Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands

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 part of Greatest Hits Radio Midlands.

Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands
Broadcast areaWest Midlands
FrequencyFM: 105.2 MHz (B'ham)
107.2 MHz (Kidderminster)
DAB: 11C (Birmingham)
RDSGRT_HITS
BrandingAcross Birmingham & The West Midlands
Programming
FormatClassic Hits
NetworkGreatest Hits Radio
Ownership
OwnerBauer Media Audio UK
Free Radio
History
First air date
4 September 2012
Former names
Free 80's
Former frequencies
1359 MW
Links
WebsiteGreatest Hits West Midlands

History

Gold

Orion Media was formed in 2009, following the purchase of five Midlands-based radio stations – namely BRMB, Mercia, Wyvern, Beacon and Heart 106 from Global for a sale price worth £37.5 million.[1] In early 2012, Orion announced plans to rebrand BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern into one station as a means of generating greater revenue. They were renamed as Free on 26 March 2012.[2] Many of these stations had previously operated an AM-based Gold service, all of which had been subsumed over time into Global's Gold network – Orion continued to run the AM stations as part of the Gold network on a franchise agreement, albeit with additional local opt-outs for extra sports coverage, including live football commentaries.

Sports coverage

Up until the rebrand of the FM stations, BRMB, Beacon and Mercia broadcast live football commentaries on Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers matches, under the Goalzone strand. The commentaries were subsequently moved to Gold, six months before the launch of Free 80s, and continued until the end of the 2014–15 season.

The following season, Free 80s continued to air sports programming under The Goalzone strand, an hour-long chat show on Monday and Friday evenings.[3] On 17 May 2016, the network's head of sport, Tom Ross, presented his final programme after 35 years working for BRMB, Xtra AM, Capital Gold and Free.[4]

Free Radio 80s

On 24 May 2012, Orion Media announced it would relaunch its Gold West Midlands stations on AM frequencies and DAB as Free Radio 80s.[5] Gold was replaced by test transmissions for Free Radio 80s in the final week of August, and was officially launched on 4 September 2012.[6]

On 6 May 2016, the station's owners, Orion, announced they had been bought by Bauer for an undisclosed fee, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.[7][8]

Greatest Hits Radio

On 7 January 2019, Free 80s was replaced by Absolute Classic Rock on 990, 1017 and 1152 kHz and on DAB in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Shropshire. The AM transmitters were later closed, 990 and 1017 kHz on 30 April 2020, and 1152 kHz on 30 June 2020.

Free 80s rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio West Midlands, replacing Absolute Radio on 105.2 FM. In Coventry and Warwickshire the station broadcast on 1359 kHz (although this later closed on 30 June 2020), and continues on DAB only in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, forming part of Greatest Hits Radio network.[9][10]

On 23 November 2021, Bauer announced it would move GHR West Midlands from its Brindleyplace studios in the city centre to a smaller facility at 54 Hagley Road in Edgbaston at the end of 2021.[11]

Programming

Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands produces a mix of local and networked programming from Bauer's Birmingham studios.

On weekdays, the station opts out of networked programming for a regional three-hour afternoon show from 1-4pm. Late night shows with Alex Lester and weekend breakfast shows are networked from the Birmingham studios to the Greatest Hits Radio network.[12]

The rest of Greatest Hits Radio's output originates from the network's Manchester and Liverpool studios, the studios of Greatest Hits Radio Glasgow & The West in Glasgow and Bauer's Golden Square headquarters in Soho.

News

Bauer's Birmingham newsroom 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 traffic bulletins. National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried at other times.

Frequencies

References
  1. "Midlands radio sale cleared". Radio Today. 2 July 2009. Archived from the original on 16 August 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  2. "Orion stations morph into Free". Radio Today. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  3. The new season on Free 80s Archived 17 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Free Radio, 4 August 2015
  4. Tom Ross hosts his last radio show in Birmingham Archived 18 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Radio Today, 17 May 2016
  5. "Gold to be Free Radio 80s in West Mids". Radio Today. 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  6. "Free Radio 80s replaces Gold on AM & DAB". Radio Today. 31 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  7. Bauer buys radio group Orion Media Archived 5 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 6 May 2016
  8. Orion Media sold to Bauer for £50m Archived 5 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, The Telegraph, 6 May 2016
  9. BAUER MEDIA TO LAUNCH THE GREATEST HITS RADIO NETWORK Bauer Media, 15 November 2018
  10. Bauer Media to launch Greatest Hits Radio network Radio Today, 15 November 2018
  11. Bauer to move Free Radio out of Brindleyplace in Birmingham, RadioToday, 23 November 2021
  12. Simon Ross moves to Radio City 2 Breakfast, RadioToday, 30 November 2015
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