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Heart Kent (previously Invicta FM) was 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 and operated by Global Radio 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 broadcast to
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 ...
from studios at John Wilson Business Park in
Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...
.


History


Invicta in the 80s

Originally, independent local radio in Kent was to be provided by two franchisees, one covering Maidstone and Medway, and the other covering East Kent. The companies that were awarded the licences to broadcast to these areas were Northdown Radio and Network East Kent respectively. The two companies merged on 26 March 1984. The company's new name was taken from a failed bid for the East Kent licence, owned by former Radio 2 presenter
Desmond Carrington Desmond Herbert Carrington (23 May 1926 – 1 February 2017) was a British broadcaster and actor whose career spanned 75 years. He was best known for his weekly show on BBC Radio 2 which aired for 35 years, from 4 October 1981 until his final br ...
, Radio Invicta Ltd. The new countywide station went on air as Invicta Sound at 6am on 1 October 1984. The first few seconds of broadcasting were marred by a sound mix up which meant that Magnus's discussions with his production team were broadcast to the county. The station output was described as "Radio 2 cum Radio 4", featuring a mix of middle-of-the-road music coupled with a prominent news schedule where a news bulletin would last at least nine minutes. The managing director of the company Cecilia Garnett was sacked after the first few months. The station was relaunched as Invicta Radio in spring 1985. The company's studios, originally purchased by Desmond Carrington's Radio Invicta Ltd, were based in an old warehouse, at 15 Station Road East in
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...
, with a second, smaller base at 37 Earl Street in
Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
. Originally, presenters generally had the option of choosing where to present their show from, depending on where they lived. Plus, in the Invicta Sound days, there was some separate programming for East and West Kent, including dedicated Drivetime shows for each half of the county. Some specialist shows could only be heard by one half of the county, including a classical music show and a programme aimed at children, called "Kid's Stuff". In 1985, a general reorganisation of radio frequencies in Britain forced Invicta into changing a number of them: * 103.8 MHz (West Kent) became 103.1 MHz * 95.1 MHz (East Kent) became 102.8 MHz * 96.3 MHz ( Ashford) became 96.1 MHz * 95.9 MHz (
Thanet Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College *Thanet Canal, ...
) and 97.0 MHz ( Folkestone and
Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
) remained unchanged. The lack of a single high-powered frequency for the east of the county was because of international frequency clearance problems due to the proximity to
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
across the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. Instead three low-powered transmitters were installed in Ashford, Folkestone/Dover and Thanet. This problem did not affect
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. ...
...
national and local radio, which use a single high-powered site at Swingate, near Dover. A few years after the rebranding of the station to Invicta Radio, the station became known as Invicta FM. Soon after, separate breakfast shows started to be broadcast to the following areas: * East Kent / West Kent (from 15 Station Road East, Canterbury, and later from
Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...
) * Ashford (initially from the Ashford International Hotel, Ashford, then from Canterbury, and later from Whitstable) * Thanet (from 15 Station Road East, Canterbury, and later from Whitstable)


Station split - the early years

As required by the Home Office to end simulcasting on FM and AM, in March 1989, Invicta Radio became Invicta FM and a sister station, Coast AM began broadcasting on Invicta's AM frequencies. Whilst the company name remained Invicta Sound plc, the expanding operation started to become known as the Invicta Radio Group. Coast AM was an AOR/soft rock station under the leadership of ex-Capital Producer/DJ Kerry Juby with music programmed by Paul Stafford (Head of Music and "Living on Rock" presenter, 711pm weekdays). Eammon Kelly was the station's first breakfast host. A few months after the launch, Coast AM was renamed "Coast Classics". (Although the jingles sang "Coast Classic"). The service began playing more 'oldies' and by 1990 it became a fully fledged 'Golden Oldies' station. Throughout this period, Coast was a 24-hour live local station, but in 1991 it started taking a "sustaining service" from Chiltern Radio Group's expanding AM 'Gold' service,
SuperGold Supergold (Europe) was an oldies radio sustaining service originally operated by the Telstar Satellite Music Network (TSMN) and later by Chiltern Radio Network in the United Kingdom. Originally devised by entrepreneur and DJ Graham Kentsley, i ...
. As a result of this change, the station was renamed Invicta Supergold. This helped as research had shown that listeners never fully got used to the station's name, many still calling it Invicta. A near-identical set of jingles from
JAM Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and ente ...
were re-sung with the station's new name, and there were no major schedule changes. However, just before this change took place, and for most of Summer 1991, presenters at the station were instructed to call the station "Coast Classics Invicta Supergold" on air, to enable listeners to get used to the change. It became a highly popular station and once achieved a 17% reach in a JICRAR survey; some say much to the disgust of its Southern Radio bosses who, it has been said, preferred their AM stations to hover around the 9% mark. It too lost its identity in 1998 when it became
Capital Gold The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and t ...
. As Invicta Supergold, the station performed very well and became home to ex Invicta FM presenters such as ex-breakfast presenter Johnny Lewis.


