Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...
station, serving
Berkshire and North
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
from studios in
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
.
About
Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its
medium-wave frequency of 210 metres (1431 kHz). It later became known as 210-FM, later as 2-Ten FM, and was part of
The One Network
The One Network was the collective name for thirty-eight regional Independent Local Radio licences operated by GCap Media in the United Kingdom. It was formed from the combination of GWR Group's 'The Mix Network' and Capital Radio Group's 'The ...
group of stations owned and operated by
Global Radio by 2008. The station was rebranded a year later as 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 ...
.
History
The original parent company, Radio Kennet had won the licence to broadcast as far back as 1974, but plans for the station to float on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
as soon as it commenced broadcasting failed as it did not raise enough funding. Radio Kennet returned in 1976 as Thames Valley Broadcasting.
Radio 210 first broadcast on 8 March 1976 at 6am. Former
BBC Radio 2 DJ
Paul Hollingdale
Paul Hollingdale (born Paul Wynn; 30 March 1938 – 5 July 2017) was a British radio presenter who presented the first programme broadcast on BBC Radio 2, ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'', from 5.30am on Saturday 30 September 1967. He stayed with ...
played
the Carpenters
The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct, soft, musical style, combining Karen's contr ...
record "
We've Only Just Begun
"We've Only Just Begun" is a single by the Carpenters, written by Roger Nichols (music) and Paul Williams (lyrics). It was ranked at No. 414 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
Song information
The so ...
" at the start of his four-hour breakfast show. Other early presenters were
Steve Wright,
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...
, Tony Fox (deceased), Steve Crozier, (Yer Man Croze), Mike Matthews, John Flower, Tony Holden, Steve Wood, Mike Quinn, Dave Glass, John Hayes (deceased), Gavin McCoy, Bob Morrison, Graham Ledger, Mike Sanderson (The Folk Show) and news editor David Addis. Rising stars
Steve Wright and
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...
co-hosted the Read & Wright Show at weekends before gaining daily shows and later pursuing high-profile careers on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
. Other presenters made the opposite move, leaving the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
because of changes in that station's music policy.
Radio 210 initially only served Reading with a transmitter on 97.0 MHz
shopping centre; however that changed when it began broadcasting from the Hannington transmitter on a second frequency of 102.9 MHz at midday 1 January 1987 to serve a wider area of
relay added in 1997.
In 1990, Radio 210 split frequencies (as required then to do so by Government due to a radio act recently passed to end simulcasting) to provide two services – Radio 210 FM (Now broadcasting as Heart Berkshire) and
. The AM transmitter was actually a relay of Brunel Classic Gold's service from Bristol. Also, broadcast to Bournemouth, Devon, & Swindon. It took a couple of networked shows. One Sunday Lunchtime show with
's Saviles Travels (1990–92). It stopped taking that because it was said that they preferred to broadcast their own shows. Classic Gold featured slightly more known presenters like Tony Gillham (head of music), and Trevor Fry.
a few years later. They were both dropped in July 2007, when Classic Gold was taken over by
.
Radio 210 claimed to be "the only comprehensive travel service in the Thames Valley and North Hampshire". The station broadcast news bulletins on the hour every hour and regional news during certain points throughout the day.
as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 15. The new station, ''
'' began broadcasting from Reading on 9 July 2010.