Heart Hertfordshire (previously known as ''Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6'') is a local

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

owned by Communicorp UK and operated by

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

as part of the

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

network. It broadcasts across

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

from studios in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. In 2005, it was sold by

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. ...

to the

Adventure Radio Adventure Radio is a UK-based media company based in Southend-on-Sea which operates radio stations in Essex. *Radio Essex In February 2019, Connect Radio 106.8, Connect Radio 97.2 & 107.4 and Heart Hertfordshire were sold to Communicorp with th ...

Company although it still carries programming from GCap's successors

as well as having its website maintained by Global. The station was rebranded on Monday 26 July 2010, but as it is not owned outright by Global, it operates as a

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

. In 2019, the station merged with

BOB fm BOB FM is the on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in the United States and formerly in Canada. The BOB FM format mostly concentrates on album rock, alternative rock and pop hits from the 1980s and 90s, especially those popular during t ...

in north Hertfordshire and began broadcasting to the entire county.

History

The

Radio Authority Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

in 1993 advertised thirteen new local radio licences across the UK, one being awarded to the ''St Albans and Watford Broadcasting Company'', a wholly owned subsidiary of the former

Chiltern Radio Network Chiltern Radio Network (also known as Chiltern Radio Group) was the parent group of several independent local radio stations in the 1980s and 1990s. These were divided across two networks: ''The Hot FM'' and ''SuperGold''. History Chiltern Radi ...

. Based in Hatfield Road,

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

and promising "classic and contemporary hits, sport, local and national news", Oasis Radio went on-air on 22 October 1994 as a complementary sister station to Chiltern Radio (Herts, Beds and Bucks)- both stations being receivable in its target area. Oasis played softer

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

music than "The Hot FM" format from Chiltern. In 1996, the

GWR Group 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. ...

acquired the Chiltern Radio Network along with Oasis Radio, which was relaunched as ''The New 96.6FM'' – ''"Classic Hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s"''. The station took on the same sound as the rest of its 'Mix Network' group of stations, albeit with more 1970s tracks. In 1997, the station was sold to Essex Radio plc and relaunched as ''96.6 Oasis FM''. Advertisements were taken out in local newspapers such as the ''

Watford Chronicle Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

'' and on the backs of buses in the area to inform listeners that they were "back after the break" – a cheeky comment on the previous management's incarnation, which did not have a proper name (The New 96.6FM) and which never really captured the listener's imagination.

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. I ...

started selling advertising space on behalf of the newly relaunched station which moved to the Christopher Place Shopping Centre in St Albans. In 1999, the station changed again. The

Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media company, the owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office is ...

bought Essex Radio plc under its sub-division DMG Radio Ltd. This meant another name change to Mercury FM 96.6 – a name shared by other stations in the company's portfolio, which were: * Mercury FM 102.7 –

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earlie ...

and

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

* Mercury FM 96.2 & 101.6 – West

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and North

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

* Mercury FM 101.7 –

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

* Mercury FM 107.9 – Medway Towns, Kent and paired off with the flagship station

Essex FM Heart Essex (formerly Essex Radio and then Essex FM) is a British commercial radio station. It was launched on 12 September 1981, broadcasting from Southend-on-Sea and since 27 October 2004 from Chelmsford, both in Essex. History Heart began a ...

. Each station used the slogan of "Hotter and Fresher", signifying a shift towards a more contemporary slant in the station's music policy. The semi-network was disbanded after the GWR Group bought DMG Radio in 2002, in effect re-purchasing Mercury 96.6. The Mercury stations in Medway and West Kent were sold to the Kent Messenger Group. In 2003, Mercury 96.6 moved from St Albans to an industrial estate on the outskirts of

in an attempt to re-focus the station as a Watford-only station. This was due to the then Radio Authority regulations on local ownership of stations as the GWR Group already owned

Chiltern FM Heart Dunstable (formerly 97.6 Chiltern FM) was an Independent Local Radio station based in Chiltern Road in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. History Together with sister stations 96.9 Chiltern FM, Northants 96 and Horizon Radio, the station formed th ...

, which has overlapping coverage in the St Albans and

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

areas. This move was in a bid to hold on to the station before the outgoing Radio Authority was replaced by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

and in a bid to compete with then rival Capital Radio in London. Mercury FM by then took on the "Better Music Mix" format that originated from GWR in Bristol. In 2005, the St Albans and Watford Broadcasting Company was divested to a new company, Adventure Radio Holdings, an entertainment consortium which owns a theme park in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, and four other radio stations, including two in Essex. Despite its relatively independent status, the station was rebranded from Mercury 96.6 to Heart on Monday 26 July 2010 and switched to a softer adult contemporary music format. The changes coincided with a restructuring of Heart. In July 2016 the station owners Adventure Island signed a management contract with

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

which would see them offer extra support to both Heart Hertfordshire and Connect FM. In February 2019,

sold the station to

. Two months later, Communicorp acquired Shadow Radio Holdings, the owners of

in north Hertfordshire. On 31 May 2019, BOB fm ceased broadcasting and became a relay of Heart Hertfordshire. The merger coincided with the end of Heart's local breakfast and weekend programming.

Programming

All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including ''Heart Breakfast'', presented on weekdays by

Jamie Theakston James Paul Theakston (born 21 December 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, and actor. He co-presented the former Saturday morning BBC One children's show ''Live & Kicking'', alongside Zoe Ball between 1996 and 1999. He co-hosted ...

and

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, media personality, and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition ''Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the ''Heart Brea ...

. Local programming is produced and broadcast from Communicorp's Watford studios from 4-7pm on weekdays, presented by John Darin.Heart Drivetime show presenters announced by Global
Radio Today, 20 May 2019Public File – Watford & Hemel
heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019

News

Heart Hertfordshire broadcasts hourly local news bulletins from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12pm at weekends, produced by Global's

Heart Four Counties Heart Four Counties was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire. The station launched on Friday 16 July 2010 as a r ...

newsroom in Milton Keynes. National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times.

References

*Radio Authority Pocket Book 1993–2005 *Commercial Radio Companies Association Pocket Book 2005–2006 ;Notes

External links

Heart Watford & Hemel
{{Global Radio Radio stations in Hertfordshire

Radio stations established in 1994 1994 establishments in England