is the
BBC 's national radio station broadcasting to
Wales in the
English Language . Operated by
BBC Wales , it began in
1978 following the demise of the old "Radio 4 Wales" (previously the Welsh Home Service) when
BBC Radio 4 became a national network and moved from
Medium Wave to
Long Wave .
For many years Radio Wales was broadcast only on medium wave; the BBC considered that because the
Welsh Language network
BBC Radio Cymru was the only network using that language, it merited a higher quality of transmission. However since
1999 Radio Wales has been acquiring its own
FM network, starting in areas like
Newport and
Wrexham where the Welsh language has the fewest speakers.
BBC Radio Wales is also broadcast on
DAB Digital Radio and on satellite.
Current programmes include Good Morning Wales,
Roy Noble 's morning show, The Afternoon Show with
Alan Thompson some days and
Owen Money on other days, Good Evening Wales,
Studio X , a show covering current rock/pop music, Jamie Owen's late morning show, Adam Walton's new music show (covering new Welsh music on Sunday nights) and
Chris Needs ' Garden which broadcasts every weeknight evening.
Radio Wales' sports output include Sportstime which broadcasts Saturdays from 2-6:30pm presented by
Oliver Hides and Midweek Sport which is transmitted every Tuesday night from 7-10pm hosted by
Rob Phillips , they feature local FM commentary of
Cardiff City in the south-east of Wales,
Swansea City in the south west and
Wrexham in the north of Wales with the presenters going through a running commentary on everything that is happening in the day's play on MW. Sportstime is also aired on days if there is other sport happening throughout the week, usually on MW only.
After a number of experiments with temporary special-event stations in various parts of Wales, two long-standing opt-out stations were established: , based in
Newport , on the air between
1983-04-18 and
March 1991 , and Mold-based '''Radio Clwyd''' which was broadcast between
October 1981 and
October 1993 . Both of these stations only operated at peak times, and carried Radio Wales at other times. Following the closure of Radio Clwyd, local bulletins for north-east Wales continued until
2002 , staff having moved from Mold to
Wrexham in the Summer of 1998.
The loss of Radio Clwyd and the subsequent local bulletins was resented by some listeners in north-east Wales, who felt that the main Radio Wales programming concentrated too much on Cardiff and the South Wales valleys. On
2003-01-21 their complaint was raised in the
House Of Commons [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo030121/debtext/30121-34.htm .
