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Heart Peterborough
City of license	Peterborough
Broadcast area	Cambridgeshire
Frequency	102.7 MHz and DAB
First air date	10 July 1980
Format	Hot AC
Audience share	13.5% (September 2009, [1])
Owner	Heart Network, Global Radio
Website	102.7 Heart Peterborough

102.7 Heart Peterborough (formerly Hereward FM) is the Independent Local Radio station for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire. Launched on 10 July 1980 as Hereward Radio 225, the station was the first local service in the area, with the studios originally based in the back of a former pub in Bridge Street, Peterborough, before relocating to the Queensgate Shopping Centre in the city in 1987.

History

With the tagline of the station you can really call your own, Hereward Radio began on 95.7 MHz and 225 metres/1332kHz. Reorganisation of the FM broadcast band moved the station to 102.7 since around 1987/1988, with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire using the former frequency for the Peterborough area.

Notable personalities from the past include the former chief executive of GCap Media, Ralph Bernard, who was the station's first news editor.

The station is currently owned by Global Radio, having been previously bought by the GWR Group in 1995 from its original management, Mid-Anglia Radio plc.

Separate programmes are provided on the old AM frequency of 1332 kHz, under the name of Gold. All programming, on the Gold network, is shared apart from the weekday early afternoon show. Hereward split its AM and FM frequencies in April 1992, and called its 1332 kHz AM service 'WGMS - The World's Greatest Music Station'.

Rebrand

On 5 January 2009 Hereward FM was rebranded Heart Peterborough, as part of a major rebrand involving twenty nine stations owned by Global Radio. Currently, local programming only airs at breakfast and afternoons on weekdays and on weekend mornings. Local news bulletins have been shortened in duration and, between 11am and 3pm on weekdays, replaced altogether by national headlines. All other output is networked from London.^[1]

As part of the Heart rebrand, former networked shows presented by Philippa Collins, Kevin Hughes, Andy Healy & Dan Wood and The Wind Down with Cat James have been replaced by new programmes for the Heart Network - the mid-morning show with Toby Anstis, Club Classics with Matt Wilkinson on weekday evenings and Heartbreakers with Simon Beale on weekday late nights. Overnight shows are now presented by Gareth John and Nicola Bonn. Kev Lawrence, Abby Surgeon and Lee Warren remain at the station as Heart Peterborough's local presenters.

Morborne Mast Collapse

In October 2004, the 153 metre Morborne mast near Peterborough collapsed after a fire in suspicious circumstances, taking Hereward's DAB service off air, along with the national and local BBC services. A temporary mast was soon erected, restoring the service and a new permanent mast has since been erected.^[2]

Gunthorpe Mast Array

Heart Peterborough's main FM transmitting antenna array is at the top of the Gunthorpe mast. The station has an effective radiated power of 4 kW, and in good conditions can be heard as far as Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. Also transmitted from Gunthorpe, at lower power, are Lite FM on 106.8 FM and Kiss 105-108 on 107.7 FM, plus on AM medium wave Gold on 1332 kHz and BBC Asian Network on 1449 kHz. The latter was originally BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's AM frequency for Peterborough. The present mast is a few hundred yards NE of the original 1980 mast which was moved to allow a new road access.

Presenters

External links

• Official Website
• Listen to Heart Peterborough
• Heart Peterborough's VHF/FM Mast
• Heart Peterborough's DAB Mast

References