Heart Thames Valley 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 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 ...

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

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

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 ...

, north

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 parts of west

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

from studios in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, southern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The station was formed as a result of a merger between

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 ...

(formerly Fox FM) and

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 ...

(formerly 2-Ten FM).

History

The station originally broadcast as two separate stations. Fox FM served Oxfordshire and West Buckinghamshire and was latterly owned 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. I ...

. Radio 210, later 2-Ten FM, served Berkshire and North Hampshire and was eventually acquired by 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. ...

forming part of GWR's Mix Network. This later merged with Capital's equivalent Capital FM network (comprising the former Invicta FM, the former Southern FM, BRMB, Red Dragon FM and the former Power FM) to form

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 ...

, after the GWR Group plc and Capital Radio Group plc merged in May 2005.

acquired

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. ...

in 2008 and rebranded most of the One Network stations to Heart, in phases by area, from January 2009. On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced it would merge the Oxford and Reading stations as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 16. The new station began broadcasting from Reading on Friday 9 July 2010, leading to the closure of studios in Oxford. The stations still carried local advertising and travel bulletins, and accordingly were sub-branded as "Heart Thames Valley for Oxfordshire" and "Heart Thames Valley for Berkshire and NW Hampshire".

Station merger

On 26 February 2019, Global announced Heart Thames Valley would be merged with three sister stations in Hampshire and Dorset,

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 Sussex and Surrey. From 3 June 2019, local output will consist of a three-hour regional Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. Heart Thames Valley ceased local programming on 31 May 2019, although the station's Reading studios were retained as offices for newsgathering and sales. Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London.

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 mer ...

began broadcasting regional programming on 3 June 2019.Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast
Radio Today, 29 April 2019

References

External links

Heart Thames Valley

Map of the coverage area of Heart Thames Valley
as approved 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 ...

{{coord, 51.4422, -1.0372, display=title, region:GB_scale:5000

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, ...

Radio stations in Berkshire Radio stations in Hampshire Radio stations in Oxfordshire Radio stations established in 2010 Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Culture in Reading, Berkshire