As we head into another season of sport, BBC Radio Wales Editor Colin Paterson blogs about the station’s sports output. 4u1j3i

BBC Radio Wales is a proud er of Welsh sport. As the national radio station for Wales, we want to ensure that we prioritise the moments involving our national teams and beyond.

We cover the whole of Wales and deliver a wide range of content – news, current affairs, politics, sport, music, entertainment, factual and drama. The challenge is to do this in a way which brings the radio station together in a cohesive way. While the future of digital technology provides huge opportunities in how we deliver our content there is a debate about the future of traditional methods of transmission, which are likely to change or even be phased out altogether. As Editor, my job is to think about the future of how we deliver our programmes.

In recent years, we’ve broadcast a weekday evening programme - Radio Wales Sport. We’re going to bring this programme to an end and put our resources into key sports programmes during the week. For Swansea and Cardiff, commentary for every game will be available on FM/digital radio in the south west and south east respectively. Some Swansea and Cardiff games will be available across Wales, rights restrictions allowing. For Wrexham, every game will be available via the BBC Sport Wales website, and on FM/digital for key games. For Newport, we will provide match updates and will broadcast key games in the south east on FM/digital radio. Due to league restrictions, the online commentary rights for Newport are not available to us, but it is a conversation we continue to pursue. We believe this move towards delivering commentary online reflects the future of sports broadcasting, and also allows us to provide a more consistent offering on BBC Radio Wales.

Janice Long will continue to present her music-driven programme, live from Wrexham, between 7pm and 10pm, Monday to Thursday. On Friday, The Friday Night Social will continue between 7pm and 10pm, providing in-depth coverage, a round-up of the week, a preview of the weekend and key football and rugby commentaries. On a Saturday afternoon, BBC Radio Wales sport continues with live sports updates and commentaries from around Wales. Furthermore, the very popular Call Rob Phillips returns for the new season.

Breaking sports news and sports journalism continues in Good Morning Wales and our sports bulletins across the day. In addition, in-depth sports news and analysis is available on the BBC Sport Wales website.

As well as the sport you can hear on the radio, we will begin the new season with three Welsh sport podcasts: Scrum V (rugby), BBC Radio Wales Football (football coverage from all leagues across Wales) and The Friday Night Social (a shortened version of the Friday night programme). We also have more ideas for future on air and podcast programmes – watch this space.

OK I it it - I actually thought we'd have had the bash to celebrate Wales' qualification to next summer's Euro 2016 finals, in .

Let's be honest, many a Welsh fan who watched or listened to the home qualifier with Israel at the Cardiff City Stadium last month were ready to party.

It was understandable since Wales' last major finals appearance was at the World Cup in 1958.

Just one problem. Wales didn't get the win they needed. They drew 0-0.

Of course, that night we also had the hope Cyprus would hold Belgium to secure our qualification.

Typically, Cyprus were four minutes away from securing the result Wales wanted, before Belgium's Eden Hazard scored their winning goal to ensure the Welsh wait continued.

The only redeeming feature for me was the fact I watched the closing minutes of that Cyprus-Belgium game on a special Alan Thompson Show on Radio Wales. Mal Pope and the one and only Beverley Humphries also on hand. Quite an experience!

Imagine what the singing would have been like if we'd won!

Still, after 57 years of waiting to qualify for the finals of a major tournament - another few weeks won't matter.

And let's be fair - at the start of this campaign, who would have thought Wales would be top of Group B and just one point away from qualifying with two games to go?

That's the reality. Wales have two games left to secure the most important point in their history.

On Saturday night, Chris Coleman's men take on Bosnia Herzegovina in Zenica before returning home to play world football minnows Andorra, at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday.

Of course, both games and THE best build-up will be on BBC Radio Wales, not forgetting the sports phone-in CallRob after each match when you can air your views on 03700-100-110, by texting 8-10-12 or tweeting @bbcradiowales.

It looks like a Super Saturday for Welsh sport - with Wales' rugby World Cup clash against Australia at (KO 4.45pm) ahead of the Euro 2016 encounter (KO 7.45pm).

So, for Wales to do it under their own steam, they need a point. Actually, they may not even need a point if Israel fail to win both of their remainng games - at home to Cyprus on Saturday evening and away to Belgium on the night Wales play Andorra.

