Heart is a network of thirteen independent

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

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 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 ...

, while the other three are owned and operated under separate franchise agreements. The national version of the network is widely available on Global Player, Freeview,

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Everyone TV (itself owned by all of the four UK Public broadcasting, public service broadcasters, BBC, ...

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

and Digital One DAB. As of May 2025, Heart has officially surpassed BBC Radio 2 to became UK's biggest radio network with over 13.4 million weekly listeners actively listen to the Heart radio stations, with bigger growth on their dedicated themed stations such as Heart Musicals.

History

Launch

Heart began broadcasting in the West Midlands on 6 September 1994 as 100.7 Heart FM, becoming the UK's third Independent Regional Radio station, five days after Century Radio in North East England, and Jazz FM North West. The first song to be played on 100.7 Heart FM was '' Something Got Me Started'' by Simply Red. 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

" 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 the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

and

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

. Reflecting this, its early slogan was ''100.7 Degrees Cooler!'' Heart 106.2 began test transmissions in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in August 1995, prior to the station launch on 5 September. This included live broadcasts of WPLJ from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 1996 the station's original "soft AC" music format was replaced with a generally more neutral Hot AC playlist. Century 106 in the East Midlands became the third station of the Heart network in 2005 after GCap 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-station One Network, with one station (

Power FM Capital South Coast was a regional radio station owned by operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital (radio network), Capital radio network. It broadcast to Hampshire from studios in Segensworth, Fareham. In 2019, Capital South Coast was r ...

) becoming part of the

Galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

network, four stations ( BRMB, Beacon Radio, Mercia FM and

Wyvern FM Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, formerly Free Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Herefordshire and ...

) forming a West Midlands regional network, seven stations joining Capital FM to form The 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.

Network restructuring

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 new

OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

guidelines on local output requirements. Two Hit Music Network stations were also closed and merged with Heart stations. Stations in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, the West Midlands, the East Midlands and

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

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. The move saw Heart's networked programming replaced by local output from Nottingham.

Network expansion

On 19 March 2012, Global Radio announced it had bought the Cornwall ILR station Atlantic FM from joint owners Tindle Radio and Camel Media. Atlantic FM became part of the Heart Network and merged with Heart Devon on Monday 7 May 2012 to form Heart South West, which is based in Exeter. On 6 February 2014, Global Radio announced it would be rebranding all Real Radio stations as Heart and would be selling Real Radio Yorkshire and the Northern licence for Real Radio Wales to Communicorp. The Communicorp-owned stations use Heart's network programming and branding under a franchise agreement with Global. Global Radio extended the Heart network to the Real Radio network of regional stations from Tuesday 6 May 2014. The two stations based in Wrexham – Heart North West and Wales and Heart Cymru – became part of the Capital FM Network on the same date. On 20 November 2017, CN Group announced The Bay would be sold to

along with sister station Lakeland Radio – the sale was finalised by 1 December 2017. The Bay was rebranded as Heart, with Lakeland Radio becoming Smooth on 4 March 2018. Music from the

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

, 1970s & 1980s was removed from the original FM station after Christmas 2017.

Consolidation

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.Global to network Capital, Heart and Smooth breakfast shows
RadioToday, 26 February 2019 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. Localised news, traffic updates and advertising was retained across all licence areas. In April 2019, it was reported the local ''Heart Breakfast'' shows would be replaced by a national ''Heart Breakfast'' show from London on 3 June 2019, presented by

Jamie Theakston James Paul Theakston (born 21 December 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, narrator and actor. He has hosted television programmes for the BBC, ITV (TV network), ITV, Channel 4 and 5 (British TV channel), Channel 5. He co-present ...

and Amanda Holden. The merging stations ceased local output on 31 May 2019. In Hertfordshire, a further change saw Heart Hertfordshire, based in Watford, merged with BOB 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.

Heart Scotland re-introduces local programming

In April 2023, it was announced Heart 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.

The end of local and regional programming in England

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.

List of stations

Nations

As of 24 February 2025, Heart's nations studios are:

Spin-offs

As of 12 September 2024, Heart's spin-offs consist of ten stations, broadcast from Global's London headquarters:

Programming and presenters

Heart's network programming is produced and broadcast from the headquarters of

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

in central London. Most of the network's output is broadcast live, although some weekend shows are voicetracked. As of 21 June 2019, ''Heart's Club Classics'' is simulcast with sister station Heart Dance. '' The EE Official Big Top 40 From Global'' on Sunday afternoons is simulcast with Heart's sister network, Capital.

Networked presenters

Lineup for national feed (excluding public holiday): * Guy Howard, weekdays 1–4am * Lindsey Russell, weekdays 4–6:30am *

and Amanda Holden, weekdays 6:30–10am * Pandora Christie, weekdays 10am–1pm * Matt Wilkinson, weekdays 1–4pm * JK and Kelly Brook, weekdays 4–7pm * Dev Griffin, weekdays 7–10pm & Saturday 12–4pm * Ben Atkinson, weekdays 10pm–1am * Toby Anstis (Heart's Club Classics), Friday 7–11pm * Seb Bailey, weekends 1–6am * Rob Howard, weekends 6–9am * Mark Wright & Olly Murs, Saturday 9am–12pm * Vicky Pattison, Saturday 4–7pm * Rezzy Ghadjar, Friday & Saturday 11pm–1am * Zoe Hardman, Sunday 9am–12pm * Yasmin Evans, Sunday 12–4pm * Will Manning (for The Official Big Top 40), Sunday 4–7pm * Emma Bunton, Sunday 7–10pm * Anna Whitehouse, Sunday 10pm–1am Heart Decades Breakfast: * Carlos, Heart 70s * Simon Beale, Heart 80s * Kevin Hughes, Heart 90s * Fia Tarrant, Heart 00s * Adam O' Neill, Heart 10s * Toby Anstis, Heart Dance

Former presenters

* Sian Welby (now at Capital) * Jenni Falconer (now at '' Smooth London)'' * Ellie Taylor * Rochelle Humes * Jason Donovan * Stephen Mulhern and Emma Willis * Neil 'Roberto' Williams (now occasional cover Smooth Radio) * Margherita Taylor (Now at '' Classic FM'' & '' Smooth Radio)'' * Harriet Scott (now at Magic) * Lilah Parsons * Annaliese Dayes

News

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.

Network presentation

As of 2014, the network uses jingles and themes produced by ReelWorld Europe, based in Salford. Previously, Heart used a jingle package, composed by the Seattle-based music production company IQ Beats.

Criticisms

In August 2010, listeners in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

and Crawley, West Sussex, complained about the merger of Heart stations and called for a boycott of the station. Some listeners have complained about what they regard as the repetitive nature of Heart's playlist. A public complaint to the regulator

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

in 2012 that the "More Music Variety" slogan was materially misleading was not pursued as Ofcom deemed that it did not warrant further investigation. Ofcom stated that "We did not consider listeners were materially misled by this slogan." 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 by

Networked slogans

* 1994-1996: "100.7 degrees cooler" (West Midlands) * 1995–1996: "106.2 degrees cooler" (London) * 1996–2017: "More Music Variety" * 2006–2009: "Feel Good Music" * 2017–present: "Turn Up the Feel Good!" * 2017–2019 Heart Breakfast slogan: " ity/regions favourite Breakfast Show"

References

External links

{{Authority control

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 ...

Adult contemporary radio stations Global Radio