Heart West is a regional

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 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 to the West and the South West of England from studios in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. The station launched on 3 June 2019, following a merger of four Heart stations in Bristol and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

and

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

History

Under relaxed

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 ...

requirements for local content on commercial radio, Heart West is permitted to share all programmes between nine licences located in the

ITV West Country ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the South West England franchise area on the ITV network. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the same ...

broadcast region (formerly consisting of separate areas for the West and the South West of England). Previously, these licences broadcast as separate stations: *The first

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 to launch in the region was

Plymouth Sound Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England. Description Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abo ...

, which began broadcasting in May 1975 to the city and its surrounding areas. *

Severn Sound Heart Gloucestershire (formerly Severn Sound) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Gloucestershire from studios in Gloucester. The transmitter was at Churchdown Hill, jus ...

began broadcasting to

in October 1980. * Radio West began broadcasting to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...

and surrounding areas in October 1981. *

Wiltshire Radio Heart Wiltshire (formerly GWR FM Wiltshire) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to north and west Wiltshire. The station was rebranded to Heart in March 2009 in line with Glo ...

began broadcasting from

Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...

in October 1982, serving

. *

Orchard FM Heart Somerset (formerly Somerset's Orchard FM) was an Independent Local Radio station serving Somerset, England. Originally owned by (and officially remains licensed to) Orchard Media Ltd, the company was purchased by GWR Group in 1999, and s ...

began broadcasting from

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

in November 1989, serving

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. * Lantern FM began broadcasting to North Devon in October 1992, initially from studios in

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...

before moving to

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

in 2000. *

Gemini FM Heart Exeter and Torbay were part of the Heart Network of commercial local radio stations operated by Global Radio in the United Kingdom. The stations were launched on 23 March 2009, and replaced Gemini FM, which was the previous commercial r ...

began broadcasting in January 1995, after taking over the licence for East Devon previously held by

DevonAir DevonAir Radio was the independent local radio station serving East Devon, Exeter and Torbay. History On 27 March 1978, the Independent Broadcasting Authority invited applicants for the licence to serve the Exeter and Torbay area. Three appli ...

. The twin station carried separate programming for the

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and

Torbay Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...

areas. * South Hams Radio began broadcasting in December 1999, serving South Devon. *

Atlantic FM Atlantic FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving Cornwall. Original staff included MD Jim Trevelyan, PC Mark Chapple, and News Editor Jamie Reed. Plus 4 news reporters, 4 presenters, 6 sales people, a station coordinator, plus some free ...

began broadcasting from St Agnes in July 2006, serving

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. In 1985, after suffering heavy financial losses since its launch, Radio West was approached by the successful Wiltshire Radio for a merger - the first of its kind in commercial radio in the UK. This was approved by the IBA (

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...

) and the two stations combined to form GWR in October 1985. GWR continued to provide separate programming for the Bristol and Swindon areas, and in May 1987, a third opt-out service for Bath was launched. The station's owners, GWR Group plc, went onto become one of the major commercial radio operators in the UK. Orchard FM in Somerset expanded its operations with Gemini FM winning the East Devon ILR licence from DevonAir and the acquisition of Lantern FM in North Devon. The Orchard Radio Group was itself brought by GWR in 1999, but in November 2005, these stations - along with Plymouth Sound - were put up for sale by GCap Media as they were considered outside of the company's primary target area. In the event, the sale did not go ahead as all of the bids made fell short of expectations. In 2008, the group was taken over by Global, which eventually took ownership of South Hams Radio as a joint venture with the

UKRD Group The UKRD Group Ltd was a British media company that owned 15 commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. The name originates from UK Radio Developments. Since its acquisition in March 2019, it has been run as a subsidiary of Bauer Radio. H ...

. In March 2009, Global rebranded Gemini, Lantern FM, Orchard FM, Plymouth Sound, South Hams Radio, Severn Sound and the GWR stations as part of a rollout of the Heart network across 29 local radio stations. By this point, local programming had been reduced to ten hours on weekdays and four hours at weekends. During the summer of 2010, Global merged seven of the stations to two: *

Heart Devon Heart South West was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Devon and Cornwall from studios in Exeter. The station launched on Friday 27 August 2010 under the name 'Heart Devo ...

- formed from the Exeter & Torbay, Plymouth, South Devon and North Devon stations, broadcasting from Exeter *

Heart West Country Heart West Country was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network, broadcasting to Bristol and Somerset. It launched on 16 July 2010 as a result of a merger between Heart Bristol (formerly GWR FM), ...

- formed from the Bristol, Bath and Somerset stations, broadcasting from Bristol

Heart Gloucestershire Heart Gloucestershire (formerly Severn Sound) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Gloucestershire from studios in Gloucester. The transmitter was at Churchdown Hill, just we ...

and

Heart Wiltshire Heart Wiltshire (formerly GWR FM Wiltshire) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to north and west Wiltshire. The station was rebranded to Heart in March 2009 in line with Glo ...

retained local programming, but the stations' newsgathering operations were moved to Bristol. Local programming was further cut to seven hours on weekdays, although localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising continued to air as opt-outs. In March 2012, Global brought

from joint owners Tindle Radio and Camel Media. Two months later, the station merged with Heart Devon to form

Heart South West Heart South West was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Devon and Cornwall from studios in Exeter. The station launched on Friday 27 August 2010 under the name 'Heart Devo ...

and moved its studios to Exeter. A separate Drivetime show for Cornwall was retained, and in 2014, an extended news programme, ''Heart Nightly News'', was introduced. On 26 February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Global announced it would merge the four South West stations into one.Global to network Capital, Heart and Smooth breakfast shows
RadioToday, 26 February 2019 As of 3 June 2019, regional programming consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside localised opt-outs for news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast
Radio Today, 29 April 2019 Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London. Global's studio centres in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

and

were closed, although local newsgathering and sales staff were retained. Across the four stations, eighteen local presenters left the Heart network.Heart Drivetime show presenters announced by Global
Radio Today, 20 May 2019

Programming

All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including ''Heart Breakfast'', presented each weekday 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 ...

. Regional programming is produced and broadcast from Global's Bristol studios from 4-7pm on weekdays, presented by Ben Atkinson.Public File - Bath, Bristol and Somerset
heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019

News

Heart West broadcasts hourly local news bulletins from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12pm at weekends. Separate bulletins are produced for the licence areas previously served by Heart's stations in Bristol & Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. In Cornwall, an extended local news programme, ''Heart Nightly News'', airs at 6.45pm each weeknight as part of the weekday Drivetime show. In March 2021, Global was given permission 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 ...

to reduce speech content on several Heart licences, allowing Heart to drop the ''Nightly News'' strand from those stations in the network which had previously carried it: Global cited research which indicated that a large proportion of radio listeners in Cornwall were unaware of the ''Nightly News'' bulletin.RadioToday.co.uk, March 2021
/ref> National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times.

References

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

Radio stations established in 2019 Radio stations in Bristol Radio stations in Somerset Radio stations in Devon Radio stations in Cornwall Radio stations in Gloucestershire Radio stations in Wiltshire

History

Programming

News

References

External links