Current Service Issues: None
7/1/2025 – TuneIn issue resolved.
4/1/2025 – We are currently liaising with TuneIn as they seem to have lost their records that we hold a valid PRS/PPL license, and have therefore delisted our service whilst we attempt to convince them that our official paperwork is bona fide! These licenses are required for broadcast of copyright music and sound material within the UK.
As a long standing terrestrial broadcaster licensed and regulated by Ofcom, this is quite frustrating!
This is causing some issues with smart devices that rely on their platform and directory. Until this is resolved, you can use our web player, or access our stream directly at https://ukwesta.streaming.broadcast.radio/whcr
For Alexa devices, you should add the Humber Wave Radio skill via your Alexa app. This bypasses TuneIn (and their adverts), and delivers our stream directly to your device. Further information can be found on the Amazon website
Our Studios and Technical Information
Humber Wave Radio broadcasts from custom built studios located adjacent to the Springhead Park Golf Course on Willerby Road in Hull.
We work hard to continually improve the quality of our transmissions, as well as the equipment that is available to our presenters and volunteers in our two main on-air studios.
Just like at home, radio has moved away from physical media such as tape, vinyl and CD’s to digital playout systems based on computers. At Humber Wave Radio we run the latest version of Myriad Playout which is written by Broadcast Radio based locally in Hessle, and one of the leading systems in use by radio stations in the UK. Myriad allows us to schedule our shows, including picking the music appropriate for each program and then plays this out live with a presenter, or fully automated, through the night for example. Myriad also allows our presenter to pre-record their voice links from either home or the studio, and to also broadcast live from anywhere in the world!SD
We have over 20,000 songs in our music library representing many musical genres and decades. From these, our secret algorithm chooses the area’s widest selection of great music from the 1960’s through to today. Many commercial stations have just 300-400 (or less) songs on their playlists, which consist of tried and tested songs that make up their sound. This is fine to fit a specific format, but it means you hear the same songs again and again if you are longer term radio listener. We believe in variety.
Our music library has evolved since we signed on air in 2007, and today is sourced from high quality uncompressed ‘WAV files’ – directly from CD or from one of the music services to which we subscribe. We are slowly replacing some of the older material sourced from compressed MP3’s with higher quality files to ensure we sound as best as we can.
We take care to ensure that our audio stays in the digital domain for as much as possible during its journey from playout to to your radio. In the studio we use Sonifex professional broadcast mixers and equipment, along with high quality studio microphones. To make sure that we sound great no matter where you listen to us, all of our output is processed through a specialist device that makes us sound punchy and bright, as well as making sure that everything has a consistent level. We process FM a little more than our digital platforms due to the nature of the technology.
Our FM transmissions are broadcast from the roof of Hull Royal Infirmary near to Hull City Centre at 100W erp, with mixed polarisation. Ofcom has dictated that our antenna system has to point West in order to ‘protect’ another station that broadcasts to the East of us. We have many listeners across the whole of the City and the wider area, and do not think that this restriction is fair or even relevant in the current radio market. But that is another story for another day.
Our DAB transmissions are carried on the HULL DAB digital multiplex, in which we are a shareholder. This also transmits from Hull Royal Infirmary using 380W erp power. Our audio gets from the studio to the transmitters over a secure internet based VPN link.
Finally, our online service is sent from the studio to our web host as a 192Kbps MP3 based stream. This powers all of our online services, such as listen again, the web player, Smart Speak apps, and third party services such as Tune In Radio.