Southern FM
Encyclopedia
Heart Sussex is an Independent Local Radio
station which is owned by Global Radio
(formerly GCap Media
) and plays commercial, chart-oriented popular music. Broadcast and managed from studios and offices in Portslade
, Brighton
and Crawley
, the station plays a mix of pop
, rock
and RnB
with the overall tag line being 'The station for Sussex and Surrey' - replacing Mercury FM.
On 17 September 2008, it was announced that Southern FM was one of 30 local radio stations to face a re-brand to Heart
within the next 18 months. Southern FM was rebranded as Heart Sussex on 22 June 2009. Mercury FM also merged with Heart
in July 2010 to be re branded and re-launched as an sub-section of Heart Sussex operating as Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey or simply Heart Crawley & Surrey - sharing the same programming coverage.
and programme director Rory Macleod, early presenters included Sean Bolger, Louis Robinson, Stewart Macintosh, Vince Geddes, John Mann, Russ Williams and Becky Manesseh. The head of news at launch was Paul Woodley with a reporting team including Andy Steggall
, Sue Trimingham, Sue Maskell, John Worthington, Andrew Winter and Cornelius Lysaght
.
Tommy Boyd joined the station, initially as a fill-in for Timbo (Tim Lloyd) and was subsequently hired to present a regular Sunday evening show with a team of assistants including Nicky Keig-Shevlin
, Steve Lawrence, Cathy and Mary.
At the launch of the station, Southern Sound broadcast only to Brighton and parts of West Sussex. In 1987, transmissions were extended to Lewes, Newhaven and Seaford. Then on 5 February 1989 the station won a new licence for East Sussex too. Initially running split programming for East and West Sussex, the station now only splits for commercial breaks.
In 1994 the Radio Authority merged the two licences to become one official ILR licence.
The station broadcasts to the following areas:
Since Heart and Mercury FM merged together. Heart Sussex has taken over Mercury's frequencies, on both the Reigate
and Horsham
transmitters.
The merged Heart brought the addition of an additional sub-station, Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey operates operationally separately. Sales are dealt with by a separate team (based in Crawley) - they may be based in Brighton
in the near future though. In addition, to this Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey also has a different website. On air though, both stations broadcast/simulcast the same core coverage with the exception of adverts (and select news features). Mercury FM and Heart have now completed the switchover and for the time being are operating out of both addresses.
Tim Humphrey
Broadcast Journalist
Rob Gillett
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. The same name is used for Independent Local Radio in Ireland.-Development of ILR:...
station which is owned by 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...
(formerly GCap Media
GCap Media
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
) and plays commercial, chart-oriented popular music. Broadcast and managed from studios and offices in Portslade
Portslade
Portslade is the name of an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century...
, Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
and Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
, the station plays a mix of pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and RnB
RNB
RNB is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* Nankai Broadcasting – , a broadcasting station in Ehime Prefecture, Japan* Rhythm and blues* Contemporary R&B* Russian National Library...
with the overall tag line being 'The station for Sussex and Surrey' - replacing Mercury FM.
On 17 September 2008, it was announced that Southern FM was one of 30 local radio stations to face a re-brand to 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...
within the next 18 months. Southern FM was rebranded as Heart Sussex on 22 June 2009. Mercury FM also merged with 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...
in July 2010 to be re branded and re-launched as an sub-section of Heart Sussex operating as Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey or simply Heart Crawley & Surrey - sharing the same programming coverage.
History
The station launched as Southern Sound from the converted Rothbury Cinema in Franklin Road, Portslade. Under the leadership of managing director Keith BelcherNational Broadcasting School
The National Broadcasting School is a small educational institution in Brighton, England. The school is located on the campus of the University of Sussex.Red FM is the school's own radio station....
and programme director Rory Macleod, early presenters included Sean Bolger, Louis Robinson, Stewart Macintosh, Vince Geddes, John Mann, Russ Williams and Becky Manesseh. The head of news at launch was Paul Woodley with a reporting team including Andy Steggall
Andy Steggall
Andy Steggall is a television sports presenter, producer and filmmaker. He currently produces the South and West edition of the BBC regional football show Late Kick Off and has been working for Sky on several other projects. He runs two television production companies specialising in sport –...
, Sue Trimingham, Sue Maskell, John Worthington, Andrew Winter and Cornelius Lysaght
Cornelius Lysaght
Cornelius Lysaght is the horse racing correspondent of the BBC, usually broadcasting on Radio 5 Live. He took up this position in June 2001, succeeding the late Peter Bromley, who had held the position since 1959....
.
