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Heart Wiltshire (formerly GWR FM Wiltshire) 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 north and west
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 ...
. The station was rebranded to Heart in March 2009 in line with
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 ...
's 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 ...
, to which the station was part of. Its local competitors were Sam FM,
BBC Wiltshire BBC Radio Wiltshire is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Pla ...
and community radio station, Swindon 105.5. On 31 May 2019, it was merged into
Heart West Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West and the South West of England from studios in Bristol. The station launched on 3 June 2019, following a merger of four ...
.


History

Heart Wiltshire launched on 12 October 1982 under its original name, Wiltshire Radio ''(shortened often to WR)''. Broadcasting from 'The Limekiln' in
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 ...
, they capitalised on the fact that
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, ...
had bad reception in North Wiltshire and it was to be nine years before BBC Local Radio launched in the county. The station began a full service commercial radio station on 96.4 and 97.4
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 and 936 and 1161
kHz 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 on ...
AM (320 and 258 metres medium wave). Because there was a lack of
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
for Wiltshire and therefore no competition, Wiltshire Radio found it relatively easy to build a very loyal listenership and only a few months into broadcasting became very profitable. Early programmes started out with a general diet of local news, community information, talk and middle-of-the-road pop music, then eventually became more and more formatted, saving its 4-hour 'needle time' daily music quota for the evening show to play
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
and newer pop. The station's Head of Programmes
Ralph Bernard Ralph Mitchell Bernard (born 11 February 1953) is a British journalist, and a former chief executive of commercial radio group GCap Media. Early life He attended Caterham High School in north-east London. Career He started his career as a journal ...
went on to become a very significant figure in British commercial radio as founder of Classic FM. Commercial radio in Britain struggled to make any money. Wiltshire Radio grew as a company, capitalising on its dominance in the local radio market. WR made tentative plans for growth as it set to acquire struggling Bristol station Radio West. Radio West never made a penny since it started and looked set to close when WR made an official approach to merge the two stations, creating a station covering from
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 ...
in the west to
Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
and
Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...
in the east. This merger was approved by the British Government and was completed in 1985.


Wiltshire Radio into GWR

In October 1985, Wiltshire Radio relaunched as GWR Radio, a 24-hour radio station (previously Wiltshire Radio closed overnight). However the sound didn't change much as GWR Radio was essentially a revamp which coincided with the re-launch of its sister station 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 ...
.


Split services

GWR Radio began splitting frequencies as required by the British Government – which declared its desire to end
simulcasting Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
on both FM and AM. In November 1988 GWR Radio launched Brunel Radio, a golden oldies service (now part of the
Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
) network whilst GWR FM launched an opt-out service for West Wiltshire as a more localised service, this was however dropped a few weeks later, citing "poor reception". A fill-in relay for Marlborough was opened on 14 October 1988 on 96.5 MHz FM. After the lifting on sanctions restricting the time spent playing music (so-called '
needle time Needle time was created in the United Kingdom by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited to restrict the amount of recorded music that could be transmitted by the BBC during any 24-hour period. The number of hours per week allowe ...
') in 1988, GWR FM became more and more music-led, playing Top 40 chart music during the daytime, and specialist music (big band music, rock, rap etc.) was over time eliminated. The local element of the station especially its news coverage had progressively become briefer and reduced in length, then moved onto Brunel Classic Gold, before being dropped altogether.


Football sponsorship

The station sponsored Swindon Town Football Club from 1989 until 1991, during the time that they won promotion to the First Division via the playoffs, but remained in the
Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
due to financial irregularities.


GWR FM – Reboot

In 1992 a re-launch of the station saw it rebranded as The New GWR FM, with a policy of reduced speech and the dropping of all R&B and hip hop music from the station's output. This policy was gradually extended to other GWR Group stations, such as
2-Ten FM 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 ...
in Reading and
2CR FM CR or Cr may refer to: In business * Conversion rate, in marketing * Credit Record, in accounting * Crown Royal, a brand of Canadian whisky Organizations Religious organizations * Celtic reconstructionism, a form of Polytheism * Congregation of ...
in Bournemouth. 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. ...
expanded from the late 1980s through to 2005, purchasing other stations throughout southern England, eventually becoming the largest radio company in the UK.


The Mix Network

The harmonisation of playlists across the GWR Group led to the creation of The Mix Network in 1997, with GWR Wiltshire at the hub. The radio station's (and the group's) long held philosophy of heavily researching the average person's listening habits and tastes led by Group chairman
Ralph Bernard Ralph Mitchell Bernard (born 11 February 1953) is a British journalist, and a former chief executive of commercial radio group GCap Media. Early life He attended Caterham High School in north-east London. Career He started his career as a journal ...
has created a tightly formatted sound where popular Top 40 chart hits ex-Top 40 songs are blended in with older hits. This format, with the strapline "Better Music Mix", was then subsequently adopted by all stations within the GWR Group, including
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 ...
,
Trent FM Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on M ...
and
Beacon Radio Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Shropshire, Wolverhampton and the Black Country. As of Sep ...
creating a mini national network. The practice for the Mix Network stations were each station played a centrally produced playlist (from GWR FM itself), songs were broadcast on or almost at the same time as neighbouring group stations and each station adopted the "Better Music Mix" tagline, to be said by local disc jockeys in between each song. Fans of the previous guises of some stations bought by the GWR Group, notably Essex FM and Beacon Radio were shocked and disgusted at the sudden re-branding of the station's taglines and playlists, accusing the new management of reducing local content such as news reports and cancelling local shows in place of programming from the Mix Network, such as Late Night Love and The Request Fest, which originated from the Bristol studios.