But as Wales manager Chris Coleman said: ''We want to take care of our own business.''

Wales have never beaten Bosnia. The best result was a 2-2 draw 12 years ago when John Hartson and Rob Earnshaw scored.

But Bosnia, who were top seeds for this group when the original draw was made, have disappointed in this section.

And they are set to be without two of their best players Everton's Mohammed Besic - who is suspended - and former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko, who is doubtful with injury.

In contrast, the Wales squad looks as healthy as its been for some time with Joe Allen and Joe Ledley fit again and, best of all, Gareth Bale looking fine..

Coleman is predicting a ''bit of a tear up'' in Zenica because Bosnia have to win to keep alive their slim hopes of securing third place in Group B - and a spot in the Euro 2016 play-offs, which could yet earn them a berth in .

But Wales travel in confidence these days and will be desperate to remain unbeaten in the group.

Coleman itted to being ''flat'' for a few days after the Israel game - which goes to show he feels exactly the same emotions as we ers!!

That is part of the Coleman appeal. He's just like you and me. He wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to pride in his country. That shines through from his players, who he has moulded into a very tight group.

They have the chance to make a dream come true. And, if it does not happen in Bosnia, then Wales have the ultimate insurance against Andorra.

The tiny European mountain top Principality are ranked 205th in football's world rankings - out of 209. They are just behind Somalia and a place in front of Djibouti.

They have only won one competitive game in their history. Frankly, it looks as close to a home banker as you can get.

This time I'm sure there will be no let down.

If its not Saturday, it will be Tuesday. Prepare to party!

“We can call it ‘Gareth Charles – The Musical’!”
Those were the words of Steve Austins, Editor Radio Wales in April this year. They made as much sense to me then as they’re probably making to you right now but let me try and explain.
Every year, BBC Radio Wales gets the chance to work closely with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. It’s always an exciting opportunity. Previous projects have seen the radio station take over the orchestra for a day and last year we put on a special concert with Mike Peters, front man of rock group The Alarm, who performed to orchestral arrangements of some of the band’s classic hits.

This time around we decided that it would be good to do something around the time of the Rugby World Cup, particularly the England/Wales match which is always a popular fixture with our audience.
We talked about trying to recreate the atmosphere of the last time Wales beat England in a spectacular 30-3 drubbing that clinched the Six Nations Championship for Wales in 2013, snatching the Grand Slam from England in the process. The atmosphere in the Millennium Stadium that day was exciting, intense and emotional, resulting in a particularly memorable and ionate commentary from our chief rugby correspondent Gareth Charles. Steve suggested setting some of those clips to music which would be performed by the orchestra.

I was tasked with developing ‘Gareth Charles – The Musical’ further.

It soon became apparent that just playing some radio commentary whilst an orchestra performed probably wouldn’t be the most scintillating thing for an audience to sit through. I started looking into using the TV pictures from that day too.

The piece also needed a narrator to tell the story of that day and I decided that Eddie Butler, former captain of Wales, eminent broadcaster and journalist, would be ideal to write the script.
Calling on the distant memories of my music degree I collated a list of suitably epic (and accessible) classical music that included Wagner’s ‘Ride Of the Valkyries’ and Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. I collected a few choice phrases that had been penned by Eddie for some of his newspaper articles and recorded them in a rough approximation (certainly NOT an impersonation!) of his voice to demonstrate how the finished piece might sound with a mixture of music, commentary and narration.

It sounded great. The only problem now was that Eddie knew nothing about the project – yet. It took less than 3 minutes to sell the idea to him and he seemed genuinely excited to be involved.
Next we needed a film to show the audience who would be attending the event. I wanted it to have the same glossy, high production values which are associated with our Sport department’s output and I was allocated Chris Howells, one of their producers, who also had a musical background.

Over the next few weeks Chris worked with Eddie and put together a 20 minute film that didn’t just tell the story of that historic day, it also investigated the historic rivalry between the two teams.
Musical scores were hired by the orchestra and additional players were drafted in – apparently some of the pieces required a larger orchestra than normal!

We released tickets to the performance and they sold out almost straight away. I found my days starting to be taken up with discussions about big screens, lighting rigs, set dressing, and a host of other things you wouldn’t normally come across in an average radio production. In addition to this, Radio Wales’ digital team were filming the event for our website. They had 6 cameras set up that they were going to edit into a visual spectacular to accompany the radio programme.

