The Sprout

Bye Bye, Red Dragon FM

Posted by Sam (Sub-Editor) from Cardiff - Published on 14/09/2010 at 12:57
4 comments » - Tagged as Culture, Music

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For almost twenty five years Red Dragon FM has broadcast to South Wales, but as of next year the name will disappear from the dial. The station, currently owned by Global Radio, is due to be renamed Capital Wales, as part of a rebranding exercise that is being rolled out across the UK, with Capital stations in distinctly un-Capital places (such as Leicester, Manchester, Glasgow).

While Global has frequently shuffled its stations around (they started and quickly gave up on XFM South Wales) and increased the number of syndicated shows (One DJ in London broadcasting to twenty or so “local” stations), it has always been assumed that the history and the strong cultural ties the name Red Dragon has with Cardiff made it untouchable. Which makes today’s announcement all the more surprising.

The station will play the same six songs on repeat, sorry continue with its “Hit Music Station” playlist policy, and continue to produce its own local Breakfast and Drive Time shows but everything else will come piped down from London, further erasing personality, uniqueness and individuality from local radio.

It’s remarkable if you think about, you wouldn’t think they could make Red Dragon FM any blander, but they’ve somehow managed to find a way. So, what do you think? Will you miss Red Dragon FM? Will you even notice? Comment below...

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4 Comments – Post a comment

liassic

Commented 20 months ago - 14th September 2010 - 14:03pm

So is that the end of the Red Dragon Centre as well then?
And they can't even rename it to the Capital Centre!

Biscuits

Commented 20 months ago - 14th September 2010 - 16:25pm

I doubt I will miss Red Dragon...it's up there in my list of most annoying radio stations!

Faymondo:)

Commented 20 months ago - 14th September 2010 - 17:29pm

Sherna, how could you!!!!! I listen to red-dragon every morning, and I'm sorry if that makes me sound boring or 'i-have-no-music-taste' but Red-dragon makes me laugh and cheers me up in mornings, so I can fogive a couple of adverts:P I guess 'Capital Wales' sounds okay, but it just makes everything more general and less personal:/ :)