 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
Broadcast area | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Leicester Square, London |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Format | Hot adult contemporary |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Global |
| Coverage | |
| Stations | See list |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
Heart is a network of thirteenindependentadult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming, although only the stations in Scotland and Wales still have their own shows. Ten of the stations are owned and operated byGlobal, while the other three are owned and operated under separate franchise agreements. Thenational version of the network is widely available on Global Player,Freeview,Sky,Freesat,Virgin Media andDigital One DAB.
The Heart radio stations have a combined reach of 10.1 million listeners as of December 2024, making it the third most-popular radio network in the UK afterBBC Radio 2 andBBC Radio 4 and the biggest commercial radio brand in the UK. The total reach for all Heart-branded stations is over 13.3 million.[1]
Heart began broadcasting in theWest Midlands on 6 September 1994 as100.7 Heart FM, becoming the UK's thirdIndependent Regional Radio station, five days afterCentury Radio inNorth East England, andJazz FM North West.
The first song to be played on 100.7 Heart FM wasSomething Got Me Started bySimply Red. Its original format of "soft adult contemporary" music included artists such asLionel Richie andTina Turner. Reflecting this, its early slogan was100.7 Degrees Cooler!
Heart 106.2 began test transmissions inLondon in August 1995, prior to the station launch on 5 September. This included live broadcasts ofWPLJ fromNew York City.[2]
In 1996 the station's original "soft AC" music format was replaced with a generally more neutral Hot AC playlist.Century 106 in theEast Midlands became the third station of the Heart network in 2005 afterGCap Media sold Century. Chrysalis' radio holdings were sold to Global Radio in 2007.
When GCap Media was taken over by Global Radio in 2008, it announced plans to dissolve the 41-stationOne Network, with one station (Power FM) becoming part of theGalaxy network, four stations (BRMB,Beacon Radio,Mercia FM andWyvern FM) forming aWest Midlands regional network, seven stations joiningCapital FM to formThe Hit Music Network and the remaining 29 stations forming the Heart Network.
Heart East Midlands was sold to Orion Media, along with the West Midlands network of local stations, due to the same competition concerns that had forced its earlier sale to Chrysalis.
Between June and September 2010, Global Radio merged the majority of the 33 Heart stations to create a smaller network of 18 local and regional stations, in line with newOFCOM guidelines on local output requirements.[3][4] Two Hit Music Network stations were also closed and merged with Heart stations.
Stations inGloucestershire,Kent,London, theWest Midlands, theEast Midlands andWiltshire were unaffected by the changes.Heart Cymru, serving Gwynedd and Anglesey, moved its studios from Bangor to Wrexham but retained its extended local output of 10 hours on weekdays and 8 hours on Saturdays and Sundays.Heart North West and Wales retained an opt-out on 96.3FM (the North Wales Coast) for Welsh language programming.
On 1 January 2011, Orion Media, the owners of Heart East Midlands (one of the original three Heart stations) renamed and relaunched the station as 'Gem 106', ending a franchise agreement with Global Radio formed when Global purchased GCap – the agreement allowed Orion to use the Heart identity and carry networked programming from London.[5] The move saw Heart's networked programming replaced by local output from Nottingham.
On 19 March 2012, Global Radio announced it had bought the Cornwall ILR stationAtlantic FM from joint owners Tindle Radio and Camel Media.[6] Atlantic FM became part of the Heart Network and merged with Heart Devon on Monday 7 May 2012 to formHeart South West, which is based in Exeter.[7]
On 6 February 2014, Global Radio announced it would be rebranding allReal Radio stations as Heart and would be sellingReal Radio Yorkshire and the Northern licence forReal Radio Wales toCommunicorp. The Communicorp-owned stations use Heart's network programming and branding under a franchise agreement with Global.[8]
Global Radio extended the Heart network to the Real Radio network of regional stations from Tuesday 6 May 2014.[9] The two stations based in Wrexham –Heart North West and Wales andHeart Cymru – became part of theCapital FM Network on the same date.
On 20 November 2017, CN Group announcedThe Bay would be sold toGlobal along with sister stationLakeland Radio – the sale was finalised by 1 December 2017.[10] The Bay was rebranded as Heart, with Lakeland Radio becomingSmooth on 4 March 2018.[11]
Music from the1960s,1970s &1980s was removed from the original FM station after Christmas 2017.[citation needed]
In February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, it was announced Heart would replace its local breakfast and weekend shows with additional networked programming from London by the end of the year. This reduced total weekly hours of local programming on each station from 43 to 15 and led to dozens of job losses.[12]
Drivetime output were reduced from 23 localised shows to 10 programmes covering enlarged areas, formed from the merger of Heart stations. Ten studios producing local programming were closed.[12] Localised news, traffic updates and advertising was retained across all licence areas.[13]
In April 2019, it was reported the localHeart Breakfast shows would be replaced by a nationalHeart Breakfast show from London on 3 June 2019, presented byJamie Theakston andAmanda Holden.[14] The merging stations ceased local output on 31 May 2019.
