GMG Radio has launched Wales' first national commercial radio station this morning, with the additional of North and Mid-Wales to the South Wales based Real Radio.
Singer Sir Tom Jones launched the station nationally, followed by breakfast presenters Jagger and Woody.
The station will continue to broadcast from Cardiff, but the first week is live from the new transmission area at breakfast to welcome new listeners. Extra sales staff will be based in the north.
To support the launch there will be a major advertising campaign running for almost two months using TV, outdoor media and direct marketing.
The station won the Mid and North Wales licence in 2008 and recently had permission to merge the licence with their South Wales licence to create a national station, using frequencies including 88.0, 105.7, 107.0, 107.2, 107.7 and 107.9MHz.
Tony Dowling, Station Director at Real Radio told RadioToday.co.uk: “Without wishing to over dramatise the day, this IS an historic day. We are the first ever national commercial radio station for Wales and as a Welshman, and a lover of radio, I could not be more proud. I have been with Real Radio from day one and believe in the service we provide for our listeners and it is clear from our present standing in the market place our listeners feel the same. We welcome our new listeners across the Mid and North of the country and are looking forward to taking the experiences we have learned as a regional station to our national platform and becoming a part of the nations lives.”
Make sure you receive tomorrow's edition of [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/eradio/]eRADIO[/link] for a full interview with Tony Dowling about the launch.
Listen to the launch sequence [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/download.php?view.85]here[/link].
Posted on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 at 8:08 am by RadioToday UK