Heart North West is a regional

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

owned and operated by

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

as part of the

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

network. It broadcasts to

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

Overview

Century Radio (1998–2009)

The station opened as Century Radio on 8 September 1998 as the second Century station in the country (the first being

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

-based

100-102 Century Radio Heart North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England. History Century Radio Century Radio was the first regional station for North East England and also wa ...

). Owned and operated by

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, the ...

, Century was founded by managing director John Myers, who had also established the

north east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

station four years earlier. Like the first station, Myers also presented the

breakfast show Breakfast television (Europe and Australia) or morning show (Canada and the United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it i ...

under the pseudonym John Morgan. The station's launch was the subject of an episode of a

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

fly-on-the-wall documentary ''

Trouble at the Top ''Trouble at the Top'' is a business-based BBC television fly on the wall documentary broadcast on BBC2. The series focussed on business failings or disputes between business people. Mainly the series depicted half-hour documentaries on large bu ...

,'' mainly following Myers. The episode, entitled "Degsy Rides Again", showed Myers' attempts to train lunchtime

phone-in In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio ( ...

host

Derek Hatton Derek Anthony Hatton (born 17 January 1948) is a British former politician, later a broadcaster, property developer and businessman. He gained national prominence as deputy leader of Liverpool City Council in the 1980s and was a member of the T ...

, a controversial local ex-politician who had never before presented on radio. Myers was not confident enough in Hatton for him to appear on pre-launch publicity, although his show "The Degsy Debate" performed well at the first

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR; ) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and Radiocentre. RAJAR's predecessor was c ...

. Also amongst its launch presenters was controversial

shock jock A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or ...

Scottie McClue Colin Lamont (born 20 June 1956), better known by his shock jock on-air radio persona of Scottie McClue, is a broadcaster and former newscaster. Career Lamont was educated at Greenock Academy, the University of Glasgow, the Royal Scottish Acade ...

. The documentary also covered the station's acquisition of exclusive commentary rights for

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. They compete in the Premier League, t ...

's games. They remained United's official radio partner for almost a decade until selling the rights to

Xfm Manchester XFM Manchester was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting alternative and indie music to Manchester in North West England. It built on the brand and format established by XFM London. The majority of programming was shared but some was p ...

for the 2007–08 season. Myers left the group to head

GMG Radio GMG Radio was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Radio, however pending regulatory review of the me ...

, overseeing the launch of the similar

Real Radio Real Radio was a network of five regional radio stations broadcasting to North East England, North West England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire. Each station broadcasts a mix of local and networked programming. On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the statio ...

brand.

Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...

bought the Century network, and was subsequently acquired by

GCap Media GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed on 9 May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index ...

. GMG Radio acquired the Century stations in October 2006, reuniting Myers and

John Simons John Simons (John Potts) is a British radio executive, former group programming director for GMG Radio now working as an International Radio Consultant, mainly in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Biography Simons began his career in 1979, ...

(programme director on the original Gateshead station) with the brand.

Real Radio (2009–2014)

Century was re-branded as

on Monday 30 March 2009. On 15 October 2012, Real Radio announced the station would increase its amount of networked programming. Weekday daytime shows, from 10am to 4pm and presented by Darren Parks and Debbie Mac, were networked across all Real Radio stations on Monday 5 November 2012 with further networked shows introduced at the weekend.

Heart (2014–)

On 25 June 2012 it was announced

(the owner of stations such as

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

and

) had bought

. The former GMG stations, including Real Radio, continued to operate separately as 'Real and Smooth Limited' until 1 April 2014. On 6 February 2014, Global announced it would be rebranding all Real Radio stations as Heart. Real Radio North West began a gradual transition to the Heart branding on 24 March 2014 and phased out the Real Radio branding on Sunday 20 April 2014. On 1 May 2014, local programming moved from Laser House in Salford to nearby Exchange Quay, sharing facilities with sister stations

Capital Manchester Capital Manchester was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. The station broadcast from their studios at Global's Manchester HQ in the XYZ Building in Spinningfields, Manchester. In Apri ...

and

XFM Manchester XFM Manchester was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting alternative and indie music to Manchester in North West England. It built on the brand and format established by XFM London. The majority of programming was shared but some was p ...

