 | |
| Broadcast area | North East England and North Yorkshire |
|---|---|
| Frequency | FM:
|
| Branding | This is Heart |
| Programming | |
| Format | Hot Adult Contemporary |
| Network |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Global |
| History | |
First air date |
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| Links | |
| Webcast | Global Player |
| Website | www |
Heart North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle.
Century Radio was the first regional station for North East England and also was the first to use the Century brand, which followed a 'personality' format, mixing speech and music. The station was originally based beside the Tyne Bridge in Gateshead, before relocating to Team Valley in 2008 to share a building with fellow GMG Radio stations, Smooth Radio and Rock Radio. 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 and John Simons as programme director. Myers presented the breakfast show under the pseudonym 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 and the Dolphin Centre in Darlington.
Late-night phone-in 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 while trying to fight off a heavy cold. He was reemployed when Capital Radio took over the station. [1]
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 later joined Smooth North East.
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 in Salford and relaunching 106 Century FM in Nottingham.
Border sold the Century brand to GCap Media, and Myers left the group to head GMG Radio, 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 GCap.Wayback Machine Paul Smith, a former BBC and commercial radio producer, then joined Century as Programme Controller, and Sales Director Debbie Bowman was promoted to managing director. Smith left the company after the current Programme Director Kevin Howard joined the company in September 2007.
On 18 December 2008 it was announced that Century Radio would be re-branded as Real Radio from 30 March 2009. [2]
The station has previously broadcast extensively on football, a passion in the north east, and had a particularly close relationship with both Newcastle United and Middlesbrough.[ citation needed ] The station began its association with the game with the 1994 launch of 'The Big Mal Football Phone-In' hosted by Teesside presenter Dave Roberts and ex-manager Malcolm Allison. The station then signed an exclusive radio rights deal with Middlesbrough FC with Roberts and Allison joined by local BBC broadcaster Ali Brownlee and the resultant 'Roberts & Brownlee Show' was born.[ citation needed ]
Two famous ex-players for local sides, Malcolm Macdonald, who played for Newcastle United and Bernie Slaven, who played for Middlesbrough, presented the Legends Football Phone-In on weekday evenings, alongside ex-Sunderland player Eric Gates, and latterly, FA Cup Final 1973 winner Micky Horswill. Live match commentaries on Newcastle United and Sunderland matches aired until the end of the 2010–11 season. [3] The Legends Football Phone In was dropped following the end of the 2011–12 season. [4] The phone-in later moved to Star Radio North East and several community radio stations but was axed within a year. [5]
On 25 June 2012, it was announced Global (the owner of stations such as Capital and Heart) had bought GMG Radio. The former GMG stations, including Real Radio, were placed under a hold separate company known as Real and Smooth Limited. [6] [7]
As of 5 November 2012, the station's local programming consisted of a daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows from Newcastle upon Tyne with most non-peak output broadcast from Salford Quays.[ citation needed ]
On 6 February 2014, Global announced it would be rebranding all Real Radio stations as Heart. [8] 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. [9] 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. [10] Justin Lockwood and Kelly Scott were promoted from the drivetime show and replaced the duo. Heart Gloucestershire presenter Tom Campbell joined inturn to takeover from Lockwood and Scott. [11]
In May 2015, Heart North East moved to new studios at new studios at Wellbar Central in Newcastle city centre, [12] shared with sister station Capital North East and Communicorp-owned Smooth North East.
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. [13]
Breakfast presenters Justin Lockwood and Kelly Scott, [14] [15] alongside drivetime presenter Tom Campbell left the station in May 2019, with the latter joining wrestling-centric YouTube channel Cultaholic. [16]
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. [17]
All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including Heart Breakfast, presented each weekday by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden.[ citation needed ]
Regional programming is produced and broadcast from Global's Newcastle studios from 4-7pm on weekdays, [18] presented by Adam Lawrance. From 11 September 2023 Vicky Pattison will become regular co-host of the regional afternoon show. [19]
Global's Newcastle newsroom broadcasts hourly regional news bulletins from 6 am to 6 pm on weekdays and from 6 am to 12 pm at weekends with headlines on the half-hour during weekday breakfast. [18]
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.
Capital North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Heart Yorkshire is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to South and West Yorkshire from studios in Leeds.
