BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester

BBC Hereford & Worcester is the BBC’s local radio station serving Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Hylton Road in Worcester.

According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 96,000 listeners and a 6.7% share as of September 2021.

The station began broadcasting on 14 February 1989 (St Valentine’s Day), and to mark the unusual, two-centre set-up for the radio station, the first record played was the song Two Hearts by Phil Collins. The original team of presenters included Graham Day (mid-morning), Gill Capewell (afternoons) and Allan Lee (drive). Other staff included Robert Piggott (now BBC Religious Affairs correspondent), TV journalist Liz MacKean and former LBC presenter Jeremy Dry.

When the station first began, Jane Garvey (of Radio Five Live) was one of the team of journalists. A few months later, she took over the Breakfast Show and went on to win a Sony Award with it.

Today, the station broadcasts on 104 (Worcester), 104.4 (Redditch) 104.6 (Kidderminster) and 94.7 (Hereford) FM; as well as Freeview TV channel 720, online and DAB.

It serves the rural communities across Herefordshire as well as the more populous Worcestershire with a range of programmes from news, sport, consumer, arts, religion, gardening, jazz, funk, northern soul and local music.

Although the administrative county of Hereford and Worcester was abolished in 1998, the name of the station was not altered to reflect this.