96.4 BRMB is a pop/rock radio station based in Birmingham, UK. It recently changed its name to The New 96.4 BRMB, although it has now reverted to its original title. The letters BRMB are as a result of the merger of two applicants for the original licence application in 1973: Birmingham Radio/Midlands Broadcasting. The notion that the name came from Birmingham Radio for the Midlands and Black Country is an urban myth. The station is part of the One Network, owned by Global Radio. This article is about the British city. ... The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton, around the South Staffordshire coalfield. ... For other uses, see Frequency (disambiguation). ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... [[Media:Italic text]]{| style=float:right; |- | |- | |} is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... Global Radio Group is a UK radio company. ... A website (alternatively, web site or Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or more web servers, usually accessible via the Internet. ... A radio station is an audio (sound) broadcasting service, traditionally broadcast through the air as radio waves (a form of electromagnetic radiation) from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. ... This article is about the British city. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... This article is about the British city. ... The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton, around the South Staffordshire coalfield. ... The One Network is the collective name for the thirty-eight of GCap Medias local radio stations, broadcast at various locations in the United Kingdom It was previously known as The Mix Network and coincided of stations owned by GWR Group, but upon the merger of Capital Radio Group... Global Radio Group is a UK radio company. ...

History

Launched on 19 February 1974, on mediumwave 261 metres, (1152kHz) and 94.8 MHz FM, BRMB was the fourth independent commercial radio station to broadcast in Britain after Capital Radio, LBC and Radio Clyde. Playing a wide variety of music coupled with local news, live football coverage and information, the station became an instant hit with Birmingham listeners, before changing to 96.4 FM Stereo in 1986. Mediumwave radio transmissions serves as the most common band for broadcasting. ... A kilohertz (kHz) is a unit of frequency equal to 1,000 hertz (1,000 cycles per second). ... The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an SI measure of length... This article is about the British radio station. ... LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is Britains first commercial independent local radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. ... Radio Clyde is a radio station broadcaster in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...

Presenters such as Ed Doolan, Les Ross, Phil Upton, and Tony Butler became household favourites but they all now work for BBC WM, the local BBC speech station. Les Ross was the UK's longest-serving breakfast presenter when he hung up his headphones in 2002. Tom Ross also found fame on the station when it began broadcasting live commentary of West Midlands football and Premiership matches. Ian Crocker, now a commentator on Setanta Sports (and previously Sky Sports), was also involved in the coverage early on. Ed Doolan is a British radio presenter who fronts a show, beginning at 10:00 until 13:00 on BBC Radio WM. He started out in forces radio and moved to BRMB, then WM in 1982. ... Birmingham born Les Ross always wanted to become a DJ so at the age of 11, he wrote to the general manager of Radio Luxembourg. ... Broadcaster Phil Upton(or Mr Birmingham as he is nicknamed) was born in Birmingham on 9 October 1966. ... This article is about the Birmingham-based radio journalist. ... BBC WM is the BBC Local Radio service for the West Midlands and South Staffordshire, operated by BBC Birmingham. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Ian Crocker is a football commentator for Setanta Sports, where his duties have seen him as the lead commentator on Setantas exclusive live coverage of the Scottish Premier League, alongside either Scott Booth or Craig Burley. ... Setanta Sports (pronounced ) is an international sports broadcaster, operating 12 channels in 24 countries. ... Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of 9 channels. ...

Xtra AM

In 1989, and as a response to government disapproval of the simulcasting of programming on both FM and mediumwave, a sister station was launched on the 1152 kHz frequency, Xtra AM became BRMB's 'gold' service, playing classic hits, while BRMB itself began to cater for a younger audience. Xtra AM was on the air for nine years until the majority of its programming was switched to London, where it was simulcast with Capital Gold. XTRA 570 AM. Southern California Sports Talk Radio Station External Link: http://www. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Capital Gold is an oldies radio station which started in London in 1988 on Capital Radios AM frequency, as the British Government urged radio stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on FM and AM) and threatening to remove one of their frequencies if simulcasting continued. ...

Studio information

Location

The BRMB studios on Broad Street.

BRMB was originally based in Aston Road North, in the Aston district of Birmingham, near the Spaghetti Junction. These were the former Alpha Television Studios, the home of ATV and ABC Weekend Television until 1970. The current headquarters are based in the Brindleyplace development, off Broad Street in the heart of Birmingham's nightlife. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1944x2592, 764 KB) Created by Erebus555. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1944x2592, 764 KB) Created by Erebus555. ... Broad Street as seen from above Broad Street is a major thoroughfare to the immediate West of Birmingham city centre. ... For other uses, see Aston (disambiguation). ... Spaghetti Junction is a nickname that can be given to a complicated or massively intertwined interchange, such that it resembles a plate of spaghetti. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Associated British Corporation (otherwise known as ABC Television or ABC Weekend TV) was one of a number of commercial television companies set up in the 1950s by cinema chains in an attempt to safeguard their business by getting involved in television which was taking away their cinema audiences. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Brindleyplace Brindleyplace (often written Brindley Place) is a large mixed-use canalside development, near the centre of Birmingham, England. ... Broad Street as seen from above Broad Street is a major thoroughfare to the immediate West of Birmingham city centre. ...

