Welsh radio

Broadcasting service based in Wales, producing programmes for Welsh and English speakers since 1935. Radio Cymru broadcasts in Welsh and Radio Wales in English.

Wales received the first BBC radio broadcasts in 1923. There was no Welsh-language programming, and the broadcasts favoured a ‘BBC English’ accent and standard English over local accents and dialects, although there was a BBC studio in Cardiff. The first Welsh-language broadcasts came in 1927 from Radio Éireann in the Irish Free State. In 1935 the BBC reacted to protests from Welsh language campaigners and began broadcasting in Welsh from their Bangor studio; in 1937 BBC Wales began broadcasting on its own frequency, but Welsh-speaking Radio Cymru did not follow until 1977.