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BBC Radio Swindon - news archive

This is an archive of news about BBC Radio Swindon. Some links may no longer work, due to the transient nature of the internet.

Volcanoes hit Swindon: More press funnies
From Hold the Front Page. Posted October 2 2007, 12.00am
Newspaper apologises for confusion after sub gets natural disasters mixed up (more)

Bath FM moves to Swindon
From Radio Today. Posted September 28 2007, 10.18am
The studios and presenters of Bath FM are moving to out of the area in which they will broadcast to. A co-location request to house the station at Brunel FM has been agreed by Ofcom, after much consideration. (more)

New editors at Norwich Evening News and Swindon Advertiser
From Press Gazette. Posted August 28 2007, 12.00am
New editors were announced this week for two of the UK's leading regional dailies. (more)

Daily Echo number two gets top job at Swindon
From Press Gazette. Posted August 17 2007, 12.00am
Southern Daily Echo deputy editor Dave King has been announced as the new editor of the Swindon Advertiser. (more)

Brunel FM secures Swindon Town
From Radio Today. Posted July 21 2007, 1.43pm
107.7 Brunel FM has arranged exclusive full match commentary on Swindon Town Football Club’s home and away fixtures for this coming new season. The commentary team will include experienced radio and television broadcaster Nigel Turner and ex - Swindon Town football player Alan McLoughlin. (more)

Brunel backs Olympic project
From Radio Today. Posted July 4 2007, 9.38am
TLRC station 107.7 Brunel FM is backing the Olympic Community and Schools Art Project, launched in Swindon this week. It has been created by Kevin Whitney the Great Britain Olympic Artist and Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst Co-founder of the Olympic Arts Project. (more)

Brunel FM & 3TR Air Swindon Town Football
From Merry Media. Posted June 15 2007, 2.23pm
Swindon Town Football Club and Brunel FM have announced that full match commentary will also be carried out by 3TR in West Wiltshire for both home and away games.. (more)

Brunel and 3TR in football deal
From Radio Today. Posted June 15 2007, 10.21am
TLRC stations Brunel FM and 3TR and joining forces to share football commentary on Swindon Town games. The reason for the simulcast, says 3TR FM programme controller Jonathon Fido, is because the popularity of the club spreads into the 3TR area of West Wiltshire. (more)

Brunel FM partners with Swindon
From Radio Today. Posted May 31 2007, 8.01am
TLRC station Brunel FM have formed an agreement with Swindon Town Football Club, to provide exclusive coverage of the football club for both home and away games, with full match commentary. The three-year deal kicks off in time for the upcoming 2007/2008 season. (more)

Seven licensed, five refused
From Radio Today. Posted March 13 2007, 12.47pm
Ofcom has announced the latest batch of community radio stations to secure a five year broadcast licence. Out of the 12 considered, five were not granted. The seven new stations will cover Bristol, Glastonbury, Exeter, Swindon, Barry and Poole (two licences). (more)

Martin Mumford appointed Town and Country MD
From Breaking Radio. Posted November 20 2006, 12.14pm
Town and Country Broadcasting has appointed Martin Mumford as Group Managing Director. Martin was recently responsible for the recent launch of Brunel FM in Swindon. It marks a return to Town and Country Broadcasting for Martin, having previously been its Group Commercial Director last year. (more)

New MD for Town and Country
From Radio Today. Posted November 19 2006, 9.43pm
Town and Country Broadcasting has appointed Martin Mumford as Group Managing Director. Martin was recently responsible for the recent launch of Brunel FM in Swindon. It marks a return to Town and Country Broadcasting for Martin, having previously been its Group Commercial Director last year. (more)

New Swindon station goes live
From Radio Today. Posted September 2 2006, 10.45am
TLRC-owned 107.7 Brunel FM has launched this morning, with Beautiful Day by U2, chosen by a lucky listener. The station started life as one of four bidders for the Swindon licence, winning the application exactly 12 months ago as Now FM, promising local news, information and issues relevant to life today in the Swindon area and featuring the best music from the past four decades and today. (more)

Brunel FM announces line-up
From Radio Today. Posted September 1 2006, 4.45pm
With just hours to go before the new Swindon radio station launches, Brunel FM has confirmed to RadioToday.co.uk their main presentation line up. Tony Dibbin will present Breakfast between 6am and 10am weekdays. Tony has presented programmes around the UK for the last 13 years including a stint with the national station Atlantic 252. Damian Pickett will be presenting Drivetime from 2-6pm. Damian is no stranger to the airwaves in Swindon having presented programmes, traffic reports and events for the past 6 years. ‘I am so excited to be part of the team launching Brunel FM because I believe this is the station that Swindon’s been waiting for’. (more)

