Heart is a network of 13 independent adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming, although only the stations in Scotland and Wales still have their own shows. Ten of the stations are owned and operated by Global, while the other three are owned and operated under separate franchise agreements. The national version of the network is widely available on Global Player, Freeview, Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media and Digital One DAB.
According to RAJAR as of Q4 2025, the entire Heart network has been named "UK biggest radio brand," receiving 12.71 million weekly listeners, beating edgily behind their rival station BBC Radio 2 (with 12.7 million). Heart Breakfast, hosted by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, has 4.1 million listeners, on par with BBC Radio 1 morning show, hosted by Greg James.
History
Launch Heart began broadcasting in the West Midlands on 6 September 1994 as 100.7 Heart FM, becoming the UK's third Independent Regional Radio station, five days after Century Radio in North East England, and Jazz FM North West.
The first song to be played on 100.7 Heart FM was Something Got Me Started by Simply Red. Its original format of "soft adult contemporary" music included artists such as Lionel Richie and Tina Turner. Reflecting this, its early slogan was 100.7 Degrees Cooler!
Heart 106.2 began test transmissions in London in August 1995, prior to the station launch on 5 September. This included live broadcasts of WPLJ from New York City.
In 1996 the station's original "soft AC" music format was replaced with a generally more neutral Hot AC playlist. Century 106 in the East Midlands became the third station of the Heart network in 2005 after GCap Media sold Century. Chrysalis' radio holdings were sold to Global Radio in 2007.
When GCap Media was taken over by Global Radio in 2008, it announced plans to dissolve the 41-station One Network, with one station (Power FM) becoming part of the Galaxy network, four stations (BRMB, Beacon Radio, Mercia FM and Wyvern FM) forming a West Midlands regional network, seven stations joining Capital FM to form The Hit Music Network and the remaining 29 stations forming the Heart Network.
Heart East Midlands was sold to Orion Media, along with the West Midlands network of local stations, due to the same competition concerns that had forced its earlier sale to Chrysalis.
Network restructuring Between June and September 2010, Global Radio merged the majority of the 33 Heart stations to create a smaller network of 18 local and regional stations, in line with new OFCOM guidelines on local output requirements. Two Hit Music Network stations were also closed and merged with Heart stations.
Merged station Closed stations City of licenceHeart Cambridgeshire Heart PeterboroughHeart Cambridge Peterborough later Cambridge Heart South West (later Heart West) Heart Exeter and Heart Torbay Heart Plymouth Heart South Devon Heart North Devon ExeterHeart East Anglia Heart NorwichHeart Ipswich NorwichHeart Essex Heart Chelmsford & SouthendHeart ColchesterTen 17 (rebranded) ChelmsfordHeart Hertfordshire Rebranded from Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6 WatfordHeart Four Counties Heart Northants Heart Milton KeynesHeart DunstableHeart Bedford Dunstable, later Milton KeynesHeart North West and Wales Heart North Wales CoastHeart Cheshire and North East WalesHeart Wirral WrexhamHeart South Coast Heart Dorset & New ForestHeart Hampshire FarehamHeart Sussex and Surrey Heart SussexMercury FM (rebranded) BrightonHeart Thames Valley Heart BerkshireHeart Oxfordshire ReadingHeart West Country Heart BristolHeart SomersetHeart Bath Bristol
Stations in Gloucestershire, Kent, London, the West Midlands, the East Midlands and Wiltshire were unaffected by the changes. Heart Cymru, serving Gwynedd and Anglesey, moved its studios from Bangor to Wrexham but retained its extended local output of 10 hours on weekdays and 8 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Heart North West and Wales retained an opt-out on 96.3FM (the North Wales Coast) for Welsh language programming.
On 1 January 2011, Orion Media, the owners of Heart East Midlands (one of the original three Heart stations) renamed and relaunched the station as 'Gem 106', ending a franchise agreement with Global Radio formed when Global purchased GCap – the agreement allowed Orion to use the Heart identity and carry networked programming from London. The move saw Heart's networked programming replaced by local output from Nottingham.
Network expansion On 19 March 2012, Global Radio announced it had bought the Cornwall ILR station Atlantic FM from joint owners Tindle Radio and Camel Media.Atlantic FM sold to Global to become Heart, RadioToday, 19 March 2012 Atlantic FM became part of the Heart Network and merged with Heart Devon on Monday 7 May 2012 to form Heart South West, which is based in Exeter.UKRD responds to Atlantic's Heart switch, RadioToday, 19 March 2012
On 6 February 2014, Global Radio announced it would be rebranding all Real Radio stations as Heart and would be selling Real Radio Yorkshire and the Northern licence for Real Radio Wales to Communicorp. The Communicorp-owned stations use Heart's network programming and branding under a franchise agreement with Global.
Global Radio extended the Heart network to the Real Radio network of regional stations from Tuesday 6 May 2014.Global confirms Heart expansion details, Radio Today, 14 April 2014 The two stations based in Wrexham – Heart North West and Wales and Heart Cymru – became part of the Capital FM Network on the same date.
On 20 November 2017, CN Group announced The Bay would be sold to Global along with sister station Lakeland Radio – the sale was finalised by 1 December 2017.The Bay Radio Sold To Global Entertainment Group, The Bay, 20 November 2017 The Bay was rebranded as Heart, with Lakeland Radio becoming Smooth on 4 March 2018.Plans announced for The Bay and Lakeland Radio – RadioToday, Radio Today, 8 January 2018
Music from the 1960s, 1970s & 1980s was removed from the original FM station after Christmas 2017.
