Our History

Xpress Radio is the official student radio provider of Cardiff University and Cardiff Students' Union, broadcasting from the Cardiff Student Media office on the third floor of the Students' Union.

We were founded in March 1996, however we were truly born out of a public health emergency; we can trace back to a meningitis outbreak which prompted the university to fund our station's FM license to keep students informed. Initially, we were only granted a Restrictive Service License (RSL), allowing just 28 days of broadcasting during the autumn term.

When Xpress Radio got granted their RSL on 106.2FM

When the station first went on air, it was exclusively broadcasted on 106.2FM across a five-mile radius from Cardiff, reaching 25,000 18-25 year olds on a 28 day pilot license, with further 28 day licenses granted every 3 months. By August 1998, Xpress Radio had already expanded to a full-time broadcast within the Students' Union, with the studio expanded on the fourth floor to have 'two adjoining studios, a production office, an engineering office and a station manager's office' with their broadcast now reaching a potential 450,000 people.

By the 2000s, Xpress Radio was also broadcasting online as well as to mobile WAP phones, eventually securing a permanent broadcast in the student cyber café within the Students' Union, and later, all across the SU building!

Xpress Radio's Studio One during the early 2000s