BBC Radio Wales - Transmission

Transmission

For many years, Radio Wales was broadcast only on medium wave using a 100,000 watt transmitter broadcasting on 882 kHz from Washford in Somerset; as 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. The only exception to the rule was the opt-out service Radio Gwent, which from 1983 broadcast on two FM frequencies and simulcast most of Radio Wales' output outside of breakfast. When the station closed in 1991, the frequencies continued to relay Radio Wales.

Since 1999, Radio Wales has been expanding its FM network, starting in areas like Cardiff and Wrexham where the Welsh language has the fewest speakers. Because of the power of the medium wave transmitter, BBC Radio Wales can also be heard outside the intended transmission area and is audible across Somerset and the Bristol area, most parts of Devon and northern Cornwall, as well as in areas of south-western Ireland.

BBC Radio Wales commenced broadcasting from the Wenvoe transmitter on 6 December 2011 at 10:39. This replaced the low power VHF Transmitter on the Wenallt Hill which also carried BBC Wales VHF programme on 103.9 MHz to a limited area of South East Wales up to that point. The station is also broadcast on DAB Digital Radio and Freeview across Wales, as well as across the UK and Europe on satellite.