area birmingham and the west midlands branding this is heart slogan more music variety frequency fm 100.7 mhz rds heart dab online first air date 6 september 1994 format hot ac audience share 7.1 % march 2014 1 owner global radio sister stations smooth west midlands capital birmingham website www.heart.co.uk westmids heart west midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by global radio as part of the heart network . it broadcasts to the west midlands from studios in birmingham . it is aimed primarily at people aged 25 44 . contents 1 history 2 station information 2.1 programming 2.2 heart news 2.3 notable former presenters 3 references 4 external links history edit heart began broadcasting on tuesday 6 september 1994 as 100.7 heart fm being the uk s third independent regional radio station five days after century radio 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 simply red and tina turner . reflecting this its early slogan described the station as being 100.7 degrees cooler . its programming format was modified in 1996 a year after chrysalis launched heart 106.2 in london . the new format saw the soft ac music replaced with a generally more neutral hot ac music playlist . this saw radio audience listening figures grow to equal that of local rival brmb which was for a long time undisputed number one commercial radio in the west midlands . new disc jockeys were brought in from other stations ; daryl denham arrived in 2000 from hallam fm s breakfast show in a high profile move . ian danter and carlos also arrived from brmb . one of heart s most popular djs tushar makwana was killed in 2004 following a burglary at his home which left him injured on his doorstep . 1 the station s staff paid tribute to the presenter on air and campaigned for the person s responsible to be brought to justice . the station s reception area now includes a photographic tribute and plaque . following a corporate re brand of the station including a change of logo the more contemporary look was soon reflected in the station s sound . the format is now described as more hot ac and features more music from the likes of natasha bedingfield james blunt and keane as well as soul music from the 1970s branded as club classics . during this relaunch long time djs departed the station such as carlos and nick piercey to be replaced by younger djs . 2005 saw the evacuation of its studios after west midlands police alerted staff and other civilians following a bomb alert in birmingham s broad street complex . 2 the station continued to operate initially relaying sister station lbc news 1152 before transmission switched to the studios of century 106 now gem 106 in nottingham which broadcast reports from dnn journalists who had to broadcast from a phone booth due to restrictions on the use of mobile phones . on 11 september 2006 new station idents and jingles were used for the first time and saw the station referred to purely as heart rather than 100.7 heart fm . on 25 june 2007 it was announced that heart along with its sister stations the arrow lbc and galaxy were to be sold for 170 million to global radio from chrysalis radio . 3 from 28 april 2008 heart began simulcasting most of its programmes from heart 106.2 in london . the station now carries seven hours of local programming from birmingham during weekdays and four hours on saturday and sunday . station information edit former logo discontinued in 2004 the station was housed in 111 broad street the same building as global radio owned sister stations capital birmingham and the arrow . the digital news network dnn also broadcast from the building until it ceased transmission in august 2006 to be replaced by lbc whose regional dab service was fully rolled out on september 1 . regional news bulletins continues to be broadcast from the building on heart and capital . in april 2013 the station along with capital birmingham moved to new studios at eleven brindleyplace in central birmingham . the fm signal 11kw erp is broadcast from the sutton coldfield transmitter and is audible throughout a large part of the midlands including the east midlands towns of leicester derby and parts of nottingham . it can be heard with fairly decent audible quality in kingswood bristol . this is because kingswood is very high up meaning there is a clear line of sight between the north and kingswood . the station is available on dab thanks to eight transmitters throughout the west midlands on the mxr 12a multiplex with strong signals from the wrekin and ilmington in south warwickshire . programming edit local programming is produced and broadcast from heart s birmingham studios from 6 10am and 4 7pm on weekdays 1 5pm on saturdays and 12pm 4pm on sundays . all networked programming originates from global radio s london headquarters including the syndicated vodafone big top 40 on sunday afternoons . the station s local presenters include ed james and rachel new heart breakfast and steve denyer weekday drivetime . heart news edit heart west midlands broadcasts hourly regional news bulletins from 6am 7pm on weekdays and 6am 12pm at weekends . the birmingham newsroom also produces bulletins for sister stations capital birmingham and smooth west midlands . national news updates air hourly from global s london headquarters at all other times . notable former presenters edit former presenters on the station include carlos daryl denham phil upton nick piercey sarah jane mee charlie jordan warren moore and joel ross . references edit http news.bbc.co.uk 1 hi england west midlands 3483125 . stm dj dies after gang robbery http news.bbc.co.uk 1 hi england 4668313 . stm birmingham threat real police chrysalis sells three radio stations external links edit heart west midlands sutton coldfield transmitter v t e heart regions cambridgeshire east anglia essex four counties hertfordshire london west midlands north east north west yorkshire scotland kent solent sussex and surrey thames valley gloucestershire south west west country wiltshire north wales south wales related topics atlantic fm gem 106 orion media heart digital marcher radio group the one network real radio list of global group stations v t e global radio corporate directors lord allen chairman ashley tabor group ceo richard park executive director stephen miron ceo mark evans cfo owen mcgartol director radio stations the arrow capital capital xtra chill classic fm gold heart lbc lbc london news smooth radio x television channels capital tv heart tv related articles list of global group stations capital digital gcap media capital life capital disney core the storm thejazz century digital jazz fm planet rock real and smooth classic fm tv leicester square thisisglobal.com radio v t e radio stations in the west midlands of england longwave am stations 198 bbc radio 4 252 rt radio 1 mediumwave am stations 828 1458 bbc asian network 909 693 bbc radio 5 live 990 1152 free radio 80s 1089 1053 talksport 1215 absolute radio 1296 radio xl fm stations 88.3 bbc radio 2 89.1 big city radio 90.5 bbc radio 3 92.7 bbc radio 4 95.6 bbc wm 96.4 free birmingham 96.7 102.8 free herefordshire and worcestershire 97.2 103.1 free shropshire and black country 97.9 bbc radio 1 98.7 new style radio 100.1 classic fm 100.7 heart 101.8 wcr 102.2 capital 105.2 planet rock 105.7 smooth radio 107.7 signal 107 dab multiplexes local ce birmingham now wolverhampton muxco herefordshire and worcestershire united kingdom radio markets aberdeen glasgow london liverpool manchester northern ireland south west england west midlands west yorkshire worcester see also list of radio stations in the united kingdom coordinates 52 28 27 n 1 55 0 w 52.47417 n 1.91667 w 52.47417 ; 1.91667 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title heart west midlands & oldid 705136402 categories radio stations in birmingham west midlandsradio stations established in 1994heart radio network hidden categories coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 15 february 2016 at 18 50 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia 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