Heart Sussex and Surrey

Last updated

Heart Sussex and Surrey
The Heart Network logo.svg
Broadcast area Sussex and Surrey
Frequency FM:
96.9 (Peacehaven), 97.5 (Horsham),
102 (Hastings),
102.4 (Eastbourne and Polegate),
102.7 (Reigate and Redhill)
103.5 (Brighton and Hove)
DAB: 10B (Sussex Coast), 10C (Surrey and South London)
BrandingThis is Heart
Ownership
Owner Global
History
First air date
26 July 2010
Last air date
3 June 2019
Links
Website Heart Sussex
Heart Crawley & Surrey

Heart Sussex and Surrey was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Sussex and Surrey from studios in the Portslade area of Brighton.

Contents

The station launched on Monday 26 July 2010 as a result of a merger between Heart Sussex (formerly Southern FM) and Mercury FM.

History

Whitehawk Hill transmitting station, which served Heart Sussex and Surrey Whitehawk Hill Transmitting Station (September 2015).JPG
Whitehawk Hill transmitting station, which served Heart Sussex and Surrey
A Mercury FM promotional vehicle Mercury FM Thunder promotions vehicle geograph-1983479-by-Stacey-Harris.jpg
A Mercury FM promotional vehicle

The regional station originally broadcast as two separate stations - Southern Sound began broadcasting to Brighton and parts of West Sussex in August 1983 and Mercury FM broadcast to the Reigate and Crawley areas from October 1984 onwards. In addition, Southern Sound ran a separate broadcasting service for East Sussex from February 1989 until the Radio Authority merged the two licences for East and West Sussex to form one station.

Under the ownership of Global Radio, Southern FM was rebranded as Heart Sussex on 22 June 2009 while Mercury FM retained its local identity and became part of The Hit Music Network. By this time, both stations' local output had become restricted to breakfast and weekday drivetime programming only.

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced it would merge the two stations as part of plans to restructure the Heart Network. [1] The new station began broadcasting from Brighton on Monday 26 July 2010, with a sales office and newsroom retained in Crawley. [2]

Station merger

On 26 February 2019, Global announced Heart Sussex and Surrey would be merged with three sister stations in Hampshire and Dorset, Kent and the Thames Valley. [3]

From 3 June 2019, local output consisted of a three-hour regional drivetime show on weekdays, alongside localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. [4]

Heart Sussex and Surrey's studios in Brighton closed with operations moving to Fareham, Hampshire - the station ceased local programming on 31 May 2019. Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London.

Heart South began broadcasting regional programming on 3 June 2019. [5]

Related Research Articles

BBC Southern Counties Radio was the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of north-east Hampshire. It was the first BBC local radio station to introduce an all-speech format. It broadcast from studios in Brighton and Guildford on FM and AM, and on DAB on the NOW Sussex Coast multiplex.

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

Heart Hertfordshire is an Independent Local Radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts across Hertfordshire from studios in Watford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Sussex</span> Independent Local Radio station in Sussex, United Kingdom

Heart Sussex was an Independent Local Radio station which was owned by Global Radio and played commercial, chart-oriented popular music. Broadcast and managed from studios and offices in Portslade, Brighton and Crawley, the station played a mix of pop, rock and RnB with the overall tag line being 'The station for Sussex and Surrey' – replacing Mercury FM.

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

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart (radio network)</span> British radio network

Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary local stations operated by Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the Heart stations are owned by Global, while the other three are operated under franchise agreements. The national version of the network is widely available on Global Player, Freeview, Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media and Digital One DAB.

The Hit Music Network was a collection of five Independent Local Radio stations operating in the United Kingdom and owned by Global Radio. Created on 25 June 2008, the stations were formerly owned by GCap Media prior to its takeover by Global and, with the exception of 95.8 Capital FM, were all part of The One Network. Initially the network included Trent FM, Ram FM, Leicester Sound, Mercia FM, and Beacon Radio Wolverhampton until the latter two we removed as they were part of the disposal by Global Radio after the GCap Media purchase and purchased by Orion Media. Mercury FM Crawley, Ten 17 in Harlow and Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6 joined the Hit Music Network at that point, until 26 July 2010. Red Dragon FM in South Wales, whilst part of the Hit Music Network, remained local 24 hours a day taking none of the network programmes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart North and Mid Wales</span> Welsh radio station

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.

<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">Heart Cambridgeshire</span> Radio station in Peterborough

Heart Cambridgeshire was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and eastern Northamptonshire and parts of surrounding counties from studios in Cambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart West Country</span> Radio station in Bristol

Heart West Country was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network, broadcasting to Bristol and Somerset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Four Counties</span> Radio station in Dunstable

Heart Four Counties was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Essex (regional)</span> Radio station in Chelmsford

Heart Essex was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Essex and East Hertfordshire from studios in Chelmsford.

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

Heart Solent was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to southern and western parts of Hampshire, West Sussex, Dorset and Isle of Wight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart South West</span> Radio station in Exeter

Heart South West was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Devon and Cornwall from studios in Exeter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital East Midlands</span> Radio station in Nottingham

Capital East Midlands was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network, broadcasting to the East Midlands from studios in Nottingham.

A timeline of notable events relating to Heart, a 22-strong network of adult contemporary commercial radio stations operated by Global.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital South</span> Radio station in Fareham

Capital South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Hampshire and Sussex from studios in Segensworth, Fareham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart East</span> Regional radio station in Milton Keynes, England

Heart East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the East of England from studios in Milton Keynes.

<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.

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

Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts in South West England, South Wales, Herefordshire, Malvern and Malvern Hills from studios in Bristol.

References

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Heart Sussex and Surrey at Wikimedia Commons