Now Digital

In 2003 Now Digital, a subsidiary 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. ...
launched local DAB services for Wiltshire and Swindon. In Swindon GWR FM went digital along with sister station
Classic Gold Classic Gold was a network of three "Gold" music formatted stations which broadcast on AM in Bradford, Hull and Sheffield. They were the sister stations of Pennine Radio, Viking Radio and Radio Hallam respectively and they were part of the Yo ...
,
BBC Radio Swindon BBC Radio Wiltshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Place in Swindon. According to RAJAR, the station had a weekly audi ...
, Swindon FM and XFM amongst others. In West Wiltshire and Bath
GWR FM Bath Heart 103 (formerly GWR FM Bath) was an independent radio station serving Bath in Somerset, England, broadcasting on 103 MHz FM, on DAB Digital radio and online. History In 1986, a Bath ILR licence was awarded by the IBA. GWR Radio Ba ...
and
BBC Radio Wiltshire BBC Radio Wiltshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Place in Swindon. According to RAJAR, the station had a weekly aud ...
airs in place of GWR Swindon and Radio Swindon respectively.


The One Network

On 9 May 2005, GWR Group merged with Capital Radio Group to form
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. ...
. The programming format of GWR was essentially unchanged by the merger, with The Mix Network being rebranded as
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 ...
.


Global Radio takeover

In 2008, GCap Media was taken over 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 ...
, who subsequently announced that GWR Wiltshire, in common with many other of the other One Network stations, would be rebranded
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 ...
, by 2010. GWR subsequently relaunched as ''Heart Wiltshire'' on 23 March 2009. GWR's oldies service was originally called Brunel Radio, after the Great Western Railway's founding father
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...
.


Closure

On 26 February 2019, Global announced Heart Wiltshire would be merged with three sister stations in Bristol and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall and
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 ...
. 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 Wiltshire's studios in Swindon closed with operations moving to
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 ceased local programming on 31 May 2019. Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London.
Heart West Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West and the South West of England from studios in Bristol. The station launched on 3 June 2019, following a merger of four ...
began broadcasting regional programming on 3 June 2019.Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast
Radio Today, 29 April 2019


Notable former presenters

*
Ralph Bernard Ralph Mitchell Bernard (born 11 February 1953) is a British journalist, and a former chief executive of commercial radio group GCap Media. Early life He attended Caterham High School in north-east London. Career He started his career as a journal ...
*
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 ...
*
Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...
*
Vic Morgan ''The Business'' is a Television in Canada, Canadian television series, which airs on The Movie Network in Canada and Independent Film Channel, IFC in the United States. The show centres on Vic Morgan (Rob Deleeuw), an adult film director of ...
*
Kirsten O'Brien Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien (born 23 February 1972) is an English television presenter and actress. She is perhaps best known for her work presenting for the BBC, including the popular CBBC art programme ''SMart'' from 1999 to 2009, and CBeebies pr ...
*
Peter Rowell Peter Rowell (born 17 June 1958) is an English former radio and television presenter. Rowell spent much of his career working in the West of England. In March 2012, he was jailed for six years after admitting 12 charges of indecent sexual ass ...
*
Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians * T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and prod ...
*
Graham Torrington Graham Torrington (born 1960) is a British radio presenter and broadcaster. Radio work Romantica After starting out as a hospital radio presenter, Torrington joined Birmingham's BRMB in the 1980s to cover an overnight programme for Steve Denn ...
*
Charlie Wolf Stephen Linsky (born 12 April 1959) better known as Charlie Wolf, is a British-based American radio talk show host, disc jockey and political commentator, and formerly the Communications Director of Republicans Abroad UK. Wolf previously pres ...


See also

*
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 ...
* Heart Bath *
Heart Bristol Heart 96.3 (formerly GWR FM Bristol) is a radio station serving Bristol and surrounding areas and broadcasting on 96.3 MHz in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. Launched in 1981 as Radio West, it was merged with neighbouring Wiltshire Radio a ...
*
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. ...
*
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 ...


References


Further reading

*''The Radio Companion'' by Paul Donovan, *''Commercial Radio Pocket Book'' by Commercial Radio Companies Association *''Radio Authority Pocket Book'' 1992-2003 by 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 ...

Transdiffusion


External links


Heart Wiltshire
{{Radio stations in South West England Companies based in Swindon Radio stations established in 1982
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 ...
Radio stations in Wiltshire Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom 1982 establishments in England