In Hertfordshire, a further change sawHeart Hertfordshire, based in Watford, merged withBOB fm – following its acquisition by Communicorp – to form a single countywide service.
Stations in the North East of England, Wales, central and southern Scotland, the West Midlands and Yorkshire continue to serve their single licence areas as before.
| Merged station | Closed stations | City of licence |
|---|---|---|
| Heart East | Heart Cambridgeshire Heart East Anglia Heart Essex Heart Four Counties(studios retained) | Milton Keynes |
| Heart Hertfordshire | BOB fm Heart Hertfordshire(studios retained) | Watford |
| Heart North West | Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria Heart North West(studios retained) | Manchester |
| Heart South | Heart Kent Heart Solent(studios retained) Heart Sussex and Surrey Heart Thames Valley | Fareham |
| Heart West | Heart Gloucestershire Heart South West Heart West Country(studios retained) Heart Wiltshire | Bristol |
In April 2023, it was announcedHeart Scotland would reintroduce local breakfast, daytime and weekend programming from 2 May 2023, as part of a major expansion of Global's Scottish radio operations.[15][16]
Heart stations in England ended local and regional programming on 21 February 2025, but retaining local news bulletins and advertising. Scotland and Wales will retain their respective local programming.[17][18][19]
As of 24 February 2025, Heart's nations studios are:[20]
| Heart station | Studios |
|---|---|
| Heart East Heart Hertfordshire Heart London(HQ retained) Heart North East Heart North West Heart South Heart West Heart West Midlands Heart Yorkshire | London |
| Heart North Wales Heart South Wales(studios retained) | Cardiff Bay |
| Heart Scotland | Glasgow |
As of 12 September 2024, Heart's spin-offs consist of ten stations, broadcast from Global's London headquarters:
| Years | Heart station | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2019–present | Heart 70s | |
| 2017–present | Heart 80s | |
| 2019–present | Heart 90s | |
| 2022–present | Heart 00s | ReplacedCapital Xtra Reloaded on national DAB+. |
| 2024–present | Heart 10s | |
| 2019–present | Heart Dance | Weekend evening "Club Classics" programmes simulcast with Heart |
| 2024–present | Heart Love | |
| 2024–present | Heart Musicals | |
| 2016– | Heart UK | OriginallyHeart extra with automated daytime between 10am to 4pm Weekdays, relaunched 2020. Simulcasts Heart network programming |
| 2020– | Heart Xmas | usually available from September to January, however this varies each year |
Heart's network programming is produced and broadcast from the headquarters ofGlobal atLeicester Square in central London. Most of the network's output is broadcast live, although some weekend shows arevoicetracked.[21]
As of 21 June 2019,Heart's Club Classics is simulcast with sister stationHeart Dance.[22]The EE Official Big Top 40 From Global on Sunday afternoons is simulcast with Heart's sister network,Capital.
Source:[23]
Heart Decades Breakfast:
All Heart stations broadcast local news bulletins each day – updates air hourly from 5am to 7pm on weekdays and from 6am to 12pm at weekends, similar to how Capital broadcasts news updates.
In accordance with OFCOM speech requirements, some Heart stations produce separate localised bulletins. For example,Heart West produces bulletins for Bristol and Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall.
As of 2014, the network uses jingles and themes produced by ReelWorld Europe, based in Salford.[33]
Previously, Heart used a jingle package, composed by the Seattle-based music production company IQ Beats.[34]
In August 2010, listeners inBedfordshire andCrawley, West Sussex, complained about the merger of Heart stations and called for a boycott of the station.[35]
Some listeners have complained about what they regard as the repetitive nature of Heart's playlist. A public complaint to the regulatorOfcom in 2012 that the "More Music Variety" slogan was materially misleading was not pursued as Ofcom deemed that it did not warrant further investigation.[36] Ofcom stated that "We did not consider listeners were materially misled by this slogan."[37]
Further complaints were made to the station in 2019, largely regarding the merger of some Heart stations and the reduction in local programming, following the relaxation of local content guidelines byOFCOM.[38]
