Heart South Wales is a regional radio station that broadcasts to

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

from studios in

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...

. The station is owned and operated by

Global 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 Chrysal ...

and forms part of the expanded

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 ...

radio network of stations.

Background

Real Radio

On 3 October 2000 the Real Radio brand was launched after GMG Group won its first broadcast licence, serving South and West Wales. Following an introduction by

Sir Tom Jones Sir Thomas Jones Woodward (born Thomas John Woodward; 7 June 1940) is a Welsh singer. His career began with a string of top 10 hits in the 1960s and he has since toured regularly, with appearances in Las Vegas from 1967 to 2011. His voice has b ...

, the station's founding managing director John Myers introduced the song "A Star is Born". In December 2008, GMG Group was awarded the corresponding North and Mid Wales licence. Following an agreed format change request with

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 ...

, the existing South and West Wales service was rolled out to the new coverage area. The station began broadcasting on its North and Mid Wales frequencies on 4 January 2011. Real Radio Wales was a music and speech station, playing an AC format of classic, contemporary and current music the past 25 years to the present day. The station also carried news bulletins every hour between the hours of 6am and 7pm weekdays and from 6am to 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays (including half-hour headlines at breakfast and drivetime) from Cardiff. Other bulletins were provided by

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

through IRN.

Heart

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

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 ...

. The former GMG stations, including Real Radio, continued to operate separately until a regulatory review was carried out. On 6 February 2014, Global Radio reached an agreement to sell the North Wales licence for Real Radio and seven other stations to

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 ...

. The South Wales licence remains under Global's ownership. Up until April 2014, the station was available across the UK on digital satellite TV ( Sky Digital channel 0146), taking up the slot following the closure of

Real Radio (Digital) Real Radio Digital was a DAB Digital Radio station operated by GMG Radio as part of their Real Radio network of stations. The station was designed to provide service over digital services in areas where Real was not available in a local form. Rea ...

, but was replaced by The Arrow. Under OFCOM rules, the sale required the all-Wales Real Radio station to be split into two with separate stations, launched under separate owners. Both stations were rebranded and relaunched as Heart South Wales and

Heart North and Mid Wales Heart North and Mid Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North and Mid Wales.Heart in North and Mid Wales. Separate local news and traffic bulletins for South Wales will continue.

Programming

All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including ''Heart Breakfast'', presented each weekday 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 Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent competition show '' Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the national ''H ...

. Programming for both of Wales' Heart stations is produced and broadcast from Global's Cardiff Bay studios from 4-7pm on weekdays,Public File - Wales
heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019 presented by Simon Jagger and Chris Wood.Heart Drivetime show presenters announced by Global
Radio Today, 20 May 2019

News

Global's Cardiff Bay newsroom broadcasts hourly regional news bulletins from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12pm at weekends with headlines on the half hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows. National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times. The Cardiff Bay newsroom also produces bulletins for

Capital South Wales Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, Global as part of the Capital (radio network), Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport, Wales, Newport and the ...

and

Capital North West and Wales Capital North West and North Wales is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cheshire, the Wirral Peninsula & North Wales. The station was previously part of the Heart radio net ...

and Capital Cymru.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Cardiff Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in Cardiff Radio stations in Wales Radio stations established in 2000