Heart Wirral (formerly Wirral's Buzz) was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Wirral Peninsula, sharing its facilities with Heart Wrexham and Gold, in

Gwersyllt Gwersyllt () is an urban village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The densely populated village is one of Wrexham's largest and is situated in the north western suburbs of the city, bordering the nearby villages of Llay, Cefn-y ...

, Wrexham.

History

The station, owned by Global Radio (originally by Marcher Radio Group), broadcast a mix of popular music and presenter chat. Launched in 1989 as ''MFM 97.1'' (an opt-out service from the main Marcher Sound output), the station relaunched as ''Wirral's Buzz'' on 14 February 1999, before becoming ''Heart Wirral'' in 2009. The station was broadcast from the Storeton transmitting station, Storeton transmitter on Storeton ridge in Bebington, Higher Bebington. Although the area of the licence was Wirral, it could be received as far east as Warrington and as far west as Ruthin in the Heart Wrexham region. In November 2005, it was announced that GCap's former Marcher Radio Group stations, including ''Buzz'', were to be sold. This was due to the fact that they were outside of the company's primary target area, however in 2006 GCap decided to call off the sales. Up until June 2008, the station's line-up of networked shows featured some programming from the Century lineup such as Hairbrush Divas. Century's former owner Capital Radio merged with Buzz's former owner GWR to form GCap Media.

Closure

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to close Heart Wirral and merge the station with Heart Cheshire and North East Wales and Heart North Wales Coast as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 15. ''Heart North West and Wales'', began broadcasting from Wrexham on Friday 2 July 2010.Heart slims but strengthens
, RadioToday, 21 June 2010 Following Global's purchase of the Real Radio and Smooth Radio (2010), Smooth Radio stations from GMG Radio in 2012, Heart North West and Wales was replaced by ''Capital North West and Wales'', as the previous ''Real Radio North West'' and ''Real Radio Wales'' stations were rebranded as ''Heart North West'' and ''Heart Wales'', along with the rest of the Real Radio network of stations.

References

{{Global Radio Radio stations in Merseyside Radio stations established in 1989 1989 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England Marcher Radio Group Defunct Heart (radio network) stations, Wirral Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations disestablished in 2010

History

Closure

See also

References