. The full relaunch as Heart North West took place at 6am on Tuesday 6 May 2014. On 12 June 2017, local programming moved from Salford to new studios at the XYZ building in the Spinningfields district of Manchester City Centre. Heart North West shares facilities with its sister station

Capital Manchester and Lancashire Capital Manchester and Lancashire is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and eastern & central parts of Lancashire from studios at the XYZ Building in Spinning ...

and two

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

-owned stations,

Smooth North West Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. History GMG Radio ...

and Radio X 90s.

Consolidation

On 26 February 2019, Global announced sister station Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria would close and merge with Heart North West.Global to network Capital, Heart and Smooth breakfast shows
RadioToday, 26 February 2019 On 3 June 2019, following further deregulation, local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London.Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast
Radio Today, 29 April 2019 Regional output was reduced to a three-hour drivetime show on weekdays,Heart Drivetime show presenters announced by Global
Radio Today, 20 May 2019 plus localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. All four of Heart North West's presenters, including breakfast presenters

Joel Ross Joel Ross may refer to: *Joel Ross (DJ) Joel Ross (born Joel Hogg 31 May 1977) is a British radio DJ and television presenter. He has worked with a co-host Jason King (Presenter), Jason King (known on-air as JK). He now presents ''The Hits Radi ...

and Lorna Bancroft and weekend presenter Faye Bamford, left the station.

End of regional programming

As of 24 February 2025 all programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including ''Heart Drive'', presented each weekday by JK and

Kelly Brook Kelly Brook (born Kelly Anne Parsons, 23 November 1979) is an English model, actress, and media personality. She began her career modelling for a range of advertising campaigns, which led to her discovery by the editorial team of the '' Daily ...

News

Global's Manchester hub broadcasts hourly localised news bulletins from 0600–1900 on weekdays and from 0600–1200 at weekends, with headlines on the half hour during breakfast and drivetime shows.Public File - North West
heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019 Separate bulletins are produced for the North West of England and the licence area previously served by Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria.Public File - North Lancashire & Cumbria
heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019

Notable former presenters

Wes Butters Wesley Paul Butters (born 4 May 1979) is a radio broadcaster, formerly of BBC Radio 1, and writer. Early life Butters attended Buile Hill High School in Pendleton, Salford, and studied at the University of Salford between 1995 and 1997, wh ...

(now at

Hits Radio Hits Radio is a network of 26 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. The network launched in 2018 with the rebranding of Bauer's Manchester station Key 103 and its merger with The Hi ...

) * Rob Charles *

Rich Clarke Richard "Rich" Clarke is an English radio presenter, podcast creator, host and DJ from Worcester, England. University Clarke attended Royal Holloway, University of London where he studied Geography. Whilst at university, Clarke’s love of Radi ...

(now at

Heart South Heart South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the south and south east of England. The station launched on 3 June 2019 as a result of a merger between four sister stations: H ...

) *

(now at Rock FM) *

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest is the host of '' Wheel of Fortune'', having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and ser ...

(continues at

On Air With Ryan Seacrest ''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday radio syndication, syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles contemporary hit radio, Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM a ...

) *

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa national cricket team, South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed Captain (cricket), captain of the So ...

(now at

Capital Liverpool Capital Liverpool is an Independent Local Radio station serving Liverpool, England. It is owned and operated by Global

) *

Kate Thornton Kate Thornton (born 7 February 1973) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known as the first presenter of ''The X Factor'' (2004–2006) and for presenting daytime shows including '' Loose Women'' (2009–2011) and '' This Morning'' (2 ...

(now at

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

)

References

External links

Heart North Lancashire & CumbriaHeart North West
{{Coord, 53.480543, N, 2.253398, W, region:GB-MAN, display=title Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom Mass media in Salford Radio stations in Lancashire Radio stations in Manchester Radio stations established in 1998 North West