Consolidation In February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, it was announced Heart would replace its local breakfast and weekend shows with additional networked programming from London by the end of the year. This reduced total weekly hours of local programming on each station from 43 to 15 and led to dozens of job losses.Global to network Capital, Heart and Smooth breakfast shows, RadioToday, 26 February 2019
Drivetime output were reduced from 23 localised shows to 10 programmes covering enlarged areas, formed from the merger of Heart stations. Ten studios producing local programming were closed. Localised news, traffic updates and advertising was retained across all licence areas.Public File, heart.co.uk, 1 June 2019
In April 2019, it was reported the local Heart Breakfast shows would be replaced by a national Heart Breakfast show from London on 3 June 2019, presented by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden.Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast, Radio Today, 29 April 2019 The merging stations ceased local output on 31 May 2019.
In Hertfordshire, a further change saw Heart Hertfordshire, based in Watford, merged with BOB fm – following its acquisition by Communicorp – to form a single countywide service.
Stations in the North East of England, Wales, central and southern Scotland, the West Midlands and Yorkshire continue to serve their single licence areas as before.
Merged stationClosed stationsCity of licenceHeart East Heart CambridgeshireHeart East AngliaHeart EssexHeart Four Counties (studios retained) Milton KeynesHeart Hertfordshire BOB fmHeart Hertfordshire (studios retained) WatfordHeart North West Heart North Lancashire & CumbriaHeart North West (studios retained) ManchesterHeart South Heart KentHeart Solent (studios retained)Heart Sussex and SurreyHeart Thames Valley FarehamHeart West Heart GloucestershireHeart South WestHeart West Country (studios retained)Heart Wiltshire Bristol
Heart Scotland re-introduces local programming In April 2023, it was announced Heart Scotland would reintroduce local breakfast, daytime and weekend programming from 2 May 2023, as part of a major expansion of Global's Scottish radio operations.Global makes major investment in Glasgow broadcast centre, Radio Today, 11 April 2023Fresh new line-ups revealed for Heart Scotland and Capital Scotland, Global, 11 April 2023
The end of local and regional programming in England Heart stations in England ended local and regional programming on 21 February 2025, but retaining local news bulletins and advertising. Scotland and Wales will retain their respective local programming.Global introduces new ‘nations strategy’ and drops local and regional shows in England, Roy Martin, Radio Today, 9 January 2025National presenters confirmed for Heart, Capital and Smooth in England, Roy Martin, Radio Today, 5 February 2025Global confirms new nationwide radio shows for Heart, Capital & Smooth, Global, 5 February 2025
List of stations Nations As of 24 February 2025, Heart's nations studios are:
Heart stationStudiosHeart EastHeart HertfordshireHeart London (HQ retained)Heart North EastHeart North WestHeart SouthHeart WestHeart West MidlandsHeart YorkshireLondon Heart North WalesHeart South Wales (studios retained)Cardiff BayHeart ScotlandGlasgow
Spin-offs As of 12 September 2024, Heart's spin-offs consist of ten stations, broadcast from Global's London headquarters: YearsHeart stationNotes2019–present Heart 70s 2017–present Heart 80s 2019–present Heart 90s 2022–present Heart 00s Replaced Capital Xtra Reloaded on national DAB+.2024–present Heart 10s 2019–present Heart Dance Weekend evening "Club Classics" programmes simulcast with Heart2024–present Heart Love 2024–present Heart Musicals 2016– Heart UK Originally Heart extra with automated daytime between 10am to 4pm Weekdays, relaunched 2020. It is the main feed for Heart network programming, with national advertising for regions [especially Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands] that don't have a Heart station on FM.2020– Heart Xmas usually available from September to January, however this varies each year
Programming and presenters Heart's network programming is produced and broadcast from the headquarters of Global at Leicester Square in central London. Most of the network's output is broadcast live, although some weekend shows are voicetracked.Public File – Heart North Wales Heart, 6 May 2014
As of 21 June 2019, Heart's Club Classics is simulcast with sister station Heart Dance.Global to launch Heart Dance with Toby Anstis on Breakfast, Radio Today, 17 June 2019 The EE Official Big Top 40 From Global on Sunday afternoons is simulcast with Heart's sister network, Capital.
Networked presenters Lineup for national feed (excluding the public/bank holidays):
Guy Howard, weekdays 1–4am Lindsey Russell, weekdays 4–6:30am Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, weekdays 6:30–10am (Heart's Breakfast) Pandora Christie, weekdays 10am–1pm & Saturday 7–11pm (Heart's Club Classics) Matt Wilkinson, weekdays 1–4pm JK and Kelly Brook, weekdays 4–7pm Dev Griffin, weekdays (excludes Fridays) 7–10pm & Saturday 12–4pm Ben Atkinson, weekdays 10pm–1am Toby Anstis (Heart's Club Classics), Friday 7–11pm Seb Bailey, weekends 1–6am Ant Payne, weekends 6–9am Mark Wright & Olly Murs, Saturday 9am–12pm Vicky Pattison, Saturday 4–7pm Rezzy Ghadjar, Friday & Saturday 11pm–1am Zoe Hardman, Sunday 9am–12pm Yasmin Evans, Sunday 12–4pm Will Manning (for The Official Big Top 40), Sunday 4–7pm Emma Bunton, Sunday 7–10pm Anna Whitehouse, Sunday 10pm–1am
Heart Decade Stations (70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s & Dance): Carlos, Heart 70s Simon Beale, Heart 80s Kevin Hughes, Heart 90s Fia Tarrant, Heart 00s breakfast Ashley Roberts, Heart 00s weekend afternoons