Timeline of the Heart Radio Network facts for kids

Heart is a popular radio network in the UK. It plays music for adults, often called "adult contemporary" or "Hot AC." This means it plays a mix of current hits and well-known songs from the past. Heart is a commercial radio network, which means it earns money from advertisements. It is run by a company called Global. This page shows important events in Heart's history.

The 1990s

1994

• September 6 – The first Heart radio station, 100.7 Heart FM, starts broadcasting. It plays soft adult contemporary music for the West Midlands area.

1995

• September 5 – Heart 106.2 launches in London. This station plays a "Hot AC" music style, which is a bit more upbeat.

1996

• 100.7 Heart FM changes its music style to "Hot AC" to match the London station.

The 2000s

2005

• August 29 – Heart 106 begins broadcasting in the East Midlands, replacing another station called Century 106.

2006

• Simon Beale starts hosting the late-night show during the week.

2007

• June 25 – The company Chrysalis Radio announces it will sell its three Heart stations to Global Radio. Global Radio buys them, along with other stations, for £170 million.

2008

• April 28 – Heart stations across the country start sharing some of their programmes. They begin broadcasting shows from Heart 106.2 in London during quieter times. This means there are fewer hours of local shows.

2009

• January 5 – Several radio stations, including Chiltern Radio and Hereward FM, are bought by Global Radio. They are then rebranded and become part of the Heart family.
• March 23 – Many more stations, such as Fox FM and GWR Bristol, are also rebranded to become Heart stations.
• May – A company called Orion Media buys Heart 106 in the East Midlands from Global Radio. They make a deal to keep using the Heart name and share some programmes from London.
• June 13 – Spice Girls singer Emma Bunton joins Heart. She starts hosting a show on Saturdays from 4pm to 7pm.
• June 22 – More stations, like Invicta FM and Southern FM, are rebranded as Heart stations.

The 2010s

2010

• June 21 – Global Radio announces big changes. They plan to reduce the number of local Heart stations from 33 to 15. The stations will still have their own local morning and afternoon shows, but most other programmes will come from London.
• June 30 – Heart Solent launches, combining the areas previously covered by Heart Hampshire and Heart Dorset & New Forest.
• July 2 –
  • Heart Cambridgeshire replaces Heart Peterborough and Heart Cambridge.
  • Heart North Wales and West launches. It combines several stations like Heart North Wales Coast and Heart Wirral.
• July 9 – Heart Thames Valley replaces Heart Oxfordshire and Heart Berkshire.
• July 16 –
  • Heart Four Counties launches, combining stations like Heart Northants and Heart Milton Keynes.
  • Heart West Country replaces Heart Bristol, Heart Bath and Heart Somerset.
• July 26 –
  • Mercury 96.6 in Hertfordshire becomes Heart Hertfordshire.
  • Heart Essex launches, combining Heart Essex (Chelmsford & Southend), Heart Colchester and Ten 17.
  • Heart Sussex and Surrey launches, replacing Heart Sussex and Mercury FM.
• August 27 – Heart Devon launches, combining several stations in Devon like Heart Exeter and Heart Torbay and Heart Plymouth.
• September 3 – Heart East Anglia launches, replacing Heart Norwich and Heart Ipswich.
• November 9 – Orion Media announces they will launch a new station called Gem 106 in the East Midlands. This means Heart 106 will stop broadcasting at the end of the year.

2011

• January 1 – Gem 106 officially replaces Heart East Midlands. This is the first Heart station to stop broadcasting.
• Jason Donovan joins Heart to host the Sunday morning show.

2012

• May 7 – Heart South West launches, replacing Atlantic FM.
• August 5 – Emma Willis and Stephen Mulhern start co-hosting the Sunday morning show.
• October 12 – Heart launches its own TV channel called Heart TV. You can watch it on Freesat and Sky.
• Roberto joins Heart to present the weekday evening show.

2013

• March 14 – Jenni Falconer joins to present the early Sunday show. She takes over from Jason Donovan, who leaves to perform in a musical.
• June 23 – Simon Beale hosts his last weeknight late show. He moves to the overnight show.
• Heart Digital stops broadcasting as most regional digital radio services close down.

2014

• January 20 – Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, finds that Global Radio did not provide enough local news and speech content for Heart South West in Cornwall.
• May 6 –
  • The Real Radio network of stations is rebranded and becomes part of Heart.
  • Heart North West and Wales and Heart Cymru are relaunched as Capital stations.

2015

• Jason Donovan returns to Heart to present a Sunday evening show playing 80s music.

2016

• February 29 – Heart Extra begins broadcasting.
• November 12 – December 27 – Heart Extra changes its name to Heart Extra Xmas for the Christmas period. This happens again in 2017 and 2018.

2017

• January 16 – Sian Welby takes over from Roberto as the host of the weekday evening show.
• February 14 – Heart changes its main slogan from "more music variety" to "turn up the feel good." The jingle "this is Heart" continues to be used.
• March 14 – Heart 80s begins broadcasting. It replaces Heart Extra on satellite TV.

2018

• January – Heart stops playing music from the 1970s and 1980s on its main FM stations. This is likely because its new sister stations, Heart 70s and Heart 80s, play that music.
• January 13–14 – Heart changes its weekend schedule. Lilah Parsons takes over the weekend late show. Rochelle Humes joins to present the Saturday afternoon show. Emma Bunton takes over the Sunday evening show from Jason Donovan.
• March 5 – The Bay radio station in Cumbria is relaunched as Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria. This happens after Global buys the station.
• July 5 – It is announced that Ellie Taylor and Anna Whitehouse will host a new talk show on Heart on Sunday nights.
• October 11 – After six years, Heart TV stops broadcasting.

2019

• February 26 – Global announces big changes for its radio networks, including Heart. They plan to replace local morning shows with one national morning show for the whole network. The number of local afternoon shows will also be reduced.
• April 8 – Pandora Christie joins Heart to present the mid-morning show. She also hosts Saturday Club Classics. Toby Anstis moves to the Friday evening Club Classics show.
• May 20 – Global confirms that about 70 local presenters will leave the Heart network. This is because local morning and weekend shows are ending.
• May 31 –
  • Ten Heart stations stop broadcasting local shows and merge into four larger stations in different parts of England. All local Heart Breakfast shows air their final programmes.
  • BOB fm stops broadcasting and merges with Heart Hertfordshire to form one station for the county.
• June 3 – The new national show, Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, launches. It replaces all the local morning shows. The number of local and regional afternoon shows is cut from 23 to ten.
• June 21 – A new Heart spin-off station, Heart Dance, launches. It plays dance music.
• August 28 – Global launches Heart 90s, a station playing music from the 1990s.
• August 30 – Global launches Heart 70s, a station playing music from the 1970s.

The 2020s

2020

• March 12 – Heart Extra stops broadcasting. It is replaced by a full-time national 'Heart UK' feed.

2021

• March 2 – Global Radio gets approval from Ofcom to stop broadcasting the Heart Nightly News programme on some stations. These stations used to be part of the Real Radio network and had to provide more news. However, Global argued that listeners did not want this extended news.

2022

• January – Heart's Club Classics show extends its hours, now finishing an hour later at 11pm.
• May 20 – Heart 00s launches. It broadcasts nationally and plays music from the 2000s.

2023

• May – Heart Scotland brings back its local morning and daytime shows. Des Clarke and Jennifer Reoch move to the new morning slot.
• May 15 – The company Boots signs a deal to sponsor Heart Breakfast until 2025.