By now this project, that had started as such a simple proposition, had grown into one of the most complicated projects I’d ever produced. We basically had a live orchestra trying to play along to a film that required them to hit certain points at specific times. In addition to this we had a live narrator who also had to hit certain points without crashing into excerpts of commentary that were on the film.

This made things particularly difficult for the guest conductor on the day, Kenneth Woods. If the orchestra played too fast or too slow they would be out of sync with the film. In the end, we had to give him an audio feed of the original guide track of music that we’d used to edit the film. He had this fed to his headphones and then had to keep the orchestra performing live at the same speed as the recording on the video tape – a musical equivalent of rubbing your head whilst patting your stomach!

Performance day arrived and I had a last minute crisis of confidence. Suddenly, on paper, the whole project seemed absolutely ridiculous and impossible! A further issue that came to light during rehearsals was the volume of the orchestra in relation to Eddie’s narration and Gareth’s commentary clips. Parts of Holst’s ‘Mars’ require the orchestra playing at full blast and they were in danger of drowning everything else out.

I needn’t have worried. I had a fantastic technical team with me who dealt with every issue that arose and after only two full run-throughs of the film we were ready to go.

The audience arrived, dressed in rugby regalia as we’d requested. The majority wore rugby shirts but there were also a few daffodil heads and face-painted dragons. People were treating this like a proper rugby match!

The first half of the evening was a straight forward concert. The orchestra played ‘musical representations’ of some of the countries Wales might meet on their way to the Rugby World Cup Final and then it was time for the main piece.

In the control room we had a collection of producers and engineers, each one controlling and cueing different parts of the production. The orchestra started the first bars of Vaughan Williams ‘Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis’ and we were up and running.

The recording went without a hitch. Eddie and the orchestra were faultless. The audience behaved like they were at a rugby match, singing along with the National Anthem and cheering and clapping whenever a try or kick went over even chanting ‘Wales, Wales, Wales’ at one point.

I spoke to several of the audience afterwards but for me the show’s success was summed up by one older gent who told me that he’d never been to a rugby match before but now, having attended this, felt like he had. Job done!

You can hear Eddie Butler’s World Cup Warm Up at 9pm on Friday 25th September, and 1pm/6.40pm on Saturday 26th September on BBC Radio Wales and for 30 days after broadcast on BBC iPlayer Radio.

The film of the event is an iPlayer Exclusive which can be viewed on BBC iPlayer until Friday 2nd October.

Working on Good Morning Wales has got to be one of the best jobs in Welsh broadcasting. Where else would your job description read: find a host of interesting, relevant, important and intriguing stories, then tell them in the most engaging and creative way you can. 

Oh and you’ve got a blank, three-hour canvas every single day with which to play around. What an opportunity.

Of course, with the opportunity come demands and responsibilities. Good Morning is a demanding programme to work on. It’s a 24 hour operation. As one programme is coming off-air, work on the next one is beginning. And of course, work on some stories will have started long before that.

A programme which starts at 6am means that while most of the nation is sleeping soundly, producers, researchers and presenters will be fine-tuning items, refining scripts, chasing new guests and stories or looking for fresh audio.

A couple of days later those same producers and researchers could well be burning the midnight oil until 3am on the so-called late shift. If you work on Good Morning Wales, sleeping at strange times of the day and getting up at ludicrous times of the night, becomes something of an art form!

We set ourselves high standards on Good Morning. It should set the agenda for the news in Wales. It should hold public figures to . It should delve into the guts of stories with intelligence and rigour. But it should also be quick-witted, entertaining and mischievous. That’s a tricky balancing act to get right every morning.

It’s an incredibly exciting time to be working on the programme. We’ve got a talented new presenter line up in Louise Elliott and Oliver Hides, lots of ideas for covering key Welsh moments and new plans for some agenda-setting journalism.

And of course, we’re already thinking about next year’s Assembly elections. The challenge will be to cover it in a way that people find relevant, engaging and informative. It will be a challenge but I also hope it will be fun.

If you need an antidote to politics at the moment, then we’ve got a few options for you. Firstly, a real feast of comedy to come this weekend. It’s the sixth annual Machynlleth Comedy Festival and BBC Radio Wales, as ever, is there in force.