New breakfast show for Swindon
From Radio Today. Posted August 17 2006, 7.00pm
BBC Radio Swindon is set to launch a new daily breakfast show from August 29th. Former BBC London breakfast co-host Mark O'Donnell will host the show each weekday from 7am till 10am. Current Breakfast Show presenter, Peter Heaton Jones is moving to Australia, where he has dual nationality, to work with the broadcaster, ABC. (more)

Mark O'Donnell is Joining BBC Radio Swindon
From Merry Media. Posted August 17 2006, 4.10pm
Mark O'Donnell is joining BBC Radio Swindon to dish up a new daily breakfast show replacing Peter Heaton Jones. An experienced broadcaster, Mark is no stranger to getting up early as he has previously honed his breakfast skills with Danny Baker on the BBC London breakfast show. From August 29th he'll front the BBC Radio Swindon Breakfast Show every weekday morning, from 7am to 10am. A delighted Mark says: "I'm really looking forward to joining the breakfast programme where we'll be looking up at the world with a smile.". (more)

Swindon farewell to radio mentor
From Radio Today. Posted August 16 2006, 12.15pm
Swindon broadcasters are paying tribute to Keith Suter who died recently at the age of 86. As a science and electronics teacher in several Swindon schools, Keith setup school radio stations in the 1960s and 1970s at a time when many youngsters were not media savvy. He was asked to design and build the studios for Hospital Radio Swindon , and the station went to air on 30th December 1967. (more)

Brunel FM appoints Programmer
From Radio Today. Posted June 27 2006, 10.45pm
107.7 Brunel FM, the new local radio station for Swindon launching in late Summer has appointed Andy Beeley as its Programme Controller. Andy joins Brunel FM having spent the last couple of years at radio stations in Canada. Prior to his stint overseas, Andy was Station Manager of Country 1035 in London. With over 16 years experience working in radio, Andy has worked at radio stations as diverse as Choice FM and Classic FM with stops at Severn Sound, Chiltern Radio, Galaxy Radio, 603 Radio and Mix 107. (more)

Biggest Winners and Losers
From Radio Today. Posted May 11 2006, 12.00pm
As part of our RAJAR Q1 2006 coverage, we bring you the stations with the biggest jumps in figures. The Biggest Winners in terms of Reach: - Up 8%: Fen Radio 107.5 - Up 4%: BBC Radio Wiltshire/Swindon 97.2 Stray FM Dream 100 BBC Radio Norfolk The Pulse of West Yorkshire The Biggest Losers in terms of Reach: - Down 5%: BBC Radio Ulster Orchard FM BBC Radio Cumbria 96.9 Chiltern FM (Bedford) - Down 4%: Ocean FM Northsound One 96.2 Touch FM (formerly KIX96.2fm) 99.8FM 2BR Mercia FM (more)

Brunel FM Secures New Premises
From Merry Media. Posted April 9 2006, 1.31pm
The new radio station for Swindon has announced details of their studio base and will launch in the summer. They will be based at the Lime Kiln Studios, Lime Kiln, Wootton Bassett. They will tie it in with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Martin Mumford, Brunel FM's Station Manager said: "This is one of just a handful of purpose built radio studios in the UK".. (more)

Summer launch for Brunel FM
From Radio Today. Posted April 9 2006, 12.15am
The new commercial radio station for Swindon is one step closer to a launch in the Summer after securing a studio site at the Lime Kiln Studios, Lime Kiln, Wootton Bassett. It is exactly 200 years since the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born, and Brunel FM aim to help the area celebrate the occasion when they launch later this year. Brunel FM is owned by TLRC and won the licence in September 2005 after stiff competition from three other groups. (more)

Brunel FM confirms top appointment
From Radio Today. Posted February 2 2006, 9.03am
Brunel FM has announced who will launch and manage Swindon’s newest radio station when it makes its debut later in the year. The music led station (formerly known as Now FM) which features hits of the last 4 decades, news and information - won the 12 year FM commercial radio licence from the industry regulator Ofcom in September against stiff competition. Brunel FM has appointed its first Station Manager to spearhead the project. 33 year old Martin Mumford moved to Swindon in mid – January and now has the challenging task of building and developing the radio station. Martin has considerable experience in Independent Local Radio which includes masterminding the highly successful launch of Rugby FM. His most recent appointment was as Group Commercial Director of The Radio Pembrokeshire Group which owns award winning Radio Pembrokeshire. (more)

Name change for Now FM
From Radio Today. Posted January 30 2006, 11.00am
Now FM, the winning bid for the Swindon licence from TLRC looks set to launch this year under a new name. The new on-air name is Brunel FM, to give the station a more local feel. TLRC won the licence on September 5th 2005 against stiff competition from three other groups. Brunel Radio was a former name for Classic Gold 1260 in Bristol, which is now part of UBC Media. (more)