Heart South West

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.

Heart South West
CityExeter
Broadcast areaBarnstaple, Cornwall, Exeter, Plymouth, South Hams, Torbay
Frequency
BrandingThis is Heart
SloganTurn up the Feel Good!
Programming
FormatHot AC
Ownership
OwnerGlobal
History
First air date
27 August 2010
Links
WebsiteBarnstaple Cornwall Exeter Plymouth South Hams Torbay

The station launched on Friday 27 August 2010 under the name 'Heart Devon', as a result of a merger between Heart Exeter and Heart Torbay (formerly Gemini FM), Heart Plymouth (formerly Plymouth Sound), Heart North Devon (formerly Lantern Radio) and Heart South Devon (formerly South Hams Radio). On Monday 7 May 2012, the station merged again with Atlantic FM in Cornwall.

History
Further information: Heart Exeter and Heart Torbay, Heart Plymouth, Heart North Devon, Heart South Devon, and Atlantic FM

The regional station originally broadcast as six separate stations - Plymouth Sound began broadcasting to Plymouth and surrounding areas in May 1975, Lantern Radio served North Devon from October 1992, Gemini FM broadcast separate services for East and South Devon from January 1995 onwards (DevonAir Radio served the dual-franchise area until losing its broadcast licence on New Year's Eve 1994) and South Hams Radio launched in the South Hams district of South Devon in December 1998. Atlantic FM began broadcasting to Cornwall from July 2006.

By 1999, Plymouth Sound, Gemini FM and Lantern FM were under the ownership of the GWR Group, which merged with the Capital Radio Group to form GCap Media six years later. In that same year, the stations were put up for sale as they were considered outside of the company's primary target area. In the event, the sale did not go ahead as all of the bids made fell short of expectations. In 2008, the group was taken over by Global Radio, which eventually took ownership of South Hams Radio as a joint venture with the UKRD Group. A year later, the stations were rebranded as Heart.

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced it would merge the five Devon stations as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 16.[1] The new station began broadcasting on Friday 27 August 2010 from studios in Exeter, leading to the closure of studios in Plymouth, Torquay, Barnstaple and Kingsbridge.[2]

On 19 March 2012, Global Radio announced it had bought Atlantic FM from joint owners Tindle Radio and Camel Media.[3] Atlantic FM became part of the Heart Network and merged with Heart Devon on Monday 7 May 2012, forming Heart South West. In August 2012, Global Radio applied for a format change, to remove its commitment to speech content for the Heart Cornwall licence,[4] however on 16 October 2012 this was rejected by media regulator Ofcom.[5]

Station merger

On 26 February 2019, Global announced Heart South West would be merged with three sister stations in Bristol and Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.[6]

From 3 June 2019, local output will consist of a three-hour regional Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising.[7]

Heart South West's studios in Exeter closed with operations moving to Bristol - the station ceased local programming on 31 May 2019. Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London.

Heart West will begin broadcasting regional programming on 3 June 2019.[8]

Availability and transmitters

Analogue (FM)
Caradon Hill (105.1MHz) and Redruth (107.0MHz) carries a local programme from 1600 to 1900 on weekdays and separate news, weather and travel bulletins.

Digital (DAB)
Multiplex NameBitrateShort LabelLong LabelSld
NOW Exeter & Torbay128kbit/sHeartHeart DevonC369Also available in North Devon
NOW Plymouth128kbit/sHeartHeart PlymouthC869
NOW Cornwall128kbit/sHeart CWHeart CornwallC36DCarries a different programme between 1600 & 1900.

References
  1. Global Radio to halve number of local Heart stations, mediaguardian.co.uk, 21 June 2010 Archived 1 January 2011 at WebCite
  2. Heart slims but strengthens, RadioToday, 21 June 2010 Archived 1 January 2011 at WebCite
  3. Atlantic FM sold to Global to become Heart, RadioToday, 19 March 2012
  4. Global Radio wants Heart Cornwall change Radio Today, 14 August 2012
  5. Ofcom rejects changes for Heart Cornwall Radio Today, 16 October 2012
  6. Global to network Capital, Heart and Smooth breakfast shows, RadioToday, 26 February 2019
  7. Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast, Radio Today, 29 April 2019
  8. Amanda Holden to join Jamie Theakston for Heart UK Breakfast, Radio Today, 29 April 2019

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