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On 9 January 2012, Orion Media announced that Mercia would be rebranded as a Free Radio
Coventry & Warwickshire from April 2012, along with its sister West Midlands stations Beacon, BRMB and Wyvern. The Mercia brand was phased out on Wednesday 21 March 2012 in preparation for the rebrand, which
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On 8 July 2011, Orion Media announced plans to close Mercia's studios at
Hertford Place in Coventry and co-locate the station to the company's headquarters in Birmingham – the move took place two months later and the Hertford Place studios were transferred to community radio station Radio Plus.
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Bauer's
Birmingham newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins for Coventry and Warwickshire 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.
493:), Tim Gough (Trent FM, dead in 2022), Adrian Eyre (Trent FM, Ram FM), Rachael Hopper (Ram FM) and Sean Goldsmith (Trent FM). From 2002 onwards, the slogan was "Playing the best mix of the 80's, 90's and today". In 2007, it reverted to the old slogan of "Today's Best Mix".
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On 8 August 2008, it was confirmed that due to competition 'conflict of interests' in the West
Midlands (and in other areas), Mercia would be sold by Global Radio, along with other West Midlands owned GCap/Global stations BRMB,
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In May 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Bauer announced Free Radio's
Coventry & Warwickshire breakfast show would be shared with the sister station in
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In 1987, the station moved FM frequencies, along with most ILR stations at the time to 97.0 FM. Shortly after this a new transmitter on 102.9 FM was created to serve South
Warwickshire.
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from 8 July 2019, presented by John
Dalziel and Roisin McCourt. The localised weekday drivetime shows were initially replaced by a single regional show, presented by Andy Goulding.
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Regional weekend afternoon shows were axed in favour of additional network programming. As of 2 September 2019, further networked output replaced the weekday drivetime show.
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The station began broadcasting as Mercia Sound at 0700 BST on 23 May 1980, with an opening announcement by
Programme Director Ian Rufus, followed by breakfast presenter
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The move was permitted under OFCOM's local content guidelines. The
Coventry and Warwickshire station retains opt-outs for local news, traffic updates and advertising.
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At this time, seven hours of local programming were broadcast each weekday with four hours on weekend afternoons and a regional daytime programme on weekdays.
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Regional programming is produced and broadcast from Bauer’s
Birmingham studios weekdays from 6-10am, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt.
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Coventry and Warwickshire from April 17th 2024, as part of a network-wide relaunch involving 17 local radio stations in England and Wales.
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are carried overnight with bespoke networked bulletins on weekend afternoons, usually originating from Bauer's Leeds newsroom.
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from 1994 onwards. During this period numerous presenters from other GWR stations joined Mercia, including Craig Strong (
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show, presented by John Dalziel and Roisin McCourt, would broadcast across all four Free Radio licences.
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All networked programming originates from Bauer’s London, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle studios.
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The station's local news and regional output will not be affected as a result of the relaunch.
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As of March 2024, the station has a weekly audience of 139,000 listeners according to
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On 10 January 2024, station owners Bauer announced Free Radio would be rebranded as
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On 6 May 2016, the station's owners, Orion, announced they had been brought by
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806:"Bauer to rebrand heritage FM stations in England and Wales to Hits Radio"
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509:. In July 2009, the station was sold officially to a company, backed by
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Bauer to network drivetime across 11 licences in North and Midlands
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for an undisclosed fee, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.
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Hits Radio Network stations to drop local weekend programmes
477:, who re-branded it in-line with their "Today's Best Mix"
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Bauer ends separate Hits at Breakfast shows on Free Radio
780:"Fifteen local stations get set for Hits Radio rebrand"
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Contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom
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to-be-free/ BRMB, Mercia, Beacon, Wyvern to be Free
553:On 23 November 2021, Bauer announced the station's
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59:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
297:Greatest Hits Radio Coventry & Warwickshire
728:Free to reduce local breakfast and drive shows
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466:which played music from the 1960s and 1970s.
289:Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire
8:
1178:Radio stations in the West Midlands (region)
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532:took place at 7pm on Monday 26 March 2012.
448:and a news bulletin read by Mike Henfield.