It all starts on Thursday with the recording of The Leak – the last in this current series. Tickets are still available if you want to Tom Price and the team. It’ll be on Radio Wales, Friday at 6.30

Rhod Gilbert is live with some special guests on Saturday morning from 11. The show 'sold out' in three minutes! Later that day, Mike Bubbins will be ed by comedians Robin Ince, Stewart Laws and Anglesey's Kiri Pritchard-McLean for our annual Machynlleth Stand-Up Showcase (transmitted 15th May).

Finally, on Sunday, Elis James and his team record the first of their follow ups to the Pantheon of Heroes series – Elis James’ Guide to... You’ll be able to hear the series later in the year.

And if that wasn't enough, on Saturday night, Bennett Arron is doing a stand-up gig at Chapter in Cardiff which will form the backbone of a two part Radio Wales series broadcast later this summer. Free tickets to the recording are available.

However, if you're looking for something a little more understated, can I point you in the direction of Beverley Humphreys' interview with operatic tenor, Noah Stewart. Listen if, for no other reason, than to find out what he sings in the shower!

While you’re on iPlayer Radio, catch up with the Radio 2 Folk Awards too. It really was an incredible night at the Millennium Centre.

Meanwhile, if you're a political nerd like me, there is also much to gorge on from the General Election front this week. The BBC Election Tour continues and is sounding great. After Connah's Quay on Monday, Good Morning Wales and Good Evening Wales are live on Llandudno promenade on Wednesday. And both programmes, along with Morning Call and Wynne Evans, are live from Cardiff's Churchill Way on Friday.

Talking of Cardiff, Jamie Owen's been following the hotly contested campaign for Cardiff Central through the eyes of those who live and work on one of the most cosmopolitan streets in the capital, City Road.
Hear Vote for Me, every morning this week at 11.40.

On Friday, it’s the BBC Wales Leaders Debate and it’s simulcast on BBC One Wales and BBC Radio Wales. Huw Edwards quizzes the politicians at 8.30pm, then Felicity Evans takes your calls between 9.30 and 10.30. Some of the key figures from each of the parties will be also be debating in a special edition of Good Morning Wales on Bank Holiday Monday morning.

Elsewhere this week The School – an eight piece band from Cardiff – are the Radio Wales Artist of the Week. You can hear their new song, All I Want From You Is Everything, across the station this week.

Finally, a real legend of the folk world with Lynn Bowles on Sunday. The one and only Ralph McTell is her guest at 2pm. her then.

Have a great week and Bank Holiday weekend.
Steve

BBC Radio Wales is taking politics on the road for our 2015 election coverage with a tour of six key Welsh constituencies between Monday 20th April, and Friday 1st May.

Full dates and locations of the tour are as follows:

• Monday 20 April - King's Square, Barry
• Wednesday 22 April - Guildhall Square, Carmarthen
• Friday 24 April - The Square, Tregaron
• Monday 27 April - Coleg Cambria, Connah's Quay
• Wednesday 29 April - Llandudno Promenade
• Friday 1 May - Churchill Way, Cardiff

We'll update this page with the latest details of the tour and for the latest news on Welsh politics, visit the BBC Wales Politics site.

Llandudno

We want to hear about the issues which matter to you when deciding who you will vote for. If you or anyone you know are interested in contributing to Good Morning Wales or Good Evening Wales live from Llandudno, please email [email protected] or come along on the day.

All aboard the battle bus as BBC Radio Wales heads out on an election tour for the final weeks of the campaign.

First stop, Barry where Good Morning Wales, Morning Call, and Good Evening Wales find out what the main issues for voters are in this iconic coastal town. Eleri Sion is there too, but it’s a guaranteed politics free zone between 1 and 4: she just fancies an ice cream!

The tour continues on Wednesday in Carmarthen and Tregaron on Friday where Wynne Evans’ Big Welsh Weekend s the party.

As those on the election tour prepare to clock up the miles, Welsh rugby superstar Shane Williams is tapering down ready to run the London Marathon next Sunday. He talks to Dot Davies through his preparations on Tuesday morning at 10. Dot’s in for Jason who’s covering the World Snooker in Sheffield.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, we’re live at the Radio 2 Folk Awards. Now in their 16th year, the awards are Radio 2's annual celebration of folk music's past, present and future. And this year, the awards are live at the Millennium Centre. Hosts Mark Radcliffe and Julie Fowlis will introduce performances by, amongst others, Yusuf / Cat Stevens (below), Loudon Wainwright III and our very own 9Bach. Radio Wales will broadcast the event live from 7, with a special after-show party presented by Cerys Matthews and Frank Hennessy at 10pm.

