Heart West Midlands is a regional

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

owned and operated by

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

as part of the

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as ca ...

network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands from studios in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

History

Heart began broadcasting to the West Midlands on Tuesday 6 September 1994, as 100.7 Heart FM, becoming the UK's third Independent Regional Radio station, five days after

Century Radio Century Radio, also known as ''Century 100'' and later ''Century FM'', was a short-lived national commercial radio station in the Republic of Ireland, broadcasting from 4 September 1989 to 19 November 1991. History Launch Launched at 8am on ...

in the North East and Jazz FM North West. The first song to be played on 100.7 Heart FM was '' Something Got Me Started'' by

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since t ...

. Its original format of "

soft adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

" music included artists such as

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recor ...

and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...

. Reflecting this, its early slogan described the station as being "100.7 degrees cooler". Its programming format was modified in 1996, a year after Chrysalis launched Heart 106.2 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The new format saw the "soft" AC music replaced with a generally more neutral Hot AC music playlist. This saw radio audience listening figures grow to equal that of local rival

BRMB Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has ...

, which had been the leading commercial radio station in the West Midlands. New presenters were brought in from other stations;

Daryl Denham Daryl Denham is a British disc jockey, radio presenter and songwriter. Early career Denham's career started at school, where he was active in producing pop music productions in school concerts, organizing pop quizzes and writing and performing p ...

arrived in 2000 from Hallam FM's breakfast show in a high-profile move, while

Ian Danter Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

and

Carlos Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

also arrived from

. One of Heart's most popular presenters,

Tushar Makwana Tushar Mulji Makwana (2 February 1967 – 12 February 2004) was a British radio personality of Indian descent. He was killed in a hit-and-run incident during a botched robbery attempt at his home in Birmingham, England. Early life The youngest o ...

, was killed in 2004 following a burglary at his home which left him injured on his doorstep. The station's staff paid tribute to the presenter on-air, and campaigned for the person(s) responsible to be brought to justice. The station's reception area at the former Broad Street studios included a photographic tribute and plaque. Following a corporate rebrand of the station, including a change of logo, the more contemporary look was soon reflected in the station's sound. The format was later described as more

Hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

and featured more music from the likes of

Natasha Bedingfield Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is a British singer and songwriter. Bedingfield released her debut album, '' Unwritten'', in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R&B music. It enjoyed intern ...

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After ...

and Keane as well as

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...

from the 1970s, branded as ''Club Classics''. During this relaunch, long-time presenters departed the station, such as

, and

Nick Piercey Nick Piercey (born 7 December 1960) is a broadcaster. Early career Nick Piercey started his broadcasting career on University Radio Stations in Bath in 1979 and 1980, and University of Kent from 1981 to 1984, before becoming a trainee at In ...

, to be replaced by younger presenters. 2005 saw the evacuation of its studios after

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...

alerted staff and other civilians following a bomb alert in Birmingham's Broad Street complex. The station continued to operate, initially relaying sister station

LBC News 1152 LBC News is a rolling news radio station based in the United Kingdom. It broadcasts in Greater London on AM and UK wide on DAB and online. History The 1152 AM frequency in London has a complicated history of format and ownership. Continuous ne ...

before transmission switched to the studios of Century 106 (now

Gem A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, an ...

) in Nottingham which broadcast reports from DNN journalists, who had to broadcast from a phone booth due to restrictions on the use of mobile phones. On 11 September 2006, new station idents and jingles were used for the first time, and saw the station referred to purely as 'Heart' rather than '100.7 Heart FM'. On 25 June 2007 it was announced that

along with its sister stations The Arrow,

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

and

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

were to be sold for £170 million to

from

Chrysalis Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrys ...

. On 28 April 2008, Heart West Midlands began simulcasting most of its programmes from Heart 106.2 in

. By 2010, local programming from

was reduced to seven hours on weekdays and four hours on Saturday and Sunday. In February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Global announced it would replace Heart West Midlands' local breakfast and weekend shows with networked programming from London. As of 3 June 2019, the station's local output consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside local news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.

Station information

The station was housed in 111 Broad Street - the same building as Global Radio-owned sister stations

Capital Birmingham Capital Birmingham is a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham from studios at Brindleyplace in Birmingham City Centre. In April 2019, Capital Birmingham was merg ...

and The Arrow. The Digital News Network (DNN) also broadcast from the building until it ceased transmission in August 2006, to be replaced by

, whose regional DAB service was fully rolled out on 1 September. In April 2013, Global moved its Birmingham operations from Broad Street to new studios at nearby Eleven

Brindleyplace Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...

- Heart shares its facilities with sister stations

and Smooth West Midlands. The FM signal - 11 kW ERP - is broadcast from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter, and is audible throughout a large part of the Midlands, including the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, L ...

towns of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

and parts of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. It can be heard with fairly decent audible quality in Kingswood, Bristol. This is because Kingswood is very high up meaning there is a clear line of sight between the north and Kingswood. The station is available on

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * '' Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dą ...

, thanks to eight transmitters throughout the West Midlands on the MXR 12A multiplex, with strong signals from

The Wrekin The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 4 ...

and Ilmington in south

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

Programming

All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including ''Heart Breakfast'', presented each weekday by Jamie Theakston and

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, media personality, and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition ''Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the ''Heart Brea ...

. Regional programming is produced and broadcast from Global's Birmingham studios from 4-7pm on weekdays,Public File - West Midlands
heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019 presented by Ed James and Gemma Hill.Heart Drivetime show presenters announced by Global
Radio Today, 20 May 2019

News

Global's Birmingham newsroom broadcasts hourly regional news bulletins from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and from 6am to 12pm at weekends. The newsroom also produces bulletins for sister stations

Capital Midlands Capital Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Birmingham, parts of the Black Country and the East Midlands from studios at Brindleyplace in Birmingham City Centre. ...

and Smooth West Midlands. National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times.

Notable former presenters

Former presenters on the station include

, Ted Elliott (voice over),

Sarah Jane Mee Sarah-Jane Mee (born 10 July 1978) is a Sky News presenter and the anchor of ''The Sarah-Jane Mee Show''. From October 2016 until October 2019, Mee anchored ''Sunrise''. Career After graduating from the University of Manchester, Mee joined Sky ...

and Joel Ross.

References

External links

Heart West Midlands

Sutton Coldfield transmitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heart Radio stations in Birmingham, West Midlands Radio stations established in 1994 West Midlands 1994 establishments in England