96.4 The Wave
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| City | Swansea |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area |
Swansea Llanelli Neath Port Talbot |
| Branding | 96.4 FM The Wave |
| Slogan | I love this station |
| Frequency | 96.4 MHz, DAB, Online |
| First air date | 30 September 1974 (as Swansea Sound) 30 September 1995 (as Sound Wave FM) |
| Format | Contemporary hit radio |
| Audience share | 12.1% (March 2012, [1]) |
| Owner | Wireless Group |
| Sister stations | Swansea Sound |
| Website | The Wave |
96.4 The Wave is a British independent local radio station that serves the Swansea, Llanelli, Neath and Port Talbot areas of South Wales. The station is owned by Wireless Group and mainly broadcasts chart and contemporary music, alongside news and local information, for an audience of under 40s.
Initially broadcasting as Swansea Sound, the station split into two separate services on 30 September 1995, creating a new music-led station called 96.4 Sound Wave on 96.4 FM, while Swansea Sound continued to broadcast on 1170 AM. The separate stations are based at studios in Gorseinon, from where Swansea Sound began broadcasting in September 1974. In 1998, the FM station changed its name to The Wave, due to some listeners having inexplicably referred to it as "Swansea Soundwave".
The Wave continued providing a local service to the Swansea area. In 2002, The Radio Authority announced plans for a Swansea DAB multiplex to form, allowing The Wave to broadcast on a digital platform under the format of contemporary hit radio. 2003 saw the station adding the South Wales' Hit Music tagline as their slogan as well as issuing out a highly popular competition called A Week On Wheels, which returned the following year as a promotion.
In January 2004, The Wave was officially launched on the new DAB multiplex. The Wave came under management of UTV Radio in 2005, when the company acquired The Wireless Group, the owner of the station in the early 2000s. The station had a tradition of organising Party in the Park in Singleton Park, Swansea for many years, but due to the financial cost, the event ended in 2006. Instead, The Wave began a partnership with Escape into the Park, a similar music event involving mostly contemporary dance music. In 2008, The Wave began using the marketing brand You Love It, We Play It which was processed by UTV Radio. A year later, the station switched to the Today's Best Mix strapline.
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