131:Radio station in Birmingham, United Kingdom
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858:
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685:Feature: Orion's Phil Riley on Free Radio
293:Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire
119:Learn how and when to remove this message
225:The Biggest Hits, The Biggest Throwbacks
68:"Hits Radio Coventry & Warwickshire"
1119:East Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire
610:
661:Orion Media moves Mercia to Birmingham
391:Hits Radio Coventry & Warwickshire
337:Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire
135:Hits Radio Coventry & Warwickshire
7:
57:adding citations to reliable sources
1193:Radio stations established in 1980
940:Herefordshire & Worcestershire
713:Orion Media sold to Bauer for £50m
697:Bauer buys radio group Orion Media
25:
715:, The Daily Telegraph, 6 May 2016
401:, England, owned and operated by
545:Herefordshire and Worcestershire
229:Across Coventry and Warwickshire
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33:
769:, Radio Today, 23 November 2021
469:In 1993, the station's owners,
44:needs additional citations for
1188:Radio stations in Warwickshire
945:Black Country & Shropshire
436:An advert for Mercia Sound at
1:
687:, RadioToday, 11 January 2012
675:, Radio Today, 9 January 2012
1072:Bristol & The South West
955:Staffordshire & Cheshire
757:, Radio Today, 5 August 2019
935:Coventry & Warwickshire
1214:
742:, Radio Today, 30 May 2019
730:, Radio Today, 30 May 2019
663:, Radio Today, 8 July 2011
511:Lloyds Development Capital
409:network. It broadcasts to
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598:National bulletins from
1067:Bournemouth & Poole
395:Independent Local Radio
1145:Timeline of Hits Radio
441:
18:Mercia (radio station)
648:13 March 2012 at the
435:
357:Technical information
313:23 May 1980
285:Hits Radio Birmingham
1135:Bauer Media Audio UK
454:In 1989, along with
271:Bauer Media Audio UK
53:improve this article
1140:Greatest Hits Radio
363:Licensing authority
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990:North West England
969:North East England
831:Free - Public File
564:Hits Radio rebrand
442:
440:, Coventry in 1982
343:Former frequencies
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915:Hits Radio London
812:. 10 January 2024
786:. 10 January 2024
555:Hits at Breakfast
397:station based in
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347:FM: 95.9 MHz
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16:(Redirected from
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900:Hits Radio Pride
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438:Highfield Road
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321:(43 years ago)
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895:Hits Radio UK
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446:Gordon Astley
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70: –
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64:Find sources:
58:
54:
48:
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42:This article
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31:
30:
27:
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1155:
1041:Northsound 1
960:Lincolnshire
934:
826:
814:. Retrieved
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788:. Retrieved
783:
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708:
703:, 6 May 2016
701:The Guardian
700:
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626:. Retrieved
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507:Beacon Radio
495:
468:
453:
450:
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419:
415:Warwickshire
390:
389:
383:Free C&W
331:Mercia Sound
327:Former names
228:
224:
216:HITS_C&W
177:Warwickshire
115:
106:
96:
89:
82:
75:
63:
51:Please help
46:verification
43:
26:
1168:Bauer Radio
1093:South Wales
1077:Oxfordshire
643:Radio Today
579:Programming
519:Orion Media
235:Programming
1173:Hits Radio
1162:Categories
1007:Lancashire
997:Manchester
976:North East
930:Birmingham
881:Hits Radio
816:10 January
810:RadioToday
790:10 January
606:References
570:Hits Radio
515:Phil Riley
460:Birmingham
407:Hits Radio
399:Birmingham
317:1980-05-23
256:Hits Radio
153:Birmingham
109:April 2013
79:newspapers
1102:Yorkshire
1002:Liverpool
628:15 August
517:, called
503:Heart 106
499:Wyvern FM
475:GWR Group
333:Mercia FM
262:Ownership
184:Frequency
1183:Coventry
1019:Scotland
981:Teesside
923:Midlands
646:Archived
483:Trent FM
411:Coventry
221:Branding
194:97.0 MHz
173:Solihull
169:Coventry
1051:West FM
1031:Forth 1
1026:Clyde 1
1011:Cumbria
619:"RAJAR"
464:Xtra AM
428:History
379:Website
315: (
303:History
252:Network
246:CHR/Pop
93:scholar
1046:Tay FM
909:London
487:Ram FM
479:slogan
393:is an
335:Mercia
241:Format
175:, and
95:
88:
81:
74:
66:
1086:Wales
784:Bauer
537:Bauer
422:RAJAR
403:Bauer
374:Links
368:Ofcom
267:Owner
206:: 12D
196:102.9
100:JSTOR
86:books
845:Free
818:2024
792:2024
630:2022
590:News
513:and
505:and
456:BRMB
413:and
72:news
1036:MFR
458:in
212:RDS
204:DAB
199:MHz
55:by
1164::
888:UK
808:.
782:.
747:^
720:^
699:,
621:.
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350:AM
191::
189:FM
171:,
873:e
866:t
859:v
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116:(
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107:(
97:·
90:·
83:·
76:·
49:.
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
