BBC Radio WM

BBC Radio WM

Birmingham
Broadcast area	West Midlands and south Staffordshire
Frequency	FM: 95.6 MHz DAB: 11B (Black Country and Shropshire) DAB: 11C (Birmingham) Freeview: 722
RDS	BBC WM
Programming
Language(s)	English
Format	Local news, talk, music and sport
Ownership
Owner	BBC Local Radio, BBC West Midlands
History
First air date	9 November 1970
Former names	BBC Radio Birmingham (1970–1981) BBC WM (1981–2020)
Former frequencies	828 MW 1458 MW
Technical information
Licensing authority	Ofcom
Links
Website	BBC Radio WM

BBC Radio WM is the BBC's local radio station serving the West Midlands.

It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Mailbox in Birmingham.

According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 184,000 listeners and a 2.4% share as of September 2023.

History

The Mailbox, home to BBC Radio WM's studios in Birmingham

The station launched as BBC Radio Birmingham on 9 November 1970 and on 23 November 1981, the station changed its name to BBC WM to reflect that the station broadcasts to a wider area than just Birmingham.

A short-lived service called WM Heartlands ran between early 1989 and 1991 serving the 'Heartlands' area of East Birmingham using the 1458 medium wave frequency. It ran as an experiment, opting out from 8 am until 12 am. On 30 October 1989, the BBC Asian Network launched as a part time service on BBC WM's MW frequencies (828 and 1458 kHz). In 1996, the Asian Network became a full time service, resulting in BBC WM no longer broadcasting on MW.

In the 1990s, as an economic measure, BBC WM took over BBC Coventry & Warwickshire in Coventry and Warwickshire. On 3 September 2005, CWR resumed the production of separate programming between 5 am and 10 pm each weekday (6 am to 6 pm at weekends).

Until 2004, BBC WM was broadcast from the Pebble Mill studios, in Edgbaston. On July 4 of that year, the station moved to the new BBC Birmingham city centre offices in The Mailbox. Its facilities include two broadcast studios, a talk studio, an operations and production area, and a studio shared with the BBC Asian Network.

BBC Radio Wolverhampton

BBC Radio Birmingham logo

On 15 January 2021, BBC Radio Wolverhampton launched as a temporary sister station. The service provided eight hours of opt-out programming for listeners in Wolverhampton and the surrounding area each weekday until 31 March 2021.

Audience

When it launched, the station had a monopoly of local radio in the Birmingham area. The station's low audience since the advent of independent local radio has led to reports of threatened closure on various occasions. In the mid-1980s, a new manager, Tony Inchley, brought in extensive format changes with a view to stabilising the audience, although the station remained small in listenership numbers.

Programming

BBC Radio WM logo, used from 2020 to 2022.

Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Birmingham studios from 6 am to 1 am each day.

Off-peak programming, including the late show from 10 pm to 1 am, is simulcast with sister stations in the BBC West Midlands and BBC East Midlands regions.

During the station's downtime, BBC Radio WM simulcasts overnight programming from BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio London.

Notable presenters

• Gordon Astley
• Malcolm Boyden
• Tony Butler
• Carl Chinn (1994–2012)
• Alan Dedicoat (1979–1985)
• Ed Doolan (1982–2017)
• Adrian Goldberg (2003–2006, 2010–2017, 2018–2020)
• Alex Lester (2017–2020)
• Stuart Linnell
• Janice Long (2000–2010)
• Andrew Peach (2008-2011)
• Peter Powell (1970–1975)
• Les Ross (1970–1976, 2005–2009)
• Sunny and Shay (2014–2020)
• Tim Smith
• Graham Torrington (2012–2020)
• Tony and Julie Wadsworth
• Mollie Green (broadcaster) (2002-2023)

External links

• BBC WM website
• "BBC WM looks back on its 40 years of broadcasting". BBC News Online. BBC Birmingham. 26 August 2010.