Heart East 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 radi ...

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 to t ...

network. It broadcasts to the East of England from studios in Milton Keynes. The station launched on 3 June 2019, following a merger of four Heart stations in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, East Anglia,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

and the Four Counties.

History

Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content on commercial radio, Heart East is permitted to share all programmes between ten licences located in the

ITV Anglia ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated ...

broadcast region. Previously, these licences broadcast 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 Radio Orwell in October 1975, broadcasting from

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

and serving Suffolk and north

. Orwell's owners,

Suffolk Group Radio Suffolk Group Radio was the parent company for two Independent Local Radio stations serving the county of Suffolk in England. The Stations Radio Orwell began transmissions from Electric House, Ipswich on 28 October 1975. It was one of the orig ...

, went onto launch a separate station for west Suffolk, Saxon Radio, from

Bury St Edmonds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

in November 1982. The two Suffolk stations were merged in 1992 to form SGR FM. *

Hereward Radio Heart Peterborough (formerly Hereward FM) was an Independent Local Radio station serving Cambridgeshire, south Lincolnshire and west Norfolk. Launched on 10 July 1980 as Hereward Radio 225, the station was the first local service in the area, wi ...

began broadcasting from

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

in July 1980, serving

, south

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

and west

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. From October 1984, Hereward began serving Northamptonshire, but due to financial difficulties, the station withdrew from the county and the IBA readvertised the licence separately. *

Essex Radio 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 ...

began broadcasting in September 1981, initially from

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

before moving to

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

in 2004. * 97.6 Chiltern FM began broadcasting from

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

in October 1981, serving north west and central Hertfordshire, south

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

and east Buckinghamshire. * 96.9 Chiltern FM began broadcasting from

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

in June 1982, serving north

, north Hertfordshire and west

. *

Radio Broadland Radio Broadland (later Heart Norwich) was an Independent Local Radio station for Norfolk and North Suffolk, including Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, until early 2009. The station, now part of the national Heart Network, is owned and operat ...

began broadcasting from

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in October 1984, serving

and north Suffolk. * Northants 96 began broadcasting from Northampton in November 1986, serving

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. * Q103 began broadcasting from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

in February 1989, covering the Cambridge, Newmarket and Haverhill areas. * Horizon Radio began broadcasting from Milton Keynes in October 1989, serving north Buckinghamshire. * Ten-17 began broadcasting from Harlow in May 1993, serving east Hertfordshire and west

. Initially reliant on Essex FM for most of its output, it later expanded into a self-sustaining service. It was briefly known as Mercury 101.7 before reverting to Ten-17, after being brought by GWR. *

SGR Colchester Heart Colchester (formerly SGR Colchester) was a radio station broadcasting to Colchester and the surrounding areas. The station was launched in 1993 as SGR Colchester by the East Anglian Radio group, which also operated the Ipswich-based SGR-FM, ...

began broadcasting from

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

in October 1993, providing a split opt-out service for the area from its sister station in Suffolk. By the early 1990s, these stations fell into the ownership of four regional radio groups, namely

Chiltern Radio Network Chiltern Radio Network (also known as Chiltern Radio Group) was the parent group of several independent local radio stations in the 1980s and 1990s. These were divided across two networks: ''The Hot FM'' and ''SuperGold''. History Chiltern Radi ...

, the Essex FM Group,

East Anglian Radio East Anglian Radio was a company based in Norwich that operated radio stations in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in the UK. The stations owned by the group were: *Radio Broadland in Norwich. *SGR FM in Ipswich & Bury St Edmunds (origi ...

and Mid-Anglia Radio. Eventually, all four of these groups were brought 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. O ...

(later GCap Media), which was taken over by Global in 2008. In 2009, nine of the stations were rebranded as part of the rollout of the Heart network across 29 local radio stations owned by Global. Hereward FM, Northants 96, Q103, Radio Broadland, Horizon Radio and SGR relaunched in January, followed by Essex FM in June. By this point, local programming had been reduced to ten hours on weekdays and four hours at weekends. The exception was Ten-17, which was part of a separate Hit Music Network, combining its local output from Harlow with networked programming from Nottingham. During the summer of 2010, Global merged the ten stations in the east of England to four - with Ten-17 closing and joining the Heart network as a result: *

Heart Cambridgeshire Heart Cambridgeshire was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and eastern Northamptonshire and parts of surrounding counties from studios in Cambri ...

- formed from the Peterborough and Cambridgeshire stations, broadcasting from Cambridge * Heart East Anglia - formed from the Norfolk and Suffolk stations, broadcasting from Norwich *

Heart Essex Heart Essex was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Essex and East Hertfordshire from studios in Chelmsford. The station launched on Monday 26 July 2010 as a result of a merger ...

- formed from Ten-17 in Harlow and Heart's stations in Chelmsford & Southend and Colchester, broadcasting from Chelmsford *

Heart Four Counties Heart Four Counties was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire. The station launched on Friday 16 July 2010 as a r ...

- formed from the Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes, Dunstable and Bedford stations, broadcasting from Dunstable Local programming was further cut to seven hours on weekdays, although localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising continued to air as opt-outs. The Cambridgeshire and Four Counties stations latterly moved from Peterborough and Dunstable to Cambridge and Milton Keynes respectively On 26 February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Global announced it would merge the four Heart stations into one.Global to network Capital, Heart and Smooth breakfast shows
RadioToday, 26 February 2019 As of 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

and

were closed, although local newsgathering and sales staff were retained. Across the four stations, fifteen 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 from Global's Milton Keynes studios from 4-7pm on weekdays, presented by Hannah Clarkson.Public File - Milton Keynes
heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019

News

Heart East broadcasts hourly local news bulletins from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12 midday at weekends. Separate bulletins are produced for the licence areas previously served by Heart's stations in Cambridgeshire, East Anglia, Essex and the Four Counties. The Milton Keynes newsroom also produces bulletins for the

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia ...

owned Heart Hertfordshire.Heart Dunstable public file
/ref> National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times.

References

External links

(Heart East localised websites)
BedfordCambridgeshireColchesterDunstableEssex

HarlowMilton KeynesNorfolkNorthamptonshirePeterborough
{{Global Radio

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

Radio stations established in 2019 Radio stations in Bedfordshire Radio stations in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Radio stations in Essex Radio stations in Buckinghamshire Radio stations in Hertfordshire Radio stations in Norfolk Radio stations in Northamptonshire