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Heart West Midlands: Difference between revisions

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*4.00 [[Melanie Sykes]] & [[Nick Snaith]] - ''A List Chart''
*4.00 [[Melanie Sykes]] & [[Nick Snaith]] - ''A List Chart''
*7.00 [[Matt Wilkinson]]
*7.00 [[Matt Wilkinson]]
*10.00 [[Charlie Jordan(DJ)|Charlie Jordan]]
*10.00 [[Charlie Jordan (DJ)|Charlie Jordan]]
*2.00am [[Matt Jarvis]]
*2.00am [[Matt Jarvis]]



Revision as of 19:46, 1 February 2007

Heart
File:1007newlogo.gif
Broadcast areaWest Midlands
Frequency100.7 MHz
Programming
FormatContemporary
Ownership
OwnerChrysalis Group
History
First air date
September 6 1994
Links
Websitewww.heartfm.co.uk

Overview

100.7 Heart fm is a radio station based in Birmingham, with a regional license to broadcast to the West Midlands. It is aimed primarily at women aged 25-44. The first song to be played on 100.7 Heart fm was Something Got Me Started, by Simply Red. It was the first ever radio station owned by Chrysalis Radio, which owns the other Heart stations in London and Nottingham, as well as the Galaxy Network, LBC and The Arrow radio brands.

Early days

Heart began broadcasting on the 6th of September 1994, as the UK's third Independent Regional Radio station, five days after Century Radio and Jazz FM North West. with its original format of "soft adult conteporary" music, comprising of such artists as Lionel Richie, Simply Red and Tina Turner. Reflecting this, its early slogan described the station as being "100.7 degrees cooler".

Its programming format was modified in 1996, a year after Chrysalis launched Heart 106.2 in London. The new format saw the "soft" AC music replaced with a generally more neutral music playlist, with more upbeat music from the same big-name artists like Phil Collins. This saw radio audience listening figures grow to equal that of local rival BRMB, which was for a long time undisputed number one commercial radio in the West Midlands. New disc-jockeys were brought in from other stations; Daryl Denham arrived in 2000 from Hallam FM's breakfast show in a high-profile move. Ian Danter and Carlos also arrived from BRMB. Another of Heart's most popular DJs was Tushar Makwana who tragically was killed in 2004 following a burgulary at his home which left him injured on his doorstep link. The station's staff paid tribute on-air and campaigned for the person(s) responsible to be brought to justice.

Recent History

Following a corporate re-brand of the station's logo for both Heart fm and Heart 106.2 London, the more contemporary look was soon reflected in the station's sound. The format is now described as more Hot AC and features more music from the likes of Natasha Bedingfield, James Blunt and Keane as well as soul music from the 1970s, branded as Club Classics. During this relaunch long-time DJs departed the station, such as Ian Danter, Carlos, Paul Bryant and Nick Piercey, to be replaced by younger DJs such as Steve Denyer, Dave Clarke and Matt Wilkinson.

2005 saw the evacuation of its studios after West Midlands Police alerted staff and other civilians following a bomb alert in Birmingham's Broad Street complex station link. The station continued to operate initially relaying sister station LBC News 1152 before transmission switched to the studios of Century 106 (now Heart 106) in Nottingham which broadcast reports from DNN Journalists John Collins and Dave Richards who had to broadcast from a phone booth due to restrictions on the use of mobile phones.

On September 11th 2006, new station idents and jingles were used for the first time, and saw the station referred to purely as 'Heart' rather than '100.7 Heart fm'.

Station Information

Heart FM is the most listened-to radio station in the West Midlands region, having successfully overtaken its City Rivals BRMB, as well as all of the BBC stations both in Birmingham, and in the wider West Midlands region.

The station is housed in 111 Broad Street - the same building as Chrysalis-owned sister stations Galaxy 102.2 and The Arrow. The Digital News Network (DNN) also broadcasted from the building until it ceased transmission in July 2006, to be replaced by LBC, whose regional DAB service was fully rolled out on September 1. Regional news continues to be broadcast from the building on Heart and Galaxy, but LBC's regional news for the West Midlands is actually broadcast from London.

The FM signal comes from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter, and is audible throughout a large part of the Midlands, including the East Midlands towns of Leicester, Derby and parts of Nottingham. This means that there is a large area which is covered by both 100.7 Heart fm, and its East Midlands counterpart, Heart 106. The station is available on DAB, thanks to eight transmitters throughout the West Midlands on the MXR 12A multiplex, with strong signals from The Wrekin and Ilmington in south Warwickshire.

Current Schedule




Past DJ's on Heart

Logos

Images used with permission of 100.7 Heart fm.

See also