Nicky Keig-Shevlin
Nicola Keig-Shevlin is a radio presenter who spent the majority of her career working for Brighton based station Southern FM . She presented the weekday breakfast show 'Danny and Nicky in the Morning' with Danny Pike for 19 years...
, Steve Lawrence, Cathy and Mary.
At the launch of the station, Southern Sound broadcast only to Brighton and parts of West Sussex. In 1987, transmissions were extended to Lewes, Newhaven and Seaford. Then on 5 February 1989 the station won a new licence for East Sussex too. Initially running split programming for East and West Sussex, the station now only splits for commercial breaks.
In 1994 the Radio Authority merged the two licences to become one official ILR licence.
The station broadcasts to the following areas:
- AnalogueAnalog signalAn analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
VHFVery high frequencyVery high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
FMFrequency modulationIn telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
- 96.9 MHz - Newhaven Transmitter
- 102.0 MHz - Hastings Transmitter
- 102.4 MHz - East and West Sussex, including Eastbourne (Heathfield Transmitter)
- 103.5 MHz - Brighton and Worthing (Whitehawk Hill Transmitter)
- DABDigital audio broadcastingDigital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
Digital Radio: Block 11B 218.64 MHz- WorthingWorthingWorthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
(Findon Transmitter) - NewhavenNewhaven, East SussexNewhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...
(Beddingham Transmitter) - HastingsHastingsHastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
(Hastings Transmitter} - EastbourneEastbourneEastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
(Eastbourne Transmitter} - ChichesterChichesterChichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
(Burton Down Transmitter) - BrightonBrightonBrighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
(Whitehawk Hill Transmitter)
- Worthing
- Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey broadcast to the following areas on FMFrequency modulationIn telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
:- 102.7 MHz - Reigate Transmitter
- 97.5 MHz (around Horsham)
Since Heart and Mercury FM merged together. Heart Sussex has taken over Mercury's frequencies, on both the Reigate
Reigate
Reigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead...
and Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
transmitters.
Network restructuring
On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to merge Heart Sussex and merge the station with Mercury FM as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 16. The newly merged Heart Surrey and Sussex station began broadcasting from Brighton on 26 July 2010.The merged Heart brought the addition of an additional sub-station, Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey operates operationally separately. Sales are dealt with by a separate team (based in Crawley) - they may be based in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
in the near future though. In addition, to this Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey also has a different website. On air though, both stations broadcast/simulcast the same core coverage with the exception of adverts (and select news features). Mercury FM and Heart have now completed the switchover and for the time being are operating out of both addresses.
Local presenters
- Tom Evans (Weekday breakfast)
- 'Jack the Lad' (Weekday breakfast)
- Lynsey Bartlett (Weekday breakfast)
- Paul HollinsPaul HollinsPaul Hollins is a British radio presenter who can currently be heard on The Heart Network as a relief presenter which is broadcast from Heart 106.2 in London...
(Weekend Breakfast) - Tony Shepherd (Weekday drivetime)
News staff
Head of NewsTim Humphrey
Broadcast Journalist
Rob Gillett
Networked presenters
- Toby AnstisToby AnstisToby Anstis is a radio presenter on Global Radio's Heart Network of stations. He presents his morning show weekdays from 10.00am - 1.00pm across the Heart branded network....
(Weekday mornings) - Simon BealeSimon BealeSimon Beale is a radio presenter on the Heart Network which includes London's Heart 106.2.He presents The Late Show Sundays to Thursdays between 10pm and 1am....
(Monday - Thursday nights) - Nicola Bonn (Weekend overnights)
- Emma BuntonEmma BuntonEmma Lee Bunton is an English pop singer/songwriter and TV and radio presenter. She was a member of the 1990s girl group, the Spice Girls, in which she was known as Baby Spice as she was the youngest member. In 2010, she joined the judging panel on ITV's Dancing on Ice...
(Saturday evenings) - Richard Clarke (The Big Top 40 ShowThe Big Top 40 ShowThe Vodafone Big Top 40 is a chart show broadcast on 140 radio stations in the UK. The chart is based on music download figures provided by iTunes.-Format:...
) - Simon Dale (Heart's Evening Show, Friday Club Classics)
- Steve Denyer (Saturday Club Classics)
- Jason DonovanJason DonovanJason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...
(Sunday evenings) - Gareth James (Sunday afternoons)
- Gareth John (Weekday early mornings)
- Kat Shoob (The Big Top 40 ShowThe Big Top 40 ShowThe Vodafone Big Top 40 is a chart show broadcast on 140 radio stations in the UK. The chart is based on music download figures provided by iTunes.-Format:...
) - Nick Snaith (Monday - Saturday afternoons)
- Matt Wilkinson (Weekend early breakfast)