Heart Dorset (formerly 2CR – Two Counties Radio) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 2 ...

station, broadcast from studios at a former branch of MFI on Southcote Road in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

. Its original name was derived from the fact that its broadcast area included parts of the counties of

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. The station was merged with

Heart Hampshire Heart Hampshire (formerly Ocean FM and Ocean Sound) is a British Independent Local Radio station serving South Hampshire, West Sussex (excluding Worthing) and Isle of Wight, The Isle of Wight primarily for Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester an ...

in July 2010 to form the regional station Heart South Coast.

History

Former BBC Radio Solent presenter John Piper launched the station in 1980, with the words ''Good Morning Hampshire, Good Morning Dorset''. At that time, 2CR consisted of a ''full service'' station with music, personalities, phone-ins, and a local news service. Managing Director for the first three years, was Norman Bilton who joined them from Metro Radio in Newcastle. The station's longest serving staff member was office manager Rosemary Mundy, who worked for the station from its launch until 2009. The station originally broadcast on 828 kHz medium wave using AM from a transmitter at Fern Barrow, and on 102.3 MHz VHF Band II using FM. More recently, the medium wave broadcasts were discontinued, and DAB broadcasts were started on VHF Band III.

Network restructuring

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to close Heart Dorset and merge the station with

as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 16. The new station, '' Heart South Coast'', began from Fareham on 30 July 2010.Heart slims but strengthens
, RadioToday, 21 June 2010

Notable past presenters

* * Seán Street * Fran Godfrey * Martyn Lee * Bam Bam *

Charlie Wolf Stephen Linsky (born 12 April 1959), better known as Charlie Wolf, is a UK-based American radio talk show host, disc jockey and political commentator, and formerly the Communications Director of Republicans Abroad UK. Wolf previously presented ...

* Christian O'Connell *

Dan O'Hagan Daniel O'Hagan is a freelance football commentator and TV presenter as well as covering the UEFA Champions League for SBS in Australia and BT Sport in England. Formerly he was the voice of the world feed for the French Football League. He is best ...

References

Companies based in Bournemouth Radio stations established in 1980 Radio stations disestablished in 2010 Radio stations in Hampshire Radio stations in Dorset

Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom {{UK-radio-station-stub