Just because you can’t have too many musical legends on one day, Eleri’s talking to The Proclaimers on her afternoon show earlier on Wednesday too. Meanwhile on Thursday, she’ll be ed by Swansea five piece Rag Foundation, who are the Radio Wales Artist of the Week with their new song, Run.

On Saturday, it’s Judgement Day III for the Welsh rugby regions, with back to back games at the Millennium Stadium. Blues versus Ospreys is live on Radio Wales Sport’s AM service at 2.30, with Dragons versus Scarlets following on at 16.45. There’ll be a chance for listeners to Call Rob and Rick from just after 7pm.

Finally, a special programme on Sunday at 12.30 - Quarry Boys: The Welsh at Gallipoli tells the relatively unknown story of the north Walian soldiers who fought the doomed Allied campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, one hundred years ago. It’s really well worth a listen.

Have a great week
Steve

Easter’s over which means the race for No. 10 is hotting up.

Jason Mohammad’s hour long phone-ins with the big hitters from the main parties continues this week, with Nathan Gill of UKIP taking listeners calls between 12 and 1 on Tuesday. Owen Smith of Labour follows on Wednesday, the Conservatives’ Stephen Crabb follows on Thursday, with Kirsty Williams of the Lib Dems rounding off the week on Friday. This is in addition to Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood last Thursday and Pippa Bartolotti of the Green Part last Friday. All are available to listen on Jason's programme page until after the election.

We’re expecting the Conservatives, Labour, the Lib Dems and UKIP to launch their manifestos this week. There will be full coverage across Good Morning Wales, Good Evening Wales and Morning Call.

Now, I'm not saying that politicians remind me of the Sheriff of Nottingham or indeed Severus Snape, but the one and only Alan Rickman was Eleri Sion’s special guest on Monday.

Also ing Eleri this week are Cardiff duo Zervas and Pepper, who are the Radio Wales Artist of the Week with their new song, Abstract Heart. They’re in session on Tuesday afternoon.

Fashion designer and son of Ebbw Vale, Jeff Banks is Aled Jones’ guest on Sunday. Also out to make Gwent proud this week are the Dragons, who are in the hunt for a European Challenge Cup Final slot. We’ve got live coverage of their Semi Final against Edinburgh in Friday night’s Radio Wales Sport.

Finally, a real treat on Thursday night at 6.30 with Vincent Kane interviewing Sir Harry Secombe as part of our series of Classic Meet for Lunch interviews.

Have a great week,
Steve

Let’s start with the rugby, and after that extraordinary win over Ireland, there’s a chance. It’s a small chance. But it’s a chance nonetheless. And we do like chances.

Someone else will know the maths better than me, but Wales need a thumping win away to Italy (and perhaps a snooker on the pink) in order to beat England and Ireland to the Six Nations Championship on Saturday. But that’s enough to get the nation worked into a lather before then.

The build-up gets into full flow on Thursday night’s Scrum V Radio. Wynne Evans will be live in Rome for the Big Welsh Weekend on Friday and Money for Nothing on Saturday morning.

Radio Wales Sport will have commentary of the game at the impossibly early time of 12.30 but with the Ireland game at 2.45 and the England game at 5, callers to Rob and Rick should have a good idea whether we’re on course to a likely victory or not.

Ahead of totally eclipsing the opposition in the Six Nations, there is the smaller astronomical matter of Friday morning’s solar eclipse. It takes places between 8.45 and 10.40 – with the moon nearest the middle of the sun at 9.30. You can follow everything on Good Morning Wales, Morning Call and Jason Mohammad, with Charlotte Dubenskij reporting live from Brecon Beacons.

This week sees the start of BBC Wales’ Real Valleys Season, which gets to the heart of life in the South Wales Valleys. Coverage on Radio Wales kicks off on Morning Call. Jason will have a Valleys edition of Quizbreak all week, with a big High Hopes Day, ahead of the sitcom’s return to our screens, next Monday.

