| City of license | Dunstable |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire |
| Slogan | More Music Variety |
| Frequency | 96.6, 96.9, 97.6, 103.3 MHz RDS: HEART___ |
| Format | Adult Contemporary |
| Audience share | 9.6% (March 2011, [2]) |
| Owner | Global Radio |
| Website | Heart Four Counties |
Heart Four Counties is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire. The station began broadcasting at 4pm on Friday 16 July 2010 as a result of a merger between Heart Milton Keynes (formerly Horizon Radio), Heart Northants (formerly Northants 96), Heart Dunstable (formerly 97.6 Chiltern FM) and Heart Bedford (formerly 96.9 Chiltern Radio).
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The regional station originally broadcast as four separate stations - Chiltern Radio began broadcasting to Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in October 1981 and launched a separate Bedford station in June 1982. Northants 96 began broadcasting to Northamptonshire in November 1986 and Horizon Radio launched in north Buckinghamshire in October 1989.
These stations were owned and operated by the Chiltern Radio Group, which was sold off to the GWR Group in 1995. Subsequently, the GWR Group merged with Capital Radio in 2005 to form GCap Media, which was subsequently bought out by Global Radio in 2008.
On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced it would merge the four stations as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 separate stations to 16 co-located 'broadcast centres'.[1] The new station began broadcasting from Dunstable on Friday 16 July 2010 and moved to new studios in Milton Keynes on 6 September 2011.[2]
| Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0100 – 0400 | All 80s, All Night (automated) | Leicester Square, London |
| 0400 - 0600 | Nicola Bonn | |
| 0600 – 1000 | Stuart Miles & Natalie Besbrode: Heart Breakfast (Local) | Milton Keynes |
| 1000 – 1300 | Toby Anstis | Leicester Square, London |
| 1300 – 1600 | Nick Snaith | |
| 1600 – 1900 | Matt Jarvis: Heart Drivetime (Local) | Milton Keynes |
| 1900 – 2200 | Simon Dale | Leicester Square, London |
| 2200 – 0100 | Simon Beale |
| Time | Main presenter(s) | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 - 0000 | Club Classics with Simon Dale | Leicester Square, London |
| Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0000 - 0200 | Club Classics (automated) | Leicester Square, London |
| 0200 – 0600 | Vanessa Elms | |
| 0600 - 0800 | Matt Wilkinson | |
| 0800 – 1200 | Matt Jarvis: Heart Breakfast (Local) | Milton Keynes |
| 1200 – 1600 | Nick Snaith | Leicester Square, London |
| 1600 – 1900 | Emma Bunton | |
| 1900 – 0000 | Club Classics with Steve Denyer |
| Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0000 - 0200 | Club Classics (automated) | Leicester Square, London |
| 0200 – 0600 | Vanessa Elms | |
| 0600 - 0800 | Matt Wilkinson | |
| 0800 – 1200 | Daniel Fox: Heart Breakfast (Local) | Milton Keynes |
| 1200 – 1600 | Jason Donovan | Leicester Square, London |
| 1600 – 1900 | Rich Clarke & Kat Shoob: The Vodafone Freebees Big Top 40 | |
| 1900 – 2200 | Chris Skinner | |
| 2200 - 0100 | Simon Beale |
Heart Four Counties broadcasts local news updates