Heart Exeter and Torbay were part of the

Heart Network Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary local stations operated by Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the Heart stations are owned by Global, while the ...

of commercial local radio stations operated by Global Radio in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The stations were launched on 23 March 2009, and replaced Gemini FM, which was the previous commercial radio station for the Exeter and

Torbay Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...

areas in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

. Heart Torbay transmitted from Beacon Hill, near Torbay on 96.4

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

FM. Heart Exeter transmitted from Exeter St Thomas on 97.0 FM, and Stockland Hill, near

Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...

on 103.0 FM. They were also available on DAB digital radio and online via their respective websites. Both stations were replaced by Heart Devon, broadcast from Exeter, on Friday 27 August 2010.

History

DevonAir Radio

The first commercial local radio station for the Exeter and Torbay areas was DevonAir Radio, which was launched in November 1980. The station broadcast from studios in St. David's Hill, Exeter, and overlooking the harbour in Torquay. DevonAir was initially successful, but financial problems resulted in a takeover by

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

in 1987. In October 1993 the station lost its franchise and closed on 31 December 1994, leading to the creation of Gemini FM.

Gemini FM

Launched on 1 January 1995, Gemini Radio was owned by the Orchard Media Group. The station was later bought by the GWR Group, which became part of

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 in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. O ...

in May 2005. Gemini FM continued to broadcast from studios in Exeter and Torquay, although as with DevonAir, most of the programming was sourced from the studio in Exeter.

Heart rebranding

In September 2008, it was announced that Gemini FM was to become

Heart FM Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary local stations operated by Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the Heart stations are owned by Global, while th ...

as part of a national rebranding exercise by new owners Global Radio. Broadcasts from the Torquay harbourside studio ceased, and the programmes for both stations were produced at the studio in Exeter.

Network restructuring

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced that Heart Exeter and Torbay would be merged with Heart Plymouth, Heart North Devon and Heart South Devon as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 16.Global Radio to halve number of local Heart stations
mediaguardian.co.uk, 21 June 2010 The new station, Heart South West, began broadcasting from Exeter on 27 August 2010. Image:Devonair logo.png, Image:GeminiFM logo.png, Image:GeminiFM NewLogo.PNG,

References

External links

Beacon Hill mast

Exeter St Thomas mast

Stockland Hill mast

News item about launch of Heart Exeter and Torbay
{{Global Radio Companies based in Devon Radio stations established in 1995 Radio stations in Devon Exeter Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations disestablished in 2010 Mass media in Exeter Torbay