Real Radio was a network of five regional radio stations broadcasting to North East England, North West England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire. Each station broadcasts a mix of local and networked programming. On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the stations were merged with the Heart network.
Heart South Wales is a regional radio station that broadcasts to South and West Wales from studios in Cardiff Bay. The station is owned and operated by Global Radio and forms part of the expanded Heart radio network of stations.
From 2010 to 2014, Smooth Radio was an independent, commercial, national radio station in the United Kingdom. Owned by Real and Smooth—a company formerly known as GMG Radio—the station was aimed at the over-40 demographic, and competed for its audience with BBC Radio 2. It was broadcast on the DAB Digital Radio Digital 1 national multiplex, Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media, online and on regional FM and DAB frequencies in the North West, London, North East, West Midlands, Scotland and East Midlands. Nationally the station attracted a weekly average audience of 3 million.
Clive Warren is a British radio presenter.
Heart is a network of thirteen independent adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. 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.
Smooth East Midlands is an Independent Local Radio station for the East Midlands, 107.4 MHz, 97.2 MHz, 106.8 MHz 106.0 MHz which replaced Saga 106.6 FM at 6 am on Monday 26 March 2007. It is owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network of stations. Connect FM closed and merged with Smooth East Midlands on 1 October 2019 in Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Northampton, Peterborough and Rushden.
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysalis Radio, GCap Media and GMG Radio. Global owns and operates seven core radio brands, all employing a national network strategy, including Capital, Heart, Gold, Classic FM, Smooth and LBC.
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.
Real Radio XS was a classic rock independent local radio service broadcast on DAB in various parts of the United Kingdom. It was formerly part of the Rock Radio group of stations owned by GMG Radio, and whilst initially a separate station, latterly carried programming sourced from 106.1 Real Radio XS in Manchester.
Capital Scotland is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global. It broadcasts to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Heart North and Mid Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North and Mid Wales from studios in Gwersyllt, near Wrexham.
XS Manchester is an Independent Local Radio station serving Greater Manchester, broadcasting a mix of indie and alternative rock music, speech and news output. The station is owned and operated by Communicorp UK and broadcasts from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. It is Communicorp UK's only station that does not broadcast a programme service supplied by Global.
The presenter history of Smooth Radio includes many well-known British radio personalities who made their names on networks such as Radio 1, Radio 2, and other stations. The Smooth Radio brand began life in 2004 with the Manchester-based 100.4 Smooth FM, and gradually expanded to encompass a number of regional stations; these were subsumed into a UK-wide station in 2010. The regional stations were reintroduced in 2014.
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.
Heart Scotland is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. The station relaunched as Heart on 6 May 2014, serving central and southern Scotland from studios in Glasgow city centre.
A timeline of notable events relating to Smooth Radio, a British radio station that first launched in 2004. Note that this article also includes information about the national version of Smooth Radio that existed between 2010 and 2014.
A timeline of notable events relating to Global Radio, a British media company founded in 2007.
After 15 years in the North East, and a decade in the North West of England, Century Radio is to be re-branded as Real Radio, to match sister stations in Yorkshire, Wales and Scotland.
News of the station axing the Legends appeared online this evening. One of the Legends, Bernie, has written on his website that the station has been struggling to make the show pay since it started 12 months ago. The show had previously been on Real Radio (Century) for 13 years.
Stations in the Real network are now using Heart's voice over and identifying as "The Heart of" followed by the TSA.
Heart North East's Breakfast presenter Gary Philipson and Lisa Shaw are leaving the station at the end of this month, RadioToday can reveal.
Heart North East is moving Justin Lockwood and Kelly Scott from drivetime to the breakfast show, as replacement for Gary and Lisa.
The new facilities are on the 7th floor of Wellbar Central on Gallowgate in Newcastle city centre, just next to the St James' Park football ground.
Heart will get a single breakfast show across England, Scotland and Wales on all stations owned by Global and Communicorp in the coming months – putting an end to the current line-up of 22 breakfast shows and their teams. And instead of 23 separate drivetime shows, there will be 10 covering the enlarged areas.
Jamie and Amanda will replace 21 breakfast shows on stations from Exeter to Edinburgh – meaning around 70 presenters and producers being taken away from the slot. Amanda is a replacement for Emma Bunton who left the show last year. Some breakfast presenters will be leaving the network, and some will move to drivetime, replacing the current drivetime shows.
