Chiltern Radio Network
Encyclopedia
The Chiltern Radio Network (later The Chiltern Radio Group) was the parent group of several radio stations which operated two radio brands in the UK in the 1990's.

Branding

The two main brands were:
  • The Hot FM - Transmitted on the FM services of Chiltern Radio
    Chiltern Radio
    Heart Dunstable was an Independent Local Radio station based in Chiltern Road in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.-History:...

    , Northants Radio and Severn Sound
    Severn Sound
    Heart Gloucestershire is an Independent Local Radio station that broadcasts to Gloucestershire, England. The station now has just two programmes a day broadcasting live from Gloucestershire with the majority of its output being the same as most other stations in the Heart network, owned by Global...

    , plus Horizon Radio
    Horizon Radio
    Horizon Radio or Хоризонт in Bulgarian is a state-owned Bulgarian Radio Station, specializing in news coverage from Bulgaria. It is the most popular radio station in Bulgaria and it is part of The Bulgarian National Radio Network. Horizon Radio is considered the most independent media in Bulgaria...

    , Oasis Radio and Galaxy 97.2
    Kiss 101
    Kiss 101 was a radio station in Bristol broadcasting out to South Wales and South West England playing Hip Hop, dance music and R&B. It now forms part of a national Kiss station, which also includes Kiss 105-108 and Kiss 100 and is owned by Bauer Radio.-History:The station originally started...

    .
  • SuperGold
    Supergold
    Supergold was a oldies radio sustaining service operated by Chiltern Radio Group in the United Kingdom.-History:The Supergold service was launched at 10am on Sunday 24 June 1990, following requests from the Radio Authority for radio stations to split frequencies into separate AM and FM services or...

     - Transmitted on the AM services of Chiltern Radio
    Chiltern Radio
    Heart Dunstable was an Independent Local Radio station based in Chiltern Road in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.-History:...

    , Northants Radio, Severn Sound
    Severn Sound
    Heart Gloucestershire is an Independent Local Radio station that broadcasts to Gloucestershire, England. The station now has just two programmes a day broadcasting live from Gloucestershire with the majority of its output being the same as most other stations in the Heart network, owned by Global...

     and Invicta Radio and used as an overnight sustaining services on a number of other stations, including Radio Maldwyn
    Radio Maldwyn
    Radio Maldwyn - The Magic 756 was a local commercial radio station serving Mid Wales and the English border counties. Their transmitter site is currently based a few miles outside of Newtown, Powys.-History:...

    .

Network News

The Chiltern Radio Network also set up a satellite news service as a direct competitor to IRN  called Network News. The service ran from 5 July 1991 until 1 April 1996 and supplied hourly national news bulletins and audio cuts to stations within the Chiltern Radio Network. Other clients included Virgin Radio
Virgin Radio
Absolute Radio is one of the UK's three Independent National Radio stations. The station rebranded to its current name at 7.45am on 29 September 2008.The station is based in London and plays popular rock music...

, Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....

, Choice FM
Choice FM
Choice FM, branded on-air as London's Choice, is a brand used by the UK's biggest radio company, Global Radio for its network of black music radio stations...

 in London and Birmingham, Spectrum Radio
Spectrum Radio
Spectrum Radio is the United Kingdom’s only Multiethnic Commercial Radio station, with programmes from 24 ethnic groups. It is based in the Battersea district of London...

, Radio XL
Radio XL
Radio XL is the first 24 hour Asian radio station to broadcast to Birmingham, England. However the station can be heard across the whole West Midlands. With its wide reach Radio XL is available to a potential Asian audience in excess of 250,000 people from the 15+ age group.Radio XL is aimed...

, Sunshine 855
Sunshine 855
Sunshine Radio is a local radio station, based in Ludlow, Shropshire. The station serves South Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire-History:...

, , Radio Maldwyn
Radio Maldwyn
Radio Maldwyn - The Magic 756 was a local commercial radio station serving Mid Wales and the English border counties. Their transmitter site is currently based a few miles outside of Newtown, Powys.-History:...

, Wear FM and Belfast City Radio.

Bulletins were transmitted via the Astra satellite and copy was sent to stations via fax and latterly a premium rate fax-back service. Audio was mostly sourced from Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

 and CNN Radio News
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

.

Angus Moorat was the main controller of the service which closed down when the GWR Group, a shareholder in rival IRN, withdrew support for the service following its takeover of the Chiltern Radio Group.

Ownership

The Chiltern Radio Group underwent a number of changes as radio ownership rules were liberalised, first becoming part of the GWR Group in September 1995, making the FM stations part of their "Mix Network" and the AM stations part of the Classic Gold Digital Network
Classic Gold Digital Network
Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and DAB digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189.-History:...

. Ultimately, this meant more shared programming after 7pm from the headquarters in Bristol for what was the Hot FM network and only one live local show per day for the former Supergold stations.

When GWR merged with Capital Radio
Capital Radio
Capital London is a London based radio station which launched on 16 October 1973 and is owned by Global Radio. On 3 January 2011 it formed part of the nine station Capital radio network.- Pre-launch :...

 in May 2005 to form 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...

, the combined group's local FM network, including Chiltern, was renamed the "One Network" for advertising clients. GCap was itself bought out 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...

in 2008, with the new owners planning to operate many of their new acquisitions under Global's existing Heart and Galaxy brands. As a result, in January 2009, Chiltern Radio was rebranded by its owners Global Radio as Heart, marking the end of the heritage Chiltern name for good.

External links

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