Capital South Wales

Capital South Wales

Cardiff
Broadcast area	South East Wales
Frequency	DAB: 12C NOW SE Wales FM: 97.4 MHz Newport FM: 103.2 MHz Cardiff RDS: Capital
Branding	South Wales' No.1 Hit Music Station
Programming
Format	Contemporary hit radio
Network	Capital
Ownership
Owner	Communicorp UK
Operator	Global Radio
Sister stations	Capital Cymru Capital Liverpool Capital Manchester and Lancashire Capital Mid-Counties Capital Midlands Capital North East Capital North West and Wales Capital Scotland Capital South Capital Yorkshire Capital UK Capital Xtra Heart South Wales
History
First air date	11 April 1980 (1980-04-11)
Former names	CBC (Cardiff Broadcasting Company) (1980–1985) Red Dragon Radio (1985–1990) Red Dragon FM (1990–2011)
Former frequencies	96.0 MHz 104.0 MHz 1359 kHz 1305 kHz
Links
Webcast	Global Player
Website	www.capitalfm.com/southwales/

Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport and the surrounding areas from studios in Cardiff Bay.^[1]

The station originally took to the air in Cardiff only. Known as CBC (Cardiff Broadcasting Company), the station launched on 11 April 1980 on broadcasting on 96.0 MHz FM and 1359 kHz AM. Following the closure of neighbouring Gwent Broadcasting in April 1985, CBC began relaying its service as a temporary measure to southern Gwent on 104.0 MHz FM and 1305 kHz AM. This became permanent when CBC re-launched as Red Dragon Radio on 14 October 1985. Initially, there were separate drive time shows for Glamorgan and Gwent, but these were dropped for a single service by the early 1990s.

Simulcasting on 1305 kHz and 1359 kHz AM ended in 1990, with the launch of Touch AM.

On 3 January 2011, the station was rebranded from Red Dragon FM to Capital South Wales as part of a merger of owners Global's Hit Music and Galaxy networks to form the Capital FM network. On 6 February 2014, Global Radio announced it would be selling Capital South Wales to Communicorp. Capital's network programming and brand name are retained under a franchise agreement. Global's Heart South Wales station shares facilities at the Capital studios in Cardiff Bay.^[2]

On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed the station's local breakfast and weekend shows would be replaced with networked programming from April 2019. The weekday drivetime show was retained alongside news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.^[3]

Initially, CBC broadcast to Cardiff on 96.0 MHz and Newport on 104.0 MHz FM. These frequencies were switched to 103.2 MHz and 97.4 MHz respectively in 1987, following a national reorganisation of UK FM frequencies.

The 103.2 MHz signal, which is the stronger of the two, comes from the transmitter at Wenallt near Cardiff, with the 97.4 MHz signal being transmitted from Christchurch in Newport. The signals reach as far out as the South Wales Valleys to the north and part of Bridgend to the west.^[4]

Capital South Wales also broadcasts on the NOW Digital South East Wales DAB multiplex and online.

All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including Capital Breakfast.^[5] Local programming is produced and broadcast from Global's Cardiff Bay studios from 4-7pm,^[6] presented by Josh Andrews and Kally Davies. ^{[7] [8][9]}

Global's Newsroom broadcasts hourly regional news updates from 5am-7pm on weekdays and 8am-12 midday at weekends.

The bulletins are produced for Communicorp by Global's Cardiff Bay newsroom, which also produces bulletins for Heart South Wales, Heart North and Mid Wales and Smooth Wales.^[6]

• Official website
• Capital South Wales on Facebook
• Capital South Wales on Twitter
• Capital South Wales on Instagram