Heart Oxfordshire (formerly Fox FM) was a local radio station broadcasting to

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

on 102.6

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 from the

Oxford transmitting station The Oxford transmitting station (sometimes known as the Beckley transmitter) is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated on land above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level) to the north east of the city of Oxford, in Oxfordshire, E ...

and 97.4 MHz FM from a relay station at Farthinghoe, near

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

. Originally launched in September 1989, it was rebranded on 23 March 2009 by

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...

in line with its rebranding of most 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 ...

, of which the station was formerly a part. The station was closed and relocated to the

Heart Berkshire Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Berkshire and North Hampshire from studios in Reading. About Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its medi ...

studios in July 2010 and rebranded again as "

Heart Thames Valley Heart Thames Valley was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Berkshire, Oxfordshire, north Hampshire and parts of west Buckinghamshire from studios in Reading, southern England. T ...

History

Fox FM was launched on Friday 15 September 1989 from an ex-carpet warehouse in Cowley, Oxford. Following weeks of test transmissions, its first song after official sign-in was

Uptown Girl "Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by the American musician Billy Joel. The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy " uptown girl". It was released on September 29, 1983, on his ninth studio album, ...

. The Fox name was said to be a contraction of the original company name, the 'First Oxfordshire Radio Co'. The station was originally a joint venture between

Blackwell's Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service owned by Waterstones. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, after whom the chain is named, on Broad Street, ...

Group, Oxford and County Newspapers (now

Newsquest Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in print ...

Oxfordshire),

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 ...

and

County Sound County Sound Radio was an analogue commercial radio station covering Surrey and north-east Hampshire in the United Kingdom. One of its closing forms in 2012-2014 formed Eagle Extra occupying 1566 MW following an internal split between older an ...

Radio. Jeremy Loyd (General Manager of Capital) and Mike Powell (Managing Director of

) were the driving forces behind the licence application that won the frequency. The original presenters were Phil Miles, Steve Ellis, Tony James, Jane Markham (the Fox Report),

Steve Priestly Steve Priestley is a British disc jockey, who used to work for Magic 105.4 in London. Career He first came to prominence in the early 1990s as the voice over for an ITV programme on Saturdays called Movies, Games and Videos. The show overvie ...

, Paul Evans, Stuart Cameron, Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, Adrian Maughan and Claire Thomas. The Chairman was Julian (Toby) Blackwell and the Managing Director (MD) was Tom Hunter. In 1994, Sally Oldham became MD and Jean-Paul Hansford became the Programme Director (PD). The following year, the MD was Mark Flanagan and PD Phil Angell. In 1998,

plc took full control of Fox, Lyn Long became MD and Alex Roland became P.D. followed 12 months later by Stuart Davies In 2005, Fox FM became part of the

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. ...

group, formed from the merger of

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. ...

and

. In 2006, GCap Media applied for a new FM licence covering Oxford and South Oxfordshire, with a service called Fox Gold. Following GCap's takeover in 2008, Fox FM was integrated with

's portfolio and rebranded

Heart Oxfordshire Heart Oxfordshire (formerly Fox FM) was a local radio station broadcasting to Oxfordshire on 102.6 MHz FM broadcasting, FM from the Oxford transmitting station and 97.4 MHz FM from a relay station at Farthinghoe, near Banbury. Originally la ...

on 23 March 2009. It was one of the 38 regional stations that formed

Notable former presenters

*Adrian Maughan *Ali Jones *Debbie Ryan *Adam Ball *

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 ...

*Simon Ross *Dan Mills *James Heming *Jo Thoenes *

Katy Hill Katy Hill (born 15 April 1971) is an English television presenter who has worked in television and radio in the UK since 1995. She presented the long-running children's programme '' Blue Peter'' from 1995 to 2000 and the flagship Saturday morni ...

Stephanie Hirst Stephanie Hirst is an English radio & TV presenter currently heard on Hits Radio. She has hosted '' Hit40UK'' and the weekday breakfast show on Capital Yorkshire '' Hirsty's Daily Dose''. Career Hirst started her career at age 12 at 96.3 Ra ...

Network restructuring

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to close Heart Oxfordshire and merge the station with

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.

Identity

Like other stations in "

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 ...

", Fox FM used similar idents - ending with the

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, so ...

"More Music Variety" which was later continued by Heart. The additional tagline of "Haven't you heard?" was used on the website and advertising but not spoken on air. Despite being part of GCap since 2005, it retained the logo devised by Capital until September 2007, although its logo after that date was more in keeping with other One Network stations. Originally, its logo was a cartoon fox called "Freddy" whose nose and tail were poking out onto a radio dial which became highly recognisable in the Oxford area as it was distributed widely on car window stickers.

Local Heroes

Fox FM rewarded notable people from the local area in their annual 'Local Heroes' awards. In 2003, four winners received accolades - including Young Person, Local Hero and Special Award. Andrew Baker, a fundraiser for John Radcliffe Oxford Children's Hospital in 2003 together with young singing star Zoe Mace in 2004. Fundraiser Jeff Samways and sea cadet volunteer Phil Pether were also amongst those honoured.

Charity

Over its last ten years of broadcasting, Fox FM raised thousands of pounds each year for their chosen charities in their "Help An Oxfordshire Child" campaign. In 2008, over £48,000 raised by its listeners, staff and partners was distributed out to many children's charities. In the past, Oxford Children's Hospital, The Oxfordshire Playbus and the

National Multiple Sclerosis Society The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) is a nonprofit organization that was founded in New York City as the Association for Advancement of Research on Multiple Sclerosis on March 11, 1946 by Sylvia Lawry. Ms. Lawry was a lawyer looking fo ...

have benefited. Events held towards the campaign included the very first Oxford Santa Run, raising over £30,000, the Oxford Moonlight Stroll, an online auction and a charity football tournament held in Abingdon, as well as a celebrity football match at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium in which a team of Fox presenters took on the stars from teen soap

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

in June 2008, as well as a greyhound race night, buggy trek and a charity premiere. Help An Oxfordshire Child pledged £40,000 to name the Fox FM Outpatients Department in Oxford's New Children's Hospital, which was completed in 2008.Charity races at Oxford Greyhound Stadium to collect cash
Ward Lovett Press Office, 15 August 2008

References

External links

Getty Images: Fox FM Party In the Park PhotographsContraband Media - Fox FM Radio ImagingIQBeats - Fox FM Radio ImagingFox FM Logos
{{coord, 51.7377, -1.1946, region:GB-OXF_type:landmark, display=title Radio stations in Oxfordshire Radio stations established in 1989

Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom 1989 establishments in England