Heart Berkshire

Last updated

Heart Berkshire
Broadcast area Berkshire and north Hampshire
Frequency FM: 97.0, (Reading)
102.9 (Basingstoke and Whitchurch)
103.4 (Henley-on-Thames) MHz
DAB: 12D (Reading and Basingstoke)
RDS HEART
BrandingHeart
Programming
Format Hot AC
History
First air date
8 March 1976
Last air date
9 July 2010
Former names
Radio 210 (1976–1988)
210-FM
(1988–1994)
2-Ten FM (1994–2009)
Former frequencies
1431 MW

Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Berkshire and North Hampshire from studios in Reading.

Contents

About

Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its medium-wave frequency of 210 metres (1431 kHz). It later became known as 210-FM, later as 2-Ten FM, and was part of The One Network group of stations owned and operated by Global Radio by 2008. The station was rebranded a year later as part of the Heart Network. [1]

History

The original parent company, Radio Kennet had won the licence to broadcast as far back as 1974, but plans for the station to float on the London Stock Exchange as soon as it commenced broadcasting failed as it did not raise enough funding. Radio Kennet returned in 1976 as Thames Valley Broadcasting.

Radio 210 first broadcast on 8 March 1976 at 6 a.m. Former BBC Radio 2 DJ Paul Hollingdale played the Carpenters record "We've Only Just Begun" at the start of his four-hour breakfast show. Other early presenters were Steve Wright, Mike Read, Tony Fox, Steve Crozier ("Yer Man Croze"), Mike Matthews, John Flower, Tony Holden, Steve Wood, Mike Quinn, Dave Glass, John Hayes (deceased), Gavin McCoy, Bob Morrison, Graham Ledger, Mike Sanderson (the Folk Show), Martin Dean (the Soul Show) and news editor David Addis. Rising stars Mike Read and Steve Wright co-hosted the Read & Wright Show at weekends before gaining daily shows and later pursuing high-profile careers on BBC Radio 1. Other presenters made the opposite move, leaving the BBC to join Radio 210, including Bob Harris and David Hamilton, the latter having defected from BBC Radio 2 because of changes in that station's music policy.

Radio 210 initially only served Reading with a transmitter on 97.0 MHz FM on top of The Butts shopping centre; however that changed when it began broadcasting from the Hannington transmitter on a second frequency of 102.9 MHz at midday 1 January 1987 to serve a wider area of Berkshire and north Hampshire, [2] with a Henley-on-Thames relay added in 1997.

Split frequencies

In 1990, Radio 210 split frequencies (as required then to do so by Government due to a radio act recently passed to end simulcasting) to provide two services – 210-FM (Now broadcasting as Heart South) and 210 Classic Gold Radio. The AM transmitter was actually a relay of Brunel Classic Gold's service from Bristol. Also, broadcast to Bournemouth, Devon, & Swindon. It took a couple of networked shows. One Sunday Lunchtime show with David Hamilton, and also Jimmy Savile's Saviles Travels (1990–92). It stopped taking that because it was said that they preferred to broadcast their own shows. Classic Gold featured slightly more known presenters like Tony Gillham (head of music), and Trevor Fry. Paul Burnett joined in 1996, and Tony Blackburn a few years later. They were both dropped in July 2007, when Classic Gold was taken over by GCap Media, and became known as Gold.

Radio 210 claimed[ according to whom? ] to be "the only comprehensive travel service in the Thames Valley and North Hampshire". The station broadcast news bulletins on the hour every hour and regional news during certain points throughout the day.

Network restructuring

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to merge Heart Berkshire with Heart Oxfordshire as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 15. [3] The new station, Heart Thames Valley began broadcasting from Reading on 9 July 2010. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital London</span> Radio station in London, England

Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Radio Oxford</span> Radio station in Oxford

BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire.

BBC Radio Berkshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Berkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds. It has studios at Thames Valley Park near Reading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Radio Solent</span> BBC Local Radio service for Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight, England

BBC Radio Solent is the BBC's local radio station serving Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight, broadcasting on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Havelock Road in Southampton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Hampshire</span> Former British radio station

Heart Hampshire was a British Independent Local Radio station serving South Hampshire, West Sussex and Isle of Wight primarily for Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester and Chichester. The station served an area of England with a high proportion of commuters to London and a higher-than-average disposable income from middle-class families and people over 45. Its target age range was 25–45.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Somerset</span> Radio station in Chard, Burnham-on-Sea and Weston-super-Mare

Heart Somerset was an Independent Local Radio station serving Somerset, England. Originally owned by Orchard Media Ltd, the company was purchased by GWR Group in 1999, and subsequently became owned by GCap Media in 2005. Somerset's Orchard FM broadcast from studios at Haygrove House at Shoreditch near Taunton Racecourse, Taunton, adjacent to the M5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Gloucestershire</span> Former British radio station

Heart Gloucestershire was a British Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Gloucestershire from studios in Gloucester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Kent</span> Radio station in Whitstable

Heart Kent was an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Kent from studios at John Wilson Business Park in Whitstable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Oxfordshire</span> Radio station in Oxford, England

Heart Oxfordshire was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Oxfordshire on 102.6 MHz FM from the Oxford transmitting station and 97.4 MHz FM from a relay station at Farthinghoe, near Banbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold (British radio network)</span> United Kingdom oldies radio network

Gold Radio is a network of oldies radio stations in the United Kingdom, which was formed by the merger of the Capital Gold network and the Classic Gold network in August 2007. The station relaunched in March 2014 as a partly-automated service, broadcasting in fewer areas, after many of Gold's local AM/DAB frequencies were transferred to Smooth Radio. Most programming is broadcast from the Global Radio studios in Leicester Square, London.

Paul Burnett is an English radio disc jockey.

BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester.

Pennine Radio was the original name for what is now Hits Radio West Yorkshire in Bradford, the Independent Local Radio station for West Yorkshire, England. It was launched on 16 September 1975.

Xtra AM was an Independent Local Radio station which was on the air between 1989 and 1998. It was broadcast to much of Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire and was the 'oldies' station which took over the mediumwave frequencies of both BRMB and Mercia FM. The programming came from the BRMB studios in Aston, Birmingham, and the signal was relayed from the Langley Mill transmitter (Birmingham) and Shilton (Coventry). The Coventry station was acquired in 1993 by GWR Group and replaced by Classic Gold, while the Birmingham station continued until 1998 when it was replaced by Capital Gold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hits Radio Manchester</span> British radio station

Hits Radio Manchester, formerly Key 103, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Thames Valley</span> Radio station in Reading

Heart Thames Valley was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Berkshire, Oxfordshire, north Hampshire and parts of west Buckinghamshire from studios in Reading, southern England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smooth Radio (2014)</span> Radio station in London

Smooth Radio is a network of local radio stations broadcasting on FM and DAB in the United Kingdom. It retains one outlet on AM. Smooth Radio previously featured a soft adult contemporary radio format but has introduced more upbeat music since 2023. Launched in March 2014, it replaced the national Smooth Radio that had launched in 2010 on FM and DAB, and most outlets of Gold on AM.

This is a timeline of Capital London, previously known as Capital Radio, 95.8 Capital FM or similar variations, from its initial period as an Independent Local Radio station for Greater London to the present day CHR network serving most of the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart South</span> British radio station

Heart South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the south and south east of England from studios in Fareham, Hampshire.

References


51°26′32″N1°02′14″W / 51.4422°N 1.0372°W / 51.4422; -1.0372

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.