Heart Wirral (formerly Wirral's Buzz) was an

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 broadcasting to the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

, sharing its facilities with Heart Wrexham and

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 ...

, in

Gwersyllt Gwersyllt () is an urban village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The densely populated village is one of Wrexham's largest and is situated in the north western suburbs of the city, bordering the nearby villages of Llay, Cefn-y ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

History

The station, owned 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 ...

(originally by

Marcher Radio Group Marcher Radio Group Ltd, previously Marcher Sound Ltd, was a British media organisation which operated several radio stations in north Wales and northwest England. The company, now owned by Global Radio (but legally still existing,) founded the ...

), broadcast a mix of popular music and presenter chat. Launched in 1989 as ''MFM 97.1'' (an opt-out service from the main

Marcher Sound Heart Cheshire and North East Wales (formerly Marcher Sound and previously MFM 103.4) was an independent radio station broadcasting to north east Wales and Cheshire from its Mold Road studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexham, also shared with Gold and H ...

output), the station relaunched as ''Wirral's Buzz'' on 14 February 1999, before becoming ''Heart Wirral'' in 2009. The station was broadcast from the Storeton transmitter on

Storeton Storeton is a small village on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is situated to the west of the town of Bebington and is made up of Great Storeton and Little Storeton, which is classified as a hamlet. At the 2001 Census the population of Storeto ...

ridge in

Higher Bebington Bebington () is a town and unparished area within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it lies south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula. Ne ...

. Although the area of the licence was Wirral, it could be received as far east as

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

and as far west as

Ruthin Ruthin ( ; cy, Rhuthun) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and ...

in the Heart Wrexham region. In November 2005, it was announced that GCap's former

stations, including ''Buzz'', were to be sold. This was due to the fact that they were outside of the company's primary target area, however in 2006 GCap decided to call off the sales. Up until June 2008, the station's line-up of networked shows featured some programming from the Century lineup such as Hairbrush Divas. Century's former owner

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 ...

merged with Buzz's former owner GWR to form GCap Media.

Closure

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to close Heart Wirral and merge the station with Heart Cheshire and North East Wales and

Heart North Wales Coast Heart North Wales Coast (formerly Coast 96.3 and originally Marcher Coast FM) was an independent local radio station broadcast along the North Wales coast, and owned & operated by Global Radio. The station, which broadcast from studios in Colwy ...

as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 15. ''

Heart North West and Wales Capital North West and Wales is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cheshire, the Wirral Peninsula & North Wales. The station broadcasts from its studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexha ...

'', began broadcasting from Wrexham on Friday 2 July 2010.Heart slims but strengthens
, RadioToday, 21 June 2010 Following Global's purchase of the

Real Radio Real Radio was a network of five regional radio stations broadcasting to North East England, North West England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire. Each station broadcast a mix of local and networked programming. On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the station ...

and

Smooth Radio Smooth Radio may refer to: * Smooth Radio (2010), the original national network in the UK * Smooth Radio (2014) See also * Smoothfm smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by NOVA Entertainment. From original ...

stations from

GMG Radio GMG Radio, and for a short while Real and Smooth Limited, was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Rad ...

in 2012, Heart North West and Wales was replaced by ''

Capital North West and Wales Capital North West and Wales is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cheshire, the Wirral Peninsula & North Wales. The station broadcasts from its studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexh ...

'', as the previous ''Real Radio North West'' and ''Real Radio Wales'' stations were rebranded as ''

Heart North West Heart North West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North West England from studios in the Spinningfields area of Manchester city centre. Overview Century Radio (1998–2009 ...

'' and ''

Heart Wales Heart South Wales is an regional radio station that broadcasts to South and West Wales from studios in Cardiff Bay. The station is owned and operated by Global Radio and forms part of the expanded Heart radio network of stations. Background Rea ...

'', along with the rest of the Real Radio network of stations.

References

{{Global Radio Radio stations in Merseyside Radio stations established in 1989 1989 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England Marcher Radio Group Wirral Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations disestablished in 2010