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Heart North 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 radio ...
owned and operated by Global 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
North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
from studios in Newcastle.


History


Century Radio

Century Radio was the first regional station for
North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...
and also was the first to use the
Century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...
brand, which followed a 'personality' format, mixing speech and music. The station was originally based beside the Tyne Bridge in
Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
, before relocating to
Team Valley Team Valley is a trading estate located in Gateshead. It is home to the Retail World retail park, with many large, international companies are based in the area's trading estate. In 2017, there were approximately 700 companies on the estate, empl ...
in 2008 to share a building with fellow
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 ...
stations,
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 ...
and
Rock Radio Rock Radio was a brand of radio stations in the United Kingdom owned by GMG Radio. 96.3 Rock Radio was the first station in the network. It operated in West Central Scotland. The station was launched on the frequency which was formerly used by ...
. The station was originally called Century Radio, before changing its name to Century FM then reverting to the original name in 2008. The station was set up by Border Television, with John Myers as
managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
and
John Simons John Simons (John Potts) is a British radio executive, former group programming director for GMG Radio now working as an International Radio Consultant, mainly in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Biography Simons began his career in 1979, ...
as programme director. Myers presented the breakfast show under the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
of John Morgan. The first song played on air was "A Star is Born". A 'listener's club' was formed, with parties at locations around the region attended by the station's presenters. The Jingling Gate in Stanley, County Durham was the most common location, but other events were held at the
Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...
and the Dolphin Centre in
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
. Late-night
phone-in In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio ( ...
presenter Mike 'The Mouth' Elliott once caused controversy by walking out during his show. Elliot took an extended break after this controversy, during which time he appeared in the film '' Billy Elliot'' as boxing coach George Watson. He was also fired in January 2000 when bosses claimed that he was intoxicated on air. However, Elliott claims that he was "stoned out of his tree" on
Benylin Benylin is a brand name owned by Johnson & Johnson for a range of cough, cold and flu medications. Some Benylin products also contain codeine, which is used to treat pain, cough and diarrhea. The flagship cough syrup and cold care brand is mark ...
while trying to fight off a heavy cold. He was reemployed when Capital Radio took over the station. Ex- Metro Radio presenter Steve Colman's highly marketed introduction to the breakfast show was very unpopular, and he was sacked after just three weeks in August 1996. It was revealed that audiences had decreased rapidly, and businesses had threatened to pull their advertising. Colman is now with
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 ...
. Jeff Stephenson replaced Myers as managing director, and John Caine replaced Simons. Simons left the station for Talksport, and Myers left Gateshead to concentrate on setting up
105.4 Century FM 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 ...
in Salford and relaunching
106 Century FM Gem is an Independent Local Radio station based in Nottingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 31 ...
in Nottingham. Border sold the Century brand to GCap Media, and Myers left the group to head
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 ...
, where he set up the similar Real Radio network. Simons rejoined Myers to establish the Real and Smooth FM regional stations. In October 2006 GMG Radio acquired the Century brand from GCa
Wayback Machine
Paul Smith, a former BBC and commercial radio producer, then joined Century as Programme Controller, and Sales Director
Debbie Bowman Deborah Ann Bowman-Sullivan (born 4 July 1963) in Southport, Queensland) is an Australian former field hockey defender, who won the gold medal with the Women's National Team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. As captain, Bowm ...
was promoted to managing director. Smith left the company after the current Programme Director Kevin Howard joined the company in September 2007.


Real Radio

On 18 December 2008 it was announced that Century Radio would be re-branded as Real Radio from 30 March 2009. The station has previously broadcast extensively on
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
, a passion in the north east, and had a particularly close relationship with both
Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
and
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...
. The station began its association with the game with the 1994 launch of 'The Big Mal Football Phone-In' hosted by Teesside presenter and Boro fan Dave Roberts and flamboyant ex-manager
Malcolm Allison Malcolm Alexander Allison (5 September 1927 – 14 October 2010) was an English football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Mal", he was one of English football's most flamboyant and intriguing characters because of his panache, fedora and ...
. The station then signed an exclusive radio rights deal with
Middlesbrough FC Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional football club in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium ...
with Roberts and Allison joined by local BBC broadcaster
Ali Brownlee Alastair Brownlee (14 April 1959 – 14 February 2016) was an English radio broadcaster best known for his coverage of Middlesbrough F.C. on BBC Tees from 1982 onwards. His connection to the club earned him the honorific "Voice of the Boro". ...
and the resultant 'Roberts & Brownlee Show' was born – a radio show biased in its commentary style towards Middlesbrough, so much so that Roberts was attacked in his commentary position by a disgruntled Newcastle fan at half time during a Tyne Tees derby at St James's Park. Two famous ex-players for local sides, Malcolm Macdonald, who played for Newcastle United and Bernie Slaven, who played for
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...
, presented the ''Legends Football Phone-In'' on weekday evenings, alongside ex-
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
player
Eric Gates Eric Lazenby Gates (born on 26 June 1955) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. Gates' brother Bill was also a professional footballer who played for Middlesbrough from 1961 to 1973. Club career Ipswich Town ...
, and latterly,
FA Cup Final 1973 The 1973 FA Cup Final was the 92nd final of the FA Cup. It took place on 5 May 1973 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Leeds United, the previous season's winners and one of the dominant teams in English football at the time, and Sund ...
winner
Micky Horswill Michael Frederick Horswill (born 6 March 1953 in Annfield Plain, County Durham) is a former English professional footballer, who played for Sunderland, Manchester City, Plymouth Argyle, Hull City, Happy Valley of Hong Kong and Carlisle United ...
. Live match commentaries on Newcastle United and Sunderland matches aired until the end of the 2010–11 season. The ''Legends Football Phone In'' was dropped following the end of the 2011–12 season. The phone-in later moved to
Star Radio North East Rathergood Radio, formerly known as Star Radio (in County Durham), was an independent local radio station. It formerly broadcast in Darlington, County Durham, North Yorkshire and surrounding areas on FM. The County Durham licences were owned and ...
and several community radio stations but was axed within a year.