A new week, but a second Radio Wales Artist of the Week in a row hoping to impress the music industry out in Austin, Texas. Horizons 12 band The People The Poet, like Paper Aeroplanes, perform at South by South West this week. Eleri Sion catches up with them on Thursday. You can hear their new single, Molly Drove Me Away, across the output all this week.

Wednesday is Budget Day. Jason has the speech and a of experts live at lunchtime. The Good Evening Wales team is live on College Green, outside the Houses of Parliament, from 4pm.

Finally on Thursday, it’s School Report Day. As well as coverage on Good Morning and Good Evening Wales, seven students from Cyfarthfa High School in Merthyr Tydfil co-present Jason Mohammad’s show, while pupils from Heolddu Comprehensive School, Bargoed and Ysgol Bro Morgannwg in Barry co-present our weather bulletins throughout the daytime. Move over Derek Brockway!

Have a great week,
Steve

It's a busy week starting with the build up to Red Nose Day and Jason Mohammad's got comedians lined up for a special week of Comic Relief Quizbreak featuring the likes of Jenny Collier, Lloyd Langford, Mike Bubbins and Chris Corcoran among the funny faces taking part.

On Friday’s Big Welsh Weekend at 1, Wynne Evans will be doing something funny for money with his face, at your request! He'll have a top face painter who'll make up his face however you want it as long as you donate to Comic Relief. He’s already been practising with a few facial exercises.

Earlier in the day, Jason will be hearing some of the inspiring stories from the winner of the 2015 "Welsh honours", the St David's Awards.

Whisper it, but Wales now have an outside chance of winning the Six Nations. To be honest, nobody thought we’d come back and win it at this stage in 2013, so I wouldn’t rule it out just yet. Mind you, it’s the mighty Irish next – and they like playing in Cardiff!

The game is live at 2.30 on Saturday’s Radio Wales Sport with a Call Rick & Rob Special at 5.30. In of big match build-up, Korkey’s back with his take on the tournament on both Friday night at 6.30, and then live from Cardiff city centre with Eggsy and Llinos Lee, Saturday at 11.

On Sunday, Wales’ women go for the Triple Crown at midday with updates on Radio Wales throughout the afternoon. And Cerys Matthews’ rather marvellous review of the 2005 Grand Slam Day gets a UK wide premiere on 5Live on Sunday night.

Elsewhere this week, a moment that really doesn’t need overhyping: Ahead of her forthcoming UK tour, the legend that is Lulu performs live on Eleri Sion's show on Tuesday afternoon.

Paper Aeroplanes return as the Radio Wales Artist of the Week. Pembrokeshire’s finest talk about their forthcoming trip to South by South West in Texas with Eleri Sion on Wednesday and perform their new song, Good Love Lives On

Have a great week.
Steve

As St David’s Day weekends go, it was a belter! And has really kicked the week off in style.

As well a rousing concert with Bryn Terfel at St David’s Hall, listeners to both Roy Noble and Radio 4’s Pick of the Week were treated to what we believe is the first recording of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau from, incredibly, 1899.

It is one of the gems from the archive at the National Library of Wales that we’re featuring throughout March. More Stories from the Stacks with Roy Noble on Sunday mornings at 9.30.

An excellent performance from Wales in means the planning starts now for the visit of Grand Slam chasing Ireland to Cardiff on the 14th of March. And a thumping semi-final win for Wrexham means a second FA Trophy Final for the Dragons in three years. Time for us to reclaim our regular spot on Wembley Way!

Talking of Wrexham, club legend Joey Jones turns 60 this week. BBC Radio Wales Sport pays tribute to the first Welshman to win the European Cup on Wednesday night. Also on the programme, Swansea – who almost certainly achieved Premier League safety on the weekend – take on Spurs on FM and DAB in the Swansea area. For the rest of Wales, a profile of the women in the boardroom of Wales’ sporting organisations. That will form part of our coverage of International Women’s Day which starts on Good Morning Wales.

The amazing Kizzy Crawford is the Radio Wales Artist of the Week and one of our Horizons 12. Kizzy was in session for Eleri Sion on Monday including a performance of her new song, Shout Out.

Finally, Newport’s Grant Nicholas has been in conversation with Alan Thompson about Feeder and the sad death of his friend and former drummer Jon Lee at the height of their fame, 13 years ago.