Frequencies

BRMB is available on DAB Digital Radio in the Birmingham area, live on the Internet, and on 96.4 FM Stereo. BRMB often broadcasts the same content as Severn Sound, Wyvern FM, Mercia FM and Beacon Radio because all five radio stations are part of the One Network, owned by GCap Media plc. Digital Audio Broadcast or DAB is a standard for digital radio broadcast developed by EUREKA as a research project for the European Union. ... Severn Sound is an Independent Local Radio station that broadcasts to Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom. ... Wyvern FM is a radio station broadcasting to Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. ... Mercia FM is an Independent Local Radio broadcasting from Coventry. ... Beacon Radio is the name of an Independent Local Radio station in the Midlands of England, previously known as Beacon FM, and Beacon Radio 303 before that. ... The One Network is the collective name for the thirty-eight of GCap Medias local radio stations, broadcast at various locations in the United Kingdom It was previously known as The Mix Network and coincided of stations owned by GWR Group, but upon the merger of Capital Radio Group... GCap Media plc is a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. ...

Tag lines

In January 2007, BRMB dropped the tagline "Always a better song, always a better mix" and reverted to the previous tag line "Today's best music". They recently started a "Big Listen" promotion that surveyed opinion from their listeners. One of the major discoveries from this was that listeners didn't like the same music titles being played repetitively. Subsequently they have recently introduced a "No Repeats" promotion whereby they promise not to repeat a track between 9:00am and 3:00pm on a weekday. Anyone hearing a breach of this rule can ring a hotline number and win £10,000. January 2007 is the first month of that year. ...

On April 7th 2008, BRMB altered their music and branding, to a policy similar to that of sister station Capital 95.8. An increase in current chart hits is notable, along with the tagline "Birmingham's Hit Music Station". This article is about the British radio station. ...

Events

Notable events in BRMB's history have included: the annual BRMB Walkathon, BRMB's Aston Road studios being almost taken over by Irish activists and the station being fined £15,000 for injuring contestants in a game show which involved sitting on a block of dry ice. ^[1] Dry ice pellet sublimating in water Dry ice block sublimating in air. ...

Two Strangers and a Wedding

The station also attracted much controversy in 1999 with its Two Strangers and a Wedding competition, in which they endeavoured to find two complete strangers who were prepared to legitimately marry, despite never having met before. Although there was no "prize" as such, the "couple" were given items such as a car and luxury apartment to use during the length of their 'marriage'. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The wedding took place, despite much criticism of the stunt, although the couple split up soon afterwards. The bride then went on to have a long-term relationship with the late night presenter at the time - Jezza, who now presents The Jeremy Kyle Show on ITV1 Listen to this article ( info/dl) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2007-05-02, and may not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... ITV1 is the name, in England, Wales and the Scottish borders, for a terrestrial, free-to-air television channel, broadcast in the United Kingdom by the ITV network. ...

Concerts

BRMB originally launched the annual Party in the Park pop concert in 1995 to raise funds for local charities. Such was its success, however, it became an annual event, attracting an impressive list of pop acts, such as the Spice Girls, Jamiroquai, and Daniel Bedingfield. There's some confusion if GCap or BRMB themselves have axed the party in the park because it didn't happen in 2006. The Spice Girls are a BRIT Award-winning English pop group formed in 1994. ... Jamiroquai is a Grammy Award-winning English funk / soul / disco band. ... Daniel John Bedingfield (born December 3, 1979) is a New Zealand born singer songwriter currently based in the UK. He is the brother of pop singer Natasha Bedingfield. ... GCAP may refer to: GCAP Campaign - The Global Call to Action Against Poverty is a global anti-poverty movement/coalition, considered by many to be the largest in the world GCap Media - British commercial radio company Grupo Capoeira Angola Pelourinho - Capoeira group by Mestre Moraes Government Contract Assistance Program - Oregon...

BRMB also promotes the Party in the Park concerts each year in Birmingham. These concerts attract a number of internationally-renowned artists, including, in 2004, Sugababes and Lionel Richie. This concert attracted crowds of approximately 30,000 fans. A concert comprises a performance, usually involving some degree of formality, and particularly a performance featuring music. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sugababes are a BRIT Award-winning English pop group trio from London. ... Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. ...

walkathon

BRMB also do a walkathon which raises money for Help a Local Child which is a charity that raises money for underprivileged and disadvantaged children in Birmingham and was originally 26 miles but because of the quantities of people dropping out it kept dropping. In the year of September 2007 it was only 11 miles and there were not many people that did it but BRMB still raised a lot of money for the charity. (For all the pictures of the day and for more info go to www.brmb.co.uk).

Breakfast presenter changes

In February 2007, Elliott Webb, the main anchor of the station's breakfast show was told his services were no longer required, with the station opting for a re-shuffle. Elliott had been with BRMB for 10 years, taking over the breakfast slot after Les Ross in 2002. Co-host Caroline Martin took over as main presenter from Elliott. Elliott's removal from the breakfast show caused widespread condemnation from fans and listeners.

The local newspaper, The Birmingham Evening Mail, published an article claiming Caroline Martin only got the job because she lives with the Programme Controller Adam Bridge. This led to an on-air rant about the article by Caroline one morning. She also rubbished reports that Elliott left due to them not seeing eye-to-eye. The Birmingham Evening Mail is one of the main newspapers for Birmingham, UK. It is a tabloid newspaper that often runs local campaigns. ...

On 14th February 2007, Adam Bridge decided he would reinstate Elliott as Breakfast Presenter, and Caroline and Elliott were once again reunited. It is rumoured on various media forums that the changes - and subsequent media controversy - was a deliberate ploy to get the station into the public eye.^[2]

For the first time since Global Radio launched the Galaxy radio network in the Birmingham area, Galaxy 102.2 has overtaken BRMB in listening figures.^{[citation needed]} Global Radio Group is a UK radio company. ... Galaxy 102. ...

The BRMB Breakfast show with Elliott and Caroline will see more changes. The Thousand Pound Minute feature got dropped on the morning of the show 11/4/08. Elliott announced that they were adding new features to the show. The Bong Game will return for breakfast only. This is the game where callers can pit their wits againt the cash clock and win big cash if they can hold their nerve and they dont get bonged out.This will start on the show 14/4/08 The name Big Brum Breakfast has also now been dropped.

Presenters

• Elliott Webb and Caroline Martin - BRMB Breakfast show
• Tammy Gooding - Mid-Morning Show
• Russ Morris - Lunchtime show and The Kickabout with Russ Morris
• Dan Morrissey - Drivetime
• Tim Denning - Evening show

• Chips - Overnight request show (weekdays)
• Jeremy Kyle - The Jeremy Kyle Show
• Tom Ross - Goalzone
• Gareth James - Weekend Breakfast
• Ed Nell - Weekend Afternoons and Holiday Cover
• Ryan Seacrest - The Entertainment Edge

Jeremy Kyle (born July 7, 1965 in Canning Town, London) is a British radio and television broadcaster, best known for his own daytime talk show on ITV, The Jeremy Kyle Show. ... Ryan John Seacrest (December 24, 1974) is an American television/radio host and television producer. ...

Notable past presenters

• Les Ross
• Tony Butler
• Ed Doolan
• Adrian Juste
• Stephen Rhodes
• Gordon Astley
• Phil Upton
• Steve Priestley
• Tim Shaw
• Tim Lichfield (Tiger Tim)
• Tom Binns
• Paul Bryant
• Carlos
• Myleene Klass
• Margherita Taylor
• Matt Brown

Birmingham born Les Ross always wanted to become a DJ so at the age of 11, he wrote to the general manager of Radio Luxembourg. ... This article is about the Birmingham-based radio journalist. ... Ed Doolan is a British radio presenter who fronts a show, beginning at 10:00 until 13:00 on BBC Radio WM. He started out in forces radio and moved to BRMB, then WM in 1982. ... Adrian Juste was a disk jockey who most famously presented a Saturday lunchtime show on BBC Radio 1. ... Stephen Rhodes is a weekday daytime presenter on BBC Three Counties Radio. ... Currently radio DJ for BBC Southern Counties Radio. ... Broadcaster Phil Upton(or Mr Birmingham as he is nicknamed) was born in Birmingham on 9 October 1966. ... Steve Priestley voiced an ITV programme on Saturdays called Movies, Games and Videos which reviewed games, movies and videos. ... Tim Shaw (January 15, 1975) is a British radio DJ and presenter of The Morning After on Kerrang! Radio which started October 1st 2007. ... Tim Charles Lichfield (July 24, 1981 - ?) is a radio presenter on Capital Radio, London, UK as well as Capital Disney. ... Tom Binns is a British writer, stand up comic and television and radio presenter. ... Paul Bryant is a British disc jockey. ... Carlos (born in 1961), is a long established British disc jockey based in the Midlands. ... Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is an English classical pianist, commercial model, television and radio presenter, and former member of the UK pop group HearSay. ... Margherita Taylor (born in Islington, London, England) is a british DJ and television presenter. ... Matt Brown (born Matthew Brown, on August 26, 1974 in Connecticut, USA, moved to Britain as a baby) is a British television presenter. ...

Official logos

Images courtesy BRMB Radio, BRMB FM, www.mds975.co.uk .

References

1. ^ Radio station fined over dry ice stunt - BBC News
2. ^ UK Radio Forums debate BRMB breakfast changes - UKonair.com

External links

• Official site
• www.MDS975's BRMB History & programme schedules & audio clips pages.
• www.mds975.co.uk - More radio interest & radio hobby pages.
• Langley Mill AM transmitter masts on MB21.
• Lichfield transmitter mast on MB21.
• Sutton Coldfield transmitter mast on MB21.