Heart

On 25 June 2012, it was announced Global (the owner of stations such as
Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
and
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 ...
) had bought
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 ...
. The former GMG stations, including Real Radio, were placed under a hold separate company known as Real and Smooth Limited. As of 5 November 2012, the station's local programming consisted of a daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows from
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
with most non-peak output broadcast from Salford Quays. On 6 February 2014, Global announced it would be rebranding all Real Radio stations as Heart. Real Radio North East began a gradual transition to the Heart branding on 24 March 2014. The Real Radio branding was phased out a month later ahead of a full relaunch as Heart North East on 6 May 2014. Around the time of the rebrand, the station's audience share was 3.8% (as of June 2014). Gary Philipson and Lisa Shaw presented their final breakfast show in December 2014 after almost five years at the station. Justin Lockwood and Kelly Scott were promoted from the drivetime show and replaced the duo.
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 ...
presenter Tom Campbell joined inturn to takeover from Lockwood and Scott. In May 2015, Heart North East moved to new studios at new studios at Wellbar Central in Newcastle city centre, shared with sister station Capital North East and Communicorp-owned
Smooth North East Smooth North East is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne. Overview GMG Radio ownership The licence for the ...
. In February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Global announced it would replace Heart North East's local breakfast and weekend shows with networked programming from London. Breakfast presenters Justin Lockwood and Kelly Scott, alongside drivetime presenter Tom Campbell left the station in May 2019, with the latter joining wrestling-centric YouTube channel Cultaholic. As of 3 June 2019, the station's local output consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside local news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.


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. Regional programming is produced and broadcast from Global's Newcastle studios from 4-7pm on weekdays, presented by Emil Franchi.


News

Global's Newcastle newsroom broadcasts hourly regional news bulletins from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and from 6am to 12pm at weekends with headlines on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows. National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times.


Notable former presenters

*
Ali Brownlee Alastair Brownlee (14 April 1959 – 14 February 2016) was an English radio broadcaster best known for his coverage of Middlesbrough F.C. on BBC Tees from 1982 onwards. His connection to the club earned him the honorific "Voice of the Boro". ...
*
Wes Butters Wesley Paul Butters (born 4 May 1979, in Salford), is a radio broadcaster, formerly of BBC Radio 1, and writer. Early life Butters attended Buile Hill High School in Pendleton, Salford, and studied at the University of Salford between 1995 an ...
*
Rich Clarke Richard "Rich" Clarke (born 19 August 1978) is an English radio presenter and DJ from Worcester, England, currently presenting with Global. Student radio At Royal Holloway, University of London he co-operated with future BBC journalist Ed Harry ...
*
Eric Gates Eric Lazenby Gates (born on 26 June 1955) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. Gates' brother Bill was also a professional footballer who played for Middlesbrough from 1961 to 1973. Club career Ipswich Town ...
*
Micky Horswill Michael Frederick Horswill (born 6 March 1953 in Annfield Plain, County Durham) is a former English professional footballer, who played for Sunderland, Manchester City, Plymouth Argyle, Hull City, Happy Valley of Hong Kong and Carlisle United ...
*
Roger Kennedy Roger George Kennedy (August 3, 1926 – September 30, 2011) was an American polymath whose career included banking, television production, historical writing, and museum administration, the last as director of the Smithsonian Institution's Nati ...
* Malcolm Macdonald * Bobby Moncur *
Jonathan Morrell Jonathan Morrell is an English presenter and journalist who is the Executive Producer at the BBC. He is a graduate of the media department at the University of Sunderland and has previously worked freelance at: BBC Radio Newcastle (1990–1994) ...
* Dave Roberts * Gary Rowell *
Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...
* Lisa Shaw *
Dave Sherwood Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
* Bernie Slaven * Graeme Smith * Kate Thornton


References


External links

* * {{Radio stations in North East England Radio stations in North East England
North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
Radio stations established in 1994 Mass media in Newcastle upon Tyne Mass media in Northumberland 1994 establishments in England