Engineering
Radio West’s Chief Engineer was Tim Lyons. As well as developing the award-nominated computer programme Datarama, Tim was responsible for maintaining the studios, which in the early 1980s had to be kept to very high IBA standards. Listen to any of the audio files to hear that beautiful uncompressed 1980s stereo sound!
The station had two on-air studios, a news booth and a commercial production studio. Thanks to Chris Napier for producing this map of downstairs at the Watershed! (Upstairs was mainly an open-plan office.)
Chris Napier also provided this picture of the main on-air studio.
In the 1980s, radio stations did not own their transmitters. They rented them from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, who were responsible for the maintenance. Radio West’s medium-wave transmitter was at Mangotsfield to the north-west of Bristol city centre, and the site was shared with Radio Bristol on 194 metres. Radio Bristol’s still there, and the transmitter on 238 metres (1260 kHz) now radiates Gold.
The FM (or VHF) transmitter was at Dundry, south of the city centre. This is a good site, but in the 1980s the power was relatively low, and it was rather difficult to get a good stereo signal on my Sharp car radio once I was beyond Frenchay or Stapleton in north Bristol. The frequency of 96.3 MHz was retained throughout the life of GWR, and the transmitter now radiates Heart to a grateful city. The hyperlinks go to Mike Brown’s excellent Transmitter Mast Gallery.
The TSA (Total Service Area) also included Bath and Weston-Super-Mare. Both areas received reasonable medium wave reception during the daytime, but FM was very patchy, especially in Bath. Over time, both areas would receive a relay on 103 MHz for GWR.