Latest news about Heart FM

RAJAR Q1 2020: Regional and local radio facts and figures

XS Manchester has doubled its listening hours year-on-year after the station was saved from closure. The Communicorp station now has 132,000 weekly reach (last year 94,000) and 1.28 million hours (last year 546k), giving it more total hours than Manchester’s heritage station Hits Radio. Also in the north west, Radio City Talk, which will close at the end of this month, leaves with 32,000 weekly listeners, down from 45,000 a year ago. Sticking with Bauer, local stations are mostly on the up. Of the 15 local services for Greatest Hits Radio in Scotland and England, eight are up and seven are down...

RAJAR Q1 2020: London and national brands roundup

BBC Radio 2 has lost almost a million listeners in the last year, according to the Q1/2020 audience research from RAJAR. The reach of the UK’s biggest radio station fell from 15.356m at the start of 2019 to 14.362m over the first three months of this year. The two biggest commercial radio networks – Heart and Capital – both lost significant reach over the 12 months too. The Heart network lost 787,000 listeners to leave a reach of 7.737m, while Capital dropped 815,000 to 6.386m. When you add in the other Heart and Capital branded stations – 70s, 80s, 90s, Dance, Xtra and Xtra Reloaded – the Heart brand reaches 9.365m and the Capital brand 7.502m...

Heart gives away £1million to one radio listener

Heart’s Make Me a Millionaire came to a conclusion this week after Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden gave away a million pounds. The competition has seen hundreds of winners take home prize sums of up to £30,000 and after an 11-week run on-air, the grand finale took place on Thursday. Over the past three months, each winner has faced an ultimatum – to take that day’s prize fund, which has ranged from £1,000 to £30,000 – or enter into the draw for a chance of winning £1 million. Heart listener Tommy – a key worker who works for the electricity board – won the grand prize of £1,000,000 on Thursday during an extended breakfast show, with nine runners-up leaving with £1,000 each...

Audio: Radio industry unites to thank the NHS

Radio stations all over the UK came together to thank NHS workers during the coronavirus pandemic. A mass applause, coordinated under the #clapforourcarers hashtag on social media, showed the country’s gratitude to all the nurses, doctors, GPs, carers and many others working tirelessly to help fight the virus. Industry body Radiocentre encouraged stations from every corner of the UK to take part, with stations including Heart, Capital, LBC, Hits Radio, Absolute Radio, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and 5 Live, and Nation Radio, encouraged their millions of listeners to join the applause at their windows, front doors and balconies...

Heart weekend radio changes as Vogue Williams joins

DJ, model and presenter Vogue Williams is joining Heart to host Sunday mornings starting this weekend. Vouge has starred in shows including her own documentary series ‘Vogue Williams – On The Edge’, plus the Channel 4 show ‘Spencer, Vogue and Baby Too’ alongside husband Spencer Matthews. “I’m absolutely over the moon to be joining Heart!,” Vogue told RadioToday. “Radio is so important right now, music is the ultimate mood-booster and my brand-new show is going to be packed with the most uplifting feel-good tunes. I can’t wait to get behind the mic every Sunday morning on Heart and hope you’ll join me!” ...

Global radio stations join in with mass applause

LBC, Heart, Capital, Capital XTRA, Smooth, Classic FM, Radio X and Gold will pause for a mass applause to thank NHS workers this week. All the Global stations will join the show of appreciation at 8pm on Thursday 26th March, encouraging people up and down the country to stand and clap at their windows, front doors, balconies and in their living rooms. The call-to-action, which will amplify the sentiment of the online ‘Clap for our Carers’ campaign, was launched this morning at 0815 on-air...

Mark Wright to host evening show on Heart

Global has announced that Mark Wright is to be the new host of evenings on Heart from tonight (Monday 23 March). This follows the shows former presenter Sian Welby leaving the station to join Capital as co-host of the breakfast show. As well as presenting Mondays – Thursdays 7pm – 10pm, Mark will continue to host his Sunday afternoon show on Heart (12pm – 4pm). Andy Everett, Managing Editor of Heart, said: “Since returning home to Heart last year, Mark has proved hugely popular with our listeners and we’re thrilled that he’s now part of our weeknight line-up too...

Sian Welby joins Roman and Sonny on Capital Breakfast

Capital has announced that Sian Welby is joining its breakfast show team, replacing Vick Hope. Sian moves from the Heart evening show. She’s been on with Roman Kemp and Sonny Jay this week as a guest but has now been confirmed as officially being part of the team. Sian got her big break in 2010 as a weather presenter on Channel 5 and has been with Heart for just over 3 years, having replaced Roberto on evenings in January 2017. She said: “After an incredible 3 years at Heart I am beyond excited to be starting a whole new adventure on Capital – it hasn’t really sunk in yet but I’m overwhelmed with the support from everyone…I can’t stop smiling!”...

RAJAR Q4 2019: London and national brands round-up

Coverage of the general election helped 5 Live, Radio 4 and LBC each add half a million listeners across 2019. 5 Live is up from 4.9m to 5.4m in the Q4/2019 RAJAR listening figures, while Radio 4 has added a similar amount, rising from 10.4m a year ago to 10.9m now. LBC, including new digital station LBC News, posts a record high of 2.7m listeners (up more than half a million year on year), while talkRADIO is up more than 40% from 12 months ago to now have 433,000 listeners a week – another record high for the Wireless station...

RAJAR Q4 2019: Regional and local radio facts and figures

The big stories from around the regions this quarter include Capital Scotland shedding 104,000 listeners, whilst Hits Radio and Greatest Hits Radio increased listeners in the North of England. Global brands - The majority of regional and local Capital stations are down – including Capital Scotland which falls from 513,000 to 409,000 weekly reach, Capital South Wales going from 213,000 to 180,000, Manchester down from 493,000 to 437,000 and Yorkshire down to its lowest figure of 849,000. Recently acquired and...