| BBC Radio Cornwall | |
| City: | Truro |
| Area: | Cornwall |
| Airdate: | 17 January 1983 |
| Frequency: | FM 95.2 MHz (East Cornwall) |
| Rds: | BBC CNWL |
| Format: | Local news, talk and music |
| Language: | English, Cornish |
| Former Frequencies: | 630 MW 657 MW |
| Owner: | BBC Local Radio, BBC South West |
| Licensing Authority: | Ofcom |
| Website: | BBC Radio Cornwall |
BBC Radio Cornwall is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cornwall.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Phoenix Wharf in Truro.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 80,000 listeners and a 10.0% share as of December 2023.[1]
Until 1983, local radio services for Cornwall had amounted to a regional weekday breakfast show Morning Sou'West, aired on BBC Radio 4's frequencies in Devon and Cornwall, plus five-minute regional bulletins on Saturday mornings and Mondays to Saturdays at lunchtime and teatime. There was no regional output of any kind on Sundays. The regional programming ended on 31 December 1982.
Just under three weeks later, on 17 January 1983, BBC Radio Cornwall and BBC Radio Devon launched, although for their first few year on air they shared an afternoon programme with BBC Radio Devon. Programming hours gradually expanded and now BBC Radio Cornwall broadcasts up to 16 hours a day of local programming.
BBC Radio Cornwall is broadcasts on 95.2 MHz for East Cornwall from the Caradon Hill transmitting station located on Bodmin Moor, 96.0 MHz on the Isles of Scilly and 103.9 MHz from Redruth transmitting station located on Lanner Hill for West Cornwall, as well as on DAB. It was also broadcast on 630 kHz and 657 kHz AM until 2 March 2020, when those transmitters were closed for cost savings.[2]
The station also broadcasts on Freeview TV channel 713 in the BBC South West region and streams online via BBC Sounds.
Local programming is produced and broadcast from the BBC's Truro studios from 6 am to 10 pm on weekdays, from 6 am to 6 pm on Saturdays and from 6 am to 2 pm on Sundays.
Daniel Pascoe's show (Saturdays 6 pm to 8 pm) and his BBC Introducing show (Saturdays 8 pm to 10 pm) are both broadcast to BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Somerset.
David White's Boogie Wonderland show used to be broadcast on Saturdays between 10 pm to 1 am and was also broadcast to stations in the BBC South West and BBC West regions. This programme, along with all other late night regional programming, ended on October 7, 2023 due the BBC cutbacks, and was replaced with an England-wide late show which broadcasts every night of the week.
Radio Cornwall is one of two radio stations to have broadcast programmes in the Cornish language. A five-minute news show, An Nowodhow, is broadcast every Sunday at 1.55pm.[3] [4]
When Radio Cornwall was first set up Cornish language content was limited to around 2 minutes per week. In 1987, a new weekly 15-minute-long bilingual show, Kroeder Kroghan, detailing Celtic cultural events taking place in Cornwall, was introduced.[5]