Have a great week.
Steve

St David's Day approaches and top of the bill, is Bryn Terfel. Bryn is the star guest in our St David’s Day Gala Concert this Sunday. The baritone s the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales and conductor, Gareth Jones, for an afternoon of Welsh favourites. Beverley Humphreys is your host, Sunday at 4pm. And hear Wynne Evans speak to the man that only he can lovingly refer to as "Brian Trifle" on Friday afternoon’s Big Welsh Weekend.

Earlier on St David’s Day, Simon Weston salutes the Welsh Guards as they celebrate their centenary (12.30); Catrin Finch is in with Lynn Bowles (2pm); meanwhile Mali Harries talks about the much awaited return of Hinterland with Roy Noble at 9.30.

One win, one defeat for Warren Gatland’s men in the Six Nations which mean’s Saturday night’s encounter in Paris against is must win for Wales. The game is live at 5pm, and there’s a chance to Call Rick O’Shea afterwards.

Two wins out of two for Wales’ women so far, including victory over world champions, England. We’ve got live commentary of their match with on Friday night’s Radio Wales Sport.

As the BBC’s Big Painting Challenge gets underway, Eleri Sion’s been getting in on the action. But after a 45 minute lesson, will she have what it takes to be an artist? See for yourself:

Finally, the Radio Wales Artist of the Week is Bangor’s Sam Parsons. You can hear All Night across the output this week and hear Sam in conversation with Eleri on Thursday.

Have a great week
Steve

I love working in a creative industry. Every day this job is about coming up with ideas and bringing ideas to life. But I often envy those who can go for a coffee with a pen and pencil and come up with an idea that can change our lives forever. And, all told, we Welsh are pretty good at that. We can claim the origins of mathematical signage (see Pembrokeshire’s Robert Recorde’s plus and equal signs below), the modern microphone and even beating the Wright Brothers to the first powered flight. On Thursday, we’re spending a day saluting these very people.

It’s called The Big Welsh Idea and it’s a day celebrating the best Welsh innovations and understanding the creative state of the nation today. This is what’s planned:

• 9am - On Morning Call, Oliver Hides asks what you would like to see invented.
• 11.30 - As part of Jason Mohammad, author and broadcaster Dan Anthony presents The Creative Mine; a documentary about The Patent Office (now the UK Intellectual Property Office), 25 years after its move to Newport.
• 12.00 - Jason poses The Big Welsh Idea Challenge - a Dragons Den style contest for teams of students from four Welsh universities, all pitching ideas to an expert .
• 1pm - Tom Price (sitting in for Eleri Sion) finds some of the weird and wonderful patents issued over the years
• 6.30 - Wales at Work debates the creative state of the nation and its future.
• Throughout the day, Dan Anthony presents a countdown of the Top 10 Big Welsh Ideas and there’ll be lots more online and on our social media.

Elsewhere this week, some big interviews on Jason Mohammad. The Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Owen Smith, took your calls on Monday. On Tuesday, it was the turn of UKIP’s MEP for Wales, Nathan Gill. And on Wednesday, the lines are open to the Director of BT in Wales, Ann Beynon.

As Eastenders turns 30, Pam St Clement – better known to millions as Pat Butcher – was Eleri Sion’s special guest on Monday along with Michela Chiappa who cooked up a feast on the show. The third part of her brilliant Welsh Italian Way is on Saturday at 1.30.

Cardiff indie five-piece, Fjords, are the Radio Wales Artist of the Week with their new song Cusco:

Fjords are live with Eleri on Wednesday afternoon.

Have a great week.
Steve

It's so fantastic to hear Louise Elliott back on the radio - a thought more than echoed by the scores of people who got in touch with Good Morning Wales on Friday morning. I'm grateful to everyone who went the extra mile to get the new format on air last week. It was a really strong start and I'm looking forward to the first full week of Lou and Ollie together this week. If you haven't seen it yet, have a look at the behind-the-scenes video of the build-up: 

As for the Six Nations, well, if we lost the game, we certainly won the build-up! Our re-living of Gareth Charles' commentary of the last try when Wales beat England in 2013 went down a storm on Friday with a video which proves that the best pictures are on the radio...

Elsewhere, our outside broadcasts opposite the Millennium Stadium were fun, and our programmes leading up to the Wales v England game were unique to BBC Radio Wales - Cerys Matthews' Grand Slam Day and the Radio Wales Sport hour with Sam Warburton's dad and brother to name but two. It was great to simulcast and with BBC Radio 5Live on Thursday night too.

