87.5 WMAR

[jvok]

Heard while driving through stoke-on-trent today, pretty sure its a pirate given ofcom don't license on 87.5. my guess is WMAR = west midlands alternative radio except theres nothing alternative about it

Tagline "neighborhood radio covering basford, may bank and etruria". Playlist was mostly oldies with a few "charts from the last 10 years" stuff thrown in. Nothing youd be shocked to hear on radio 2 or GHR. guessing they're trying to pass as a legit community station.

Very weak, didn't even cover stoke fully. Probably a 5w chinese rig from a lowish site. Seems to me like they could do a lot better with all the hills in the area or even one of the local blocks but guess thats not what they're going for with the neighborhood radio thing.

[jvok]

Also had a silent carrier breaking through randomly in different parts of town

[g33ky]

Been there for a while, very low powered. Has RDS last time I checked and sounded good, so I would imagine its a homemade rig.
I see silent carriers on 87.5/6/7 driving around regularly, mostly just in-car TXs.

[jvok]

I see silent carriers on 87.5/6/7 driving around regularly, mostly just in-car TXs.

Seen those too before but this was much more consistent, breaking through in places across the whole city. Figure it must be a reasonably powerful rig, at least a watt or so, not an itrip. Also when I drove back the same way it was still in the exact same places so doubt its anyones car.

[g33ky]

I see silent carriers on 87.5/6/7 driving around regularly, mostly just in-car TXs.

Seen those too before but this was much more consistent, breaking through in places across the whole city. Figure it must be a reasonably powerful rig, at least a watt or so, not an itrip. Also when I drove back the same way it was still in the exact same places so doubt its anyones car.

Interesting.
My theory is that they are Chinese rigs people use to extend an audio signal to their garden or whatever - Facebook and the like advertise them to people to buy without realizing what they are. I've seen some of them around, one in my home town always broadcasting Reggae but it barely goes past one street, and we have the nutter on 108 in Liverpool who always has horribly distorted conspiracy/talk radio on it. Both looked like Chinese rigs judging by the signal on the spectrum.

[radionortheast]

You can pass an rds through the 7w transmitters I have thought the input jack, you might be able to do it through the norofin/cze transmitters that people usually get, you have set the volume at 100% on your computer, have the pilot and rds level set to maximum, the level is fairly low, you can get the station name to decode, song titles take a long time, useful for in the bath.

[Matt]

I've heard WMAR a couple of times and I've really liked what I've heard. I caught them the first time on a Friday afternoon, probably Feb 2020. And I was passing through Stoke early one morning a while ago (maybe last November) and heard them. It sounds really quite professional, with a male presenter and a female doing the traffic and travel on the morning show.

[jvok]

No presenters when I heard it, just playlisted tracks and the odd jingle

[VeganGuy]

They're on at the moment (7:41am, 2 August 2023) and have been on all night. It's just middle of the road music with no DJ but an occasion jingle.

[VeganGuy]

Update: It's a few minutes before 8am and there's an announcer. He's given out the correct time and just announced that it's pouring down with rain outside. I'm in Fenton, which is a few miles from Basford, and it is indeed pouring down. And 9am : News. So it does seem to be live.

[Matt]

I've heard this a couple of times while passing through Stoke. It's a few years since I've been though, so it's nice to hear it's still on.

I first heard it on a Friday afternoon with a live presenter, with a professional style.

The second time I heard it was in the morning, during the breakfast show. Not only was there a live presenter (again, sounding good) but he handed over to someone else for travel (I think - could have been news or weather. Something like that).

[rpm007]

Slight change of name, and online only now
https://www.wyrleymusicradio.co.uk