Just over a year ago marked the end of an era in Swansea. June 9, 2025, was the first time since 1974 that the city no longer had a proper local radio station to tune into. National radio operator Bauer Media Group decided to cease localised operations at its Swansea base in favour of sending out its Hits Radio broadcasts across the airwaves with no regionalised variation.
The company's decision came just 14 months after it announced it was rebranding 96.4FM The Wave to Hits Radio after 26 years. There had been short-lived efforts to maintain localised content through its breakfast show with popular presenters Leigh and Claire presenting. Its landmark building at Victoria Road in Gowerton even looks set to become unrecognisable. It was made the subject of a planning application to become an electric vehicle charging station last October, which is still being considered by council planners.
The slow demise was to the disapproval and heartbreak of many loyal listeners who had tuned in since the station first hit the airwaves on September 30, 1974, under the name Swansea Sound. It was later joined by separate entity 'Sound Wave' in 1995, which became 'The Wave' three years later. The stations had been part of people’s childhoods, daily routines, car journeys, workplaces and homes for decades.
In the months which followed, Swansea Bay Radio, an independent local radio station, created a new home for radio favourites Leigh and Claire and Kev Johns. But elsewhere in the city, a group of passionate former presenters and volunteers sat around a table at The Mardy Inn in Gorseinon formulating a plan to bring a new radio station to Swansea, as they believed it "deserved better." They came up with the idea of creating the city's "only live" radio station, bringing together an array of known and loved former radio hosts, along with new up and coming talent, to create Welsh Coast Radio.
Sat at that very table was former Swansea Sound and BBC radio presenter Steve Dewitt. He said: "What I've been determined to do, along with other local people, is to give Swansea a local radio station back. People grew up with Swansea Sound and The Wave, and you didn't realise how much you would miss it until it went. Stations all around the country just got heritage names that have been around for many years, dropped, and either became part of Hits Network or Greatest Hits Network. A few of us got together, first over a series of phone calls, then a meeting at the Mardy Inn, a lot of us former Swansea Sound and The Wave presenters, as well as presenters who were part of Radio Tircoed, and we discussed who was going do this, and who was going to do that, and off it went. We're all volunteers. Nobody is getting paid for it. We're just doing it to give Swansea a radio station back. We've got more people who have come on board with us and we've trained up a lot of people who just wanted to be on the radio and join us, and now we're really getting there. We've had a great response from listeners. It's been great. It's very much like the old Swansea Sound. People love the music that we play and love that we are a live station. You can ring the studio and most days from 7am until 10pm there is someone there to answer the phone, and no other radio station in this area can do that. We are live, doing it as it is in the studio, and we can respond to emergencies and requests."
Mr Dewitt now presents on the new station together with Rob Pendry, Smithy, Rhianedd Collins, Roy Davies, Producer Dom, Lady Kathy, Martyn Kelly, Mike Kennedy, Steve Manley, Keith Milward, Clare-Anna Mitchell, Alex Tomuta, Nathan Watters and Dennis Whitehead. Across all of their shows, the station, based in Tircoed Village, broadcasts everything from specialist rock, folk and punk shows to mainstream hits, throwback hours and current chart music.
Another presenter on Welsh Coast Radio is Andy Boyt, a former Radio Tircoed host who has also taken on a role as a director of the new station. He said: "Radio is a shared experience, and you don't get that shared experience listening to stuff on a set of headphones through a streaming site. Nobody is under the same skies as you or the same weather as you. With radio, you know there is somebody somewhere listening to the same show as you and you can comment on it and share that experience with them. That was almost being taken away. We want to take people back to feeling part of something with radio. People have told us how great it is to have local radio back in Swansea. It is great to bring together a team of established radio talents and to hear their voices again, and also to see the young people who are coming through and to know the future is in safe hands. Our goal is to become more community centric, putting on more out of studio events, more outside broadcasts, and getting involved in community events, whether they be concerts or jumble sales. We are building up the kit to do that and just be out there more and more in people's lives."
Welsh Coast Radio can be found on 106.5FM, on your smart speaker, via its app, or by visiting its website.
