First air date 14 July 2002 | Format Adult Contemporary | |
 | ||
Audience share 16.9% (December 2015, [1]) | ||
Radio Pembrokeshire is an Independent Local Radio station serving Pembrokeshire.. It is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting and broadcasts on 102.5 and 107.5 FM and DAB from studios in Narberth.
Contents
The station plays chart music from the 1980s to the present day, alongside local news, travel and community information.
History
Radio Pembrokeshire was originally founded by Keri Jones and Stephen Cole as Haven FM, a RSL station which carried out a 30-day trial broadcast to the Pembroke, Pembroke Dock and Neyland areas during the summer of 1999. Based at a small studio at Bethany Chapel, the station returned for a further trial period in November & December 1999 - and encouraged listeners to lobby the Radio Authority to licence a permanent local radio station.
Two further RSL broadcasts took place in 2000 - by the end of the year, Haven FM launched its bid to secure a countywide licence for the whole of Pembrokeshire. Two further groups, More FM and Real Radio, also applied for the licence. In November 2001, Haven FM was awarded an eight-year licence.
The station was renamed Radio Pembrokeshire following a pre-launch competition to find a new station name. Originally intended to broadcasts from studios in Haverfordwest, a lack of suitable premises led to the station setting up studios at the Old School Estate in Narberth, around nine miles to the east of Haverfordwest and near the border with neighbouring Carmarthenshire.
Radio Pembrokeshire began broadcasting on Sunday 14 July 2002, broadcasting on 102.5 FM from the Haverfordwest transmitter near Woodstock with low power relay stations in Fishguard and Tenby, broadcasting on 107.5 FM.
Nearly two years after the launch of Radio Pembrokeshire, the station's Narberth studios became home to a second local station, Radio Carmarthenshire, followed in March 2010 by Radio Ceredigion. In August 2006, the station was sold to Town and Country Broadcasting (now Nation Broadcasting).
In September 2016, Nation Broadcasting announced plans to relocate Radio Pembrokeshire and its two sister services from the Narberth studios to the group's headquarters based near the St Hilary transmitter on the outskirts of Cowbridge. The station switched broadcasting to the St Hilary studios at 10am on Tuesday 22 November 2016, although the Narberth site is retained as a studio for specialist programming and a sales office.
Programming
The majority of Radio Pembrokeshire's output is produced and broadcast from Nation Broadcasting's St Hilary studios. Most programming and presenters is shared with sister stations Radio Carmarthenshire, Radio Ceredigion, Bridge FM and Swansea Bay Radio. The weekday evening show is also simulcast with Nation Radio.
Presenter-led shows air from 6am - 10pm on Monday - Thursdays, 6am - 7pm on Fridays, 6am - 6pm on Saturdays and 6am - 7pm on Sundays. The station's weekday presenters are Mark Powell and Ruth Wignall (breakfast), Chris Blumer (mornings), Sean Gerrard (afternoons) and Lee Jukes (drivetime).
The station retains its own specialist opt-out programming, including a Friday night sports preview, weekly religious and farming affairs programmes on Sunday mornings and an unsigned music show. The station also airs a rugby magazine show, Rugby Nation (presented by Sean Holley) on Wednesday evenings, networked with other Nation-owned stations.
The Vodafone Big Top 40 is produced by Global Radio at its Capital studios in London for broadcast on 145 commercial radio stations in the UK every Sunday afternoon.
News
Local news bulletins air hourly from 6.02am - 6.02pm on weekdays and 8.02am - 12.02pm at weekends with headlines on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime. As of June 2016, the station's news bulletins are provided by independent company Radio NewsHub in Leeds.
Radio Pembrokeshire also airs national Sky News Radio bulletins 24 hours a day and detailed local weather forecasts on the half-hour.