So all eyes turn to Scotland and what looks like a tough make or break trip to Murrayfield for a championship chasing Wales side. The build-up starts straight after Jamie Owen's programme with Lynn Bowles and Chris Corcoran live from Edinburgh at 12.30. Radio Wales Sport is live with the match from 2pm. There's chance to Call Rick O'Shea straight after the match.

Jason Mohammad is featuring a special week of Couples Quizbreak at 11am each weekday as we build up to Valentine's Day on Saturday. I would imagine there will be a fair few contenders to be Owen Money's bride that day. They always get a call at 10.15 as part of Money for Nothing from 9.

Finally, best of luck to Felicity Evans and Mai Davies who become part of the Good Evening Wales presenter line-up this week. Felicity s Gareth Lewis on Mondays and Tuesdays, with Mai on Wednesdays to Fridays.

Have a great week,

Steve

We like a challenge. As if covering Wales’ Six Nations curtain-raiser against England wouldn't have kept us busy enough, we're currently working hard behind the scenes to launch the brand new Good Morning Wales this Friday too.

The trails have been made, the photos taken and the new jingles recorded. Friday will see Louise Elliott and Oliver Hides debut as Good Morning Wales' new five day a week presenter team, with the brilliant Felicity Evans and Mai Davies moving to Good Evening Wales.

And as well as changes in the way the programme sounds, you'll also notice some changes in the way we'll tell stories too. The new Good Morning Wales will find new ways to get to the bottom of those important but difficult to engage with stories. Particularly important with a General Election coming up.

We're excited. Tune in and tell us what you think.

2015 sees the tenth anniversary of Wales winning the Grand Slam for the first time since the 1970s. And the 2005 Slam gets much of our attention this week. It started, coincidentally, with an 11-9 victory over England at the Millennium Stadium. Two veterans of that game, Tom Shanklin and Hal Luscombe, guide us through every moment of that victory - right up to the winning penalty from Gavin "Silverboots" Henson - on Radio Wales Sport.

I'm sure there will be reflections on that game, as well as other great Six Nations encounters with the old enemy on Good Morning Wales all week, and on a special simulcast with 5 Live - presented by Matt Dawson and Dot Davies - on Thursday night's Radio Wales Sport.

And where were you when we beat Ireland to finally win that Grand Slam a decade ago? If you'd been waiting 27 years and thinking it might never happen again, you'd know. That's the subject of a special hour-long documentary on Friday at midday called Grand Slam Day. In it we’ll hear from the people on the pitch, in the bars, even those waiting for a break down truck to arrive as they listened to it on the radio. It's a hell of a tale.

So that's at midday. Between 1 and 7pm Wynne Evans, Good Evening Wales, and Chris Corcoran are all live from Westgate Street. Then we're live at the Millennium Stadium for live coverage of Wales versus England (build up starts at 7, the match at 8.05) with your chance to Call Rick O'Shea afterwards through til 11pm.

And you can sign our Happy Six Nations Day card. We're collecting good luck messages this week, before presenting the card to Warren Gatland's men on Thursday.

As the TV and radio promos say, the Six Nations is a time to get together. I hope you'll spend this tournament with us.

Elsewhere this week, we're delighted to welcome Merthyr born cook, Michela Chiappa to BBC Radio Wales. Michela starts her four part story of the Valleys' Welsh-Italian communities this Saturday by speaking to the Italians who arrived in the 1950s and asking why they fell in love with the place. Michela Chiappa's Welsh-Italian Way is on Saturday at 1.30.

Rhondda born Beth Goudie is the Radio Wales Artist of the Week this week. You can the new single, Jeanie, across the station. And Beth was in session with Eleri Sion on Wednesday.

Talking of sessions, if you haven't heard Wales' next big thing, Pretty Vicious, yet, then they were in session with Bethan Elfyn last Saturday. And if you know someone who will be hot on the heels of the Merthyr band, then now's the time to nominate them to become one of the next 12 acts championed by BBC Wales and Arts Council of Wales' Horizons scheme. Nominations close next Monday so best get your skates on and apply now.

Finally, the latest in Jason Mohammad’s Welsh leader interviews happens on Thursday at 12 with Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood taking your calls.

Happy Six Nations Week

Steve