Heart Colchester was a radio station broadcasting to Colchester

Colchester

Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

 and the surrounding areas. The station was launched in 1993 by the East Anglian Radio

East Anglian Radio

East Anglian Radio was a company based in Norwich that operated radio stations in the Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex counties of the UK.The stations they owned were:...

 group, which also operated the Ipswich-based SGR fm, Radio Broadland

Radio Broadland

Heart Norwich was an Independent Local Radio station for Norfolk and North Suffolk, including Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, until early 2009...

 in Norwich, and Amber Radio

Amber Radio

Amber Radio was a golden oldies radio station operating from Norwich, part of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.It was the AM sister station of SGR and Radio Broadland and served Norfolk and north Suffolk and Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.-History:...

 across Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

 and Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

.

History

The station, serving a population of around 150,000, broadcast programmes from its studios in the town during daytime (6am-6pm) but shared output from its larger sister SGR station in Ipswich at other times. The Colchester station was an immediate success and quickly built an impressive audience locally. Staff in the early years included Mike Stewart (programme director), Danny Cox (station manager) and presenters Nick Jackson & Simon Taylor.

It became part of the GWR Group (now Global Radio

Global Radio

Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...

) when East Anglian Radio was taken over in 1996. On 5 January 2009, Global Radio

Global Radio

Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...

 rebranded SGR Colchester as Heart

Heart Network

Heart is a radio network of 17 adult contemporary independent local radio stations in central & southern England and north Wales. Each station broadcasts local breakfast and drive time shows and simulcasts network programming at all other times...

Colchester.