Heart (Radio Network) - Network Restructuring

Network Restructuring

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to restructure the Heart Network. By the end of the restructuing process, the number of stations had been reduced from 33 to 18. Two Hit Music Network stations were also closed and merged with Heart stations.

  • The Peterborough and Cambridge stations merged to form Heart Cambridgeshire from Peterborough.
  • The Exeter, Torbay, Plymouth, South Devon and North Devon stations merged to form Heart Devon from Exeter.
  • The Norwich and Ipswich stations merged to form Heart East Anglia from Norwich.
  • The Chelmsford & Southend & Colchester stations and Ten 17 in Harlow merged to form Heart Essex from Chelmsford.
  • Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6 in St Albans rebranded and relaunched as Heart Hertfordshire.
  • The Northants, Milton Keynes, Dunstable and Bedford stations merged to form Heart Home Counties from Dunstable.
  • The North Wales Coast, Cheshire & North East Wales and Wirral stations merged to form Heart North West and Wales from Wrexham.
  • The Dorset & New Forest and Hampshire stations merged to form Heart South Coast from Fareham.
  • The Sussex station and Mercury FM from Crawley merged to form Heart Sussex and Surrey from Brighton.
  • The Berkshire and Oxfordshire stations merged to form Heart Thames Valley from Reading.
  • The Bristol, Somerset and Bath stations merged to form Heart West Country from Bristol.

Stations in Gloucestershire, Kent, London, the West Midlands, the East Midlands and Wiltshire 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 and which allowed it to use the Heart identity and carry networked programming from London. The move saw networked programming largely replaced by local shows.

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.

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