AM-only sister station from Mercia Sound, also enjoyed high listenership since it split from Mercia and launched in 1989.

**CWR** seemed to find it difficult to compete for the very large audiences built up by Mercia and Xtra. It was, however, well respected and highly regarded with its regular audience.

The BBC, under Director-General John Birt, deemed that **CWR** was not sufficiently successful in audience terms to warrant its continuation, and within increasing financial constraints in February 1995 **CWR** was to close. Regular listeners were hugely disappointed and phoned presenter Jon Gaunt to protest about the decision.

In 1995, **BBC CWR** merged with neighbouring BBC Radio WM in Birmingham, was renamed **BBC Coventry and Warwickshire** and would operate as an opt-out service from BBC WM with the remainder of the schedule as shared programming. This had the effect of alienating local listeners, whilst paradoxically presenters from WM, such as Ed Doolan, Malcolm Boyden and Tony Butler received high listening figures and distinctions with three **Sony Radio Academy Awards**, including Radio Station of the Year in 1996.

Its studios were relocated from Warwick Road to much smaller premises on Greyfriars Road. All local programmes except breakfast with Annie Othen, the afternoon show with Bob Brolly, ***Poles Apart*** on Wednesdays, and weekend football coverage of Coventry City F.C. were replaced with programmes from Birmingham.

2003 saw the station re-labelled as BBC WM *across* **Coventry and Warwickshire**.

In 2003, the then Director-General of the BBC, Greg Dyke, announced on-air that Coventry and Warwickshire was again to have its own BBC Local Radio station. Describing the situation with presenter Annie Othen, Mr Dyke said that the station would be added to the BBC's Local Radio portfolio:

**BBC Coventry and Warwickshire** relaunched as a stand-alone station on 3 September 2005 with full local programming for 15 hours a day.

## Programmings

**BBC Coventry and Warwickshire** has a varied mixed programming format, and plays much more music than other BBC Local Radio stations, such as BBC Three Counties Radio, which is predominantly speech-based. The local diverse make-up of the region also plays a part in the station's schedule, although Asian programmes have been transferred to the BBC Asian Network, on medium-wave in the area.

The station also runs an Open Centre at Priory Place, where people take part in learning and creative activities.

The majority of the station's programming is produced and broadcast from Coventry. During off-peak hours, **BBC Coventry and Warwickshire** also carries regional programming for the Midlands, produced from sister stations BBC WM and BBC Radio Shropshire. As with all BBC Local Radio stations, it also airs the networked weekday evening shows, originating from BBC Radio Leeds and produced independently by Wire Free Productions.

The station's local presenters include Trish Adudu (weekday breakfast), Vic Minett (weekday mornings), Brody Swain (weekday afternoons) and Phil Upton (weekday drivetime).

During the station's downtime, **BBC Coventry and Warwickshire** simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live overnight.

## External links

* Official website

* National stations
* Regional stations
* Local stations

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