Invicta in the 90s

In 1991, controversy was sparked as one of the famous DJs, Chris Ryder (aka Caesar the Boogieman), was sacked over criminal charges related to theft from charity. He was ultimately found not guilty on these charges, but was convicted of intent to defraud Also in 1991, the Maidstone studios and offices closed and a few months later, the entire company moved to a brand new, larger, building just outside Whitstable. This was due to the company getting too big for its Canterbury home having started to expand its radio operations beyond Kent. By now it had acquired a radio station in Frinton,
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 ...
called
Mellow 1557 Dream 100 was an independent local radio station owned and operated by Bauer. It broadcast to Tendring and Essex from studios in Colchester and Ipswich, airing the same music programming as sister station Town 102. The station was folded into G ...
(now known as ''Dream 100''), as well as a stake in a radio station in
Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, which it had relaunched as
Continental Invicta FM Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (a ...
. Some of Invicta FM's jingles were resung as "Continental FM" and voice overs appeared on the station by Invicta presenter Tim Stewart. Shortly after moving to its current base, the station was acquired by
Southern Radio plc The Southern Radio Group was a company which owned and operated radio stations on the south coast of England. History Southern Radio group was formed when Ocean Sound merged with Southern FM. Later, in 1992, Invicta FM and its AM services Invi ...
which, in turn, was acquired by Capital Radio plc in May 1994. Mellow 1557 was sold by Southern Radio plc a few months after it took control of the Invicta Radio Group. New rival commercial stations in the late 1990s were awarded licences in Kent by the Radio Authority. These were TLR (
Thanet Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College *Thanet Canal, ...
), Medway FM ( Medway Towns),
Neptune Radio KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country is an Independent Local Radio station serving the districts of Dover and Folkestone and Hythe (previously known as Shepway) and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the South Kent region ...
(Shepway and Dover), CTFM (Canterbury and district) and KFM (Tonbridge and Sevenoaks). These new stations mainly adopted a much larger playlist of songs and, despite some major audiences successes (mainly Thanet) they gradually put extra pressure on Invicta's advertising revenue. Most of the stations also employed many familiar ex-Invicta presenters. These stations are all now known as KMFM following buyouts by the
KM Group KM Media Group is a multimedia company in the county of Kent, England which originated as the publisher of the Kent Messenger. The Group now produces local newspapers, radio stations and websites throughout the county. Iliffe Media acquired KM ...
.


Station split - the later years

When Chiltern closed its SuperGold sustaining service, Invicta FM and Invicta Supergold began sharing a single programme overnight. It retained its own separate identity by the use of split FM/AM jingles and an hourly out-of-news separate pre-recorded weather forecast, read over the respective station's weather jingle. However, the presenter simply called it "Invicta" elsewhere in the hour. This usually ran from midnight or 1am until 6am, although the later launch of an "early breakfast" programme on Invicta FM meant the overnight presenter would do the last hour on Supergold only. Invicta Supergold closed down May 1998, to be replaced by the mainly networked
Capital Gold The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and t ...
. The change happened with no promotion, save for a handful of promos scheduled to run over the weekend prior to the Monday launch. A local Drivetime show was retained, presented initially by Mike Peters, then Peter Fielding. This was ahead of the roll out of Capital Gold across other AM stations owned by the company; the Kent site acted as a test station, chosen in part because of its close proximity to Capital Gold in London, to ensure syndication worked, and to iron out any problems. Another change that occurred at the launch of Capital Gold in Kent is that for the first time, advertising was no longer split with different ads in the east and west of the county, as had been the case since 1984 - all ads now broadcast on the station are heard on both of the station's frequencies. By September, Capital Gold could also be heard in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
and, not long after,
South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
. A while later, the decision was taken to network the Drivetime show (presented by Tony Blackburn and instead local breakfast shows would be broadcast on each of the local Capital Gold services. Kent's local opt-out show was then presented by Tim Stewart, who moved over from Invicta FM. Ex-Radio 1 DJ Adrian John took over the Kent breakfast show in 2000. A local breakfast show survived until August 2007, when Capital Gold owners GCap Media purchased the Classic Gold stations from UBC.
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 ...
agreed a proposal to move the four-hour local opt-out from breakfast to afternoons. Kent's breakfast show host by now was Neil Winfield who left the station and ex-Invicta jock Russ Lowe came in to present the 12-4 slot on weekdays. It was, and remains, pre-recorded ('voicetracked') and 'music heavy'. As it is recorded especially for the Kent audience of the now-renamed ''Gold''; station, it is able to include occasional Kent information and other references to the county. Local news and travel remains in the Breakfast and Drivetime programmes, and local commercials are broadcast 24 hours a day. All other output is produced at the Gold studios at Leicester Square in London.


Invicta in the 00s

Capital Radio plc and GWR Group plc merged in 2005 and on 1 May that year, the newly enlarged group was renamed GCap Media plc. The first effects of the GCap merger were felt by Invicta FM soon afterwards. New boss Craig Boddy, assisted by GCap management (Hugh Murray and regional programme boss Peter Sinclair), undertook a radical restructure of the station in September 2005, in response to falling listening figures and mounting overheads. Boddy changed Invicta from the style influenced by nearby Capital FM, to one which roughly resembled the old Mix Network. Invicta was possibly the last local radio station owned by the company (outside London) to be live and local 24/7*, escaping overnight networking and voicetracking at times when Capital Radio-owned stablemates like
Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
, Southern and
Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...
succumbed to one or the other. (*Excluding the short-lived Steve Penk late night show heard across the Capital FM network, a Sunday afternoon show presented by Cat Deeley and Edith Bowman, and the weekly chart show, currently known as 'The Big Top 40 Show') The new relaunched Invicta carried the first of the GWR straplines 'The best mix of the 80s, 90s and today' from Monday 19 September 2005. The second strapline 'Today's Best Mix', was introduced on Bank Holiday Monday 28 August 2006. In May 2008, both Craig Boddy and Regional Programme Director Peter Sinclair left and in July 2008 former Invicta FM and KMFM Programme Controller Mike Osborne was appointed to the newly created role of Programme Director On 30 June 2008, following the relaxation of OFCOM regulations on networking, the new owners of GCap Media, Global Radio, cut minimum local programming to ten hours on weekdays (from 6 to 10am and 1 to 7pm) and four hours on Saturdays & Sundays (from 8am to 12pm). The changes signalled the end of some long-running programmes including ''Party Invicta'' and an increase in networked output, including the mid-morning show with Philippa Collins (aired from 10am to 1pm). Andy Walker presented the local 1pm4pm show until December 2008 when he was replaced by ex night time presenter Stephen Sullivan with Neil Kefford hosting the 4 pm7 pm slot. In common with most of its sister stations, a lot of modern music and rocky/edgey music had by now been dropped by Invicta, in favour of a slightly and bigger concentration of older music, as far back to the late 1970s in a few cases and up to three 1980s songs an hour; sounding a bit like a younger version of another Global Radio station,
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 ...
. All stations affected now shared the same playlist (e.g. Invicta FM played the same songs in the same order as sister 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 ...
). The strapline also mirrored Heart's - More Music Variety - as did the name of the now renamed 'guess the year' feature, The Time Tunnel.


"Heart is coming", 2009

In September 2008, it was reported that Invicta, along with 28 other local radio stations, would be renamed as "Heart" with local programming reduced to Breakfast and Drivetime shows on weekdays and a four-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays. Whilst the station was still known on air as Invicta FM, airtime on the station was sold nationally 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 ...
. The station was amongst the final phase of stations to be rebranded, becoming Heart on 22 June 2009. Two months before the rebrand, the station was referred to as "The Heart of Kent". Two weeks before the rebrand, all references to the Invicta FM name were removed, and trailers advertising "Heart is coming" were played after every song. This changed to "Heart is here" following the rebrand. Heart network programming is overseen by group programme director of the Heart network, Luis Clark, who was programme director of Invicta FM between 1999 and 2000.


Closure

On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed Heart Kent would be merged with sister stations in the south and south east of England by the end of the year. Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content, the station is allowed to share all programmes with another six licences located in the
ITV Meridian ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...
region, which previously broadcast under three Heart stations (
Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...
, Sussex and Surrey and
Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an informally-defined sub-region of South East England, centred on the River Thames west of London, with Oxford as a major centre. Its boundaries vary with context. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub, ...
). As of June 2019, regional output on the merged 'Heart South' station consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside local news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast
Radio Today, 29 April 2019 Heart Kent's Whitstable studios closed with operations moving to studios at Fareham,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
. Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London. Heart Kent ceased local broadcasting at 7pm on 31 May 2019.
Heart South Heart South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the south and south east of England from studios in Fareham, Hampshire. The station launched on 3 June 2019 as a result of a me ...
began broadcasting regional programming on 3 June 2019.


Breakfast shows over the years

For some time the station ran four breakfast shows from Whitstable - Invicta Supergold, Invicta FM (102.8 and 103.1 and in Dover on 97.0) Invicta FM Ashford (96.1) and Invicta FM Thanet (95.9). The different programmes all took the same news and sports bulletins but had different presenters. The split FM breakfast was discontinued with the launch of The Invicta FM Morning Zoo in 1995. The Morning Zoo was the brainchild of then programme controller Sandy Beech. For a time, commercial breaks continued to be split four ways on Invicta FM, with East, West,
Thanet Thanet may refer to: *Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England *Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College *Thanet Canal, ...
and Ashford as sub-regions. The
Morning Zoo Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting. The name is derived from the wackiness and zaniness of the activities, segments, and overall personality of the show and its hosts. The morning zoo conce ...
was a fixture of the Invicta FM schedule for many years. Neil Francis was the initial lead presenter of the show until 2000 - he was later partnered with Sam Hughes (known on air simply as 'Sam'). He was also joined by Mark Fox( Mark Anthony) in the flying eye. From 2000, James Heming was the lead presenter of the Morning Zoo following the departure of Neil Francis. The last Morning Zoo was broadcast on Friday 22 December 2006. The breakfast show was rebranded "James and Ali in the morning" at the beginning of 2007. From May 2008, it was known as "James Heming in the morning", following Ali Wheeler's departure from the station to have her first child. From November 2008 to December 2010, James had a new co host - Gemma Shepherd - and the show became known as "Invicta FM Breakfast with James and Gemma" and subsequently as "Heart Breakfast with James and Gemma". James gained Charlie O'Brien as his new co host on 21 January, and their new show started on 24 January 2011. O'Brien left Heart on Christmas Eve 2014 and was replaced by Becky Ives. Both Hemming and Ives left Heart Kent on 24 May 2019, one week before the station ceased all local programming.


Notable former presenters


Local presenters

* Andy Archer * Bam Bam (later at
Galaxy 105 Capital Yorkshire is a regional radio station owned by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire from studios in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Engl ...
, then
Kiss 100 Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol an ...
and Capital 95.8 * Paddy Bunce (now producer of The Big Top 40 Show) * Dave Cash(deceased) (later at
BBC Radio Kent BBC Radio Kent is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Kent. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Great Hall in Tunbridge Wells. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...
) *
Roger Day Roger "Twiggy" Day (born Roger Thomas in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire England; 29 March 1945) is a radio broadcaster and DJ who began his career in offshore radio, and was a key pioneer in commercial radio. He later presented on BBC Local Rad ...
(later at
BBC Radio Kent BBC Radio Kent is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Kent. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at The Great Hall in Tunbridge Wells. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...
) *
Don Durbridge Don Durbridge (13 January 1939 – 9 June 2012) was a UK radio presenter who started his career on the BBC Light Programme, and subsequently worked on the British Forces Broadcasting Service, and on BBC Radio 2,. He also broadcast for many ye ...
(deceased)(previously at
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, ...
, later at BBC Radio Kent) *
Rick Edwards Richard Philip "Rick" Edwards (born 20 May 1979) is an English television presenter, journalist, and author. Edwards presented T4 for four years, and has also presented ''Tool Academy'', '' Freshly Squeezed'', ''E4 Music'', and much of Channe ...
(later at Heart Torbay), now on BBC Radio Devon * Caroline Feraday (later LBC 97.3, and
BBC South East Today ''BBC South East Today'' is the BBC South East regional television news programme, serving Kent, East Sussex, part of West Sussex and a small part of Surrey. Prior to its launch on 3 September 2001, most of the viewers in the region received ' ...
) *
Nino Firetto Anthony Edward Paolo Firetto (born 30 June 1957 in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire) is a British radio presenter, TV host and actor, currently based in San Francisco, United States. Biography Firetto became known as a DJ in the 1970s, then as a televi ...
later Super Channel, later Exeter FM * Dan Gasser - between 1997 and 1998, now at Radio X * Nigel Harris (formerly at
KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country is an Independent Local Radio station serving the districts of Dover and Folkestone and Hythe (previously known as Shepway) and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the South Kent region ...
) Currently at
Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly ...
*
Kerry Juby Kerry Juby (3 January 1948 – July 2003) was born in Bexley, South London and was a radio DJ who worked for Pirate Radio Station Radio Caroline in the 1960s (initially as an engineer) under the name Kerry Clarke. When London's Capital Radio ...
(Deceased) *
Johnny Lewis Jonathan Kendrick Lewis (October 29, 1983 – September 26, 2012), also credited as Johnny K. Lewis, was an American film and television actor. He played Kip "Half-Sack" Epps in the first two seasons of the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'', and o ...
(went to TLR then KMFM)and now
Academy FM (Thanet) __NOTOC__ Academy FM (Thanet) is a Charity community 24-hour local radio station based in Ramsgate, Kent, England, which broadcasts to the Isle of Thanet. It launched on 5 April 2010, Easter Monday. The licence for the station was granted by OF ...
&
Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly ...
*
Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
(now at
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, ...
)


Networked presenters

*
Edith Bowman Edith Eleanor Smith (born January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted '' Colin and Edith'', weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and ''The Radio 1 Review'' on BBC Radio 1 until 2014 and has presented a variety of ...
(presented 'Cat and Edith's Hit Music Sunday') * Rich Clarke (co-hosted '
The Vodafone Big Top 40 ''The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 from Global'' is a radio chart show broadcast every Sunday from 4 to 7pm on Global's Capital and Heart networks, presented by Will Manning. It was started in May 2009 but the show is the descendant of ''The Net ...
' (syndicated), now at
Heart Solent Heart Solent was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to southern and western parts of Hampshire, West Sussex, Dorset and Isle of Wight. The station launched on 30 July 2010 as a r ...
) *
Cat Deeley Catherine Elizabeth Deeley (born 23 October 1976) is an English television presenter and actress. From 1998 to 2002, she hosted the ITV children's show '' SMTV Live,'' for which she won a BAFTA Children's Award, and its spin-off chart show '' ...
(presented 'Cat and Edith's Hit Music Sunday') * Jason Donovan (presented ''All 80's'') *
Caroline Flack Caroline Louise Flack (9 November 1979 – 15 February 2020) was an English television and radio presenter and actress. She won the twelfth series of BBC’s ''Strictly Come Dancing'' in 2014 and presented '' The X Factor'' and later ''Love Is ...
(formerly presented Sunday mornings on Heart) *
Zoe Hardman Zoe Kristi Hardman (born 16 November 1982) is a British television presenter and actress. She first appeared on TV in Channel 4's reality game show '' Playing It Straight'' in 2005. Career Hardman was born in Kent, England. She was a present ...
(formerly presented weekday overnights) * Ben Jones (presented overnights, now at BBC 3CR) *
Gethin Jones Gethin Clifford Jones (born 12 February 1978) is a Welsh television presenter. He was an active rugby union player while at Manchester Metropolitan University and, after graduation, he began his television career on Welsh language channel S4C a ...
(formerly presented Sunday mornings on Heart) *
Myleene Klass Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is a British musician, singer, presenter, model and businesswoman. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released two solo classical crossover albums in 2003 and 2007. More recently, Klass ...
(formerly hosted networked Sunday evening show) with Matt Brown * Dannii Minogue (cover presenter on 'hit40uk') *
Stephen Mulhern Stephen Daniel Mulhern is an English television presenter, magician, and comedian. He began his television career on CITV, presenting the children's shows ''Finger Tips'' (2001–2004) and ''Tricky TV'' (2005–2010). Mulhern has presented vario ...
*
Steve Penk Steve Penk is a British radio and television presenter. He was born in Rusholme, Manchester. Penk has worked for various national and local UK radio stations. Aged just 16 he started his radio career at Piccadilly Radio in 1978 (subsequently r ...
(presented a late-night show across the Capital FM Network) *
Neil 'Roberto' Williams Neil Roberto Williams (born 20 July 1978), known by his stage name Roberto, is a British radio presenter, television presenter, voice-over artist and DJ. Williams was born in London. He currently presents the breakfast show on Heart 80s from H ...
(now with Heart 80's) *
Emma Willis Emma Louise Willis (née Griffiths; born 18 March 1976) is an English broadcaster. She is known for her television and radio work with Channel 5, BBC, ITV, and Heart FM.
* Mark Wright (formerly presented ''Club Classics'' on Friday and Saturday)


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* {{coord , 51, 21, 29, N, 1, 3, 20, E, type:landmark_region:GB-KEN, display=title Radio stations established in 1984
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 ...
Radio stations in Kent Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom