Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content on commercial radio, Heart East is permitted to share all programmes between ten licences located in theITV Anglia broadcast region.[1]
Previously, these licences broadcast separate stations:
The firstIndependent Local Radio station to launch in the region wasRadio Orwell in October 1975, broadcasting fromIpswich and servingSuffolk and northEssex. Orwell's owners,Suffolk Group Radio, went onto launch a separate station for west Suffolk, Saxon Radio, fromBury St Edmonds in November 1982. The two Suffolk stations were merged in 1992 to form SGR FM.
Hereward Radio began broadcasting fromPeterborough in July 1980, servingCambridgeshire, southLincolnshire and westNorfolk. From October 1984, Hereward began serving Northamptonshire, but due to financial difficulties, the station withdrew from the county and the IBA readvertised the licence separately.
Ten-17 began broadcasting fromHarlow in May 1993, serving eastHertfordshire and westEssex. Initially reliant on Essex FM for most of its output, it later expanded into a self-sustaining service. It was briefly known as Mercury 101.7 before reverting to Ten-17, after being brought by GWR.
SGR Colchester began broadcasting fromColchester in October 1993, providing a split opt-out service for the area from its sister station in Suffolk.
By the early 1990s, these stations fell into the ownership of four regional radio groups, namelyChiltern Radio Network, the Essex FM Group,East Anglian Radio andMid-Anglia Radio. Eventually, all four of these groups were brought by theGWR Group (later GCap Media), which was taken over by Global in 2008.
In 2009, nine of the stations were rebranded as part of the rollout of the Heart network across 29 local radio stations owned by Global. Hereward FM, Northants 96, Q103, Radio Broadland, Horizon Radio and SGR relaunched in January, followed by Essex FM in June. By this point, local programming had been reduced to ten hours on weekdays and four hours at weekends.
The exception was Ten-17, which was part of a separateHit Music Network, combining its local output from Harlow with networked programming from Nottingham.
During the summer of 2010, Global merged the ten stations in the east of England to four - with Ten-17 closing and joining the Heart network as a result:
Heart Cambridgeshire - formed from the Peterborough and Cambridgeshire stations, broadcasting from Cambridge
Heart East Anglia - formed from the Norfolk and Suffolk stations, broadcasting from Norwich
Heart Essex - formed from Ten-17 in Harlow and Heart's stations in Chelmsford & Southend and Colchester, broadcasting from Chelmsford
Heart Four Counties - formed from the Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes, Dunstable and Bedford stations, broadcasting from Dunstable
Local programming was further cut to seven hours on weekdays, although localised news bulletins, bumpers (ex. "Across Milton Keynes" was announced on 103.3, whilst similar bumpers were used on other transmitters), traffic updates and advertising continued to air as opt-outs. The Cambridgeshire and Four Counties stations latterly moved from Peterborough and Dunstable to Cambridge and Milton Keynes respectively.
On 26 February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Global announced it would merge the four Heart stations into one.[2]
As of June 2019, regional programming consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside localised opt-outs for news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.[3] Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London.
Global's studio centres inCambridge,Chelmsford andNorwich were closed, although local newsgathering and sales staff were retained.[2] Across the four stations, fifteen local presenters left the Heart network.[4]
As of 24 February 2025, all programming originates from Global's London headquarters, includingHeart Drive, presented each weekday byJK andKelly Brook.[5][6][7]
Cambridgeshire, East Anglia, Essex and the Four Counties receive localised news broadcasts hourly from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12 midday at weekends.[8]
