Heart is a network of thirteen

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

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 Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

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 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

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 North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

, and Jazz FM North West. The first song to be played on 100.7 Heart FM was ''

Something Got Me Started "Something Got Me Started" is a song by British soul and pop band Simply Red, released in September 1991 by East West Records as the first single from their fourth album, ''Stars'' (1991). It was released in several forms: a 7-inch single, a 1 ...

'' by

Simply Red Simply Red are an English soul music, soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. Band leader, singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall was the only original member left by the time Simply Red initially disbanded in 2010. They have released thir ...

. 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 WPLJ (95.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, licensed to New York, New York. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), based in Franklin, Tennessee, it broadcasts EMF's Christian adult contemporary formatted p ...

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 The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

became the third station of the Heart network in 2005 after

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 ...

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 BRMB is a British radio station based in Aston, Birmingham, which is owned and operated by Murfin Music International. It broadcasts on 89.1FM in Aston and surrounding areas, on DAB throughout Birmingham, and online via the station's website a ...

Beacon Radio Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, formerly Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire, 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 Shropshir ...

, 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 Capital is a network of twelve independent contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the stations are owned and operated by Global, while the other two are owned and ope ...

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

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 Hits Radio East Midlands is an Independent Local Radio, Independent Regional Radio station based in Nottingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Midlands. As of Septe ...

', 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 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 ...

stations as Heart and would be selling Real Radio Yorkshire and the Northern licence for Real Radio Wales 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 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 File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 335px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Space Shuttle Columbia, Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist Party of ...

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 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 ...

. The merging stations ceased local output on 31 May 2019. In Hertfordshire, a further change saw

Heart Hertfordshire Heart Hertfordshire (previously known as ''Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6'') is an Independent Local Radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts across Hertfordshire. In 2005, it was ...

, based in Watford, merged with

BOB fm BOB FM is the on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in the United States and formerly in Canada. The BOB FM format mostly concentrates on album rock, alternative rock and pop hits from the 1980s and 1990s, especially those popular duri ...

– 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 Heart Dance is a national digital radio station (within the United Kingdom) owned and operated by Global as a spin-off from Heart. The station broadcasts from the Global studios at Leicester Square in London. Launched on 21 June 2019, Heart D ...

. '' The EE Official Big Top 40 From Global'' on Sunday afternoons is simulcast with Heart's sister network,

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 ...

Networked presenters

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

and

, 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 Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence after participating on the sixth series of the television talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2009, where he finished as runn ...

, Saturday 9am–12pm *

Vicky Pattison Victoria Pattison-Ramadan (born 16 November 1987) is a British television personality, media personality, radio presenter and author. She is best known for appearing in the MTV shows '' Geordie Shore'' from 2011 until 2014, '' Ex on the Beach ...

, 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 Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, media personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the Pop music, pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice, reflecting the ...

, 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

) * Jenni Falconer (now at ''

Smooth London Smooth London is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Smooth Radio network. It broadcasts to the Greater London area from Croydon transmitting station on 102.2 MHz. It broadcasts a soft adult contemporary radio ...

)'' *

Ellie Taylor Eleanor Jane Taylor is an English comedian, television personality, actress, and writer. After appearing as a contestant on '' Show Me the Funny'' in 2011, Taylor has appeared on numerous television shows, including '' 8 Out of 10 Cats'' (2011 ...

Rochelle Humes Rochelle Eulah Eileen Humes (née Wiseman; born 21 March 1989) is an English singer and television presenter. Humes began her career in the pop groups S Club Juniors and The Saturdays, and has gone on to co-present the ITV (TV channel), ITV ente ...

Jason Donovan Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 millio ...

Stephen Mulhern Stephen Daniel Mulhern (born 4 April 1977) is an English television presenter, entertainer, magician and comedian. He began his career at CITV presenting the children’s television shows '' Finger Tips'' (2001–2004) and '' Tricky TV'' (2005� ...

and

Emma Willis Emma Louise Willis (' Griffiths; born 18 March 1976) is an English broadcaster. She is known for her television and radio work with Channel 5, BBC, ITV and Heart FM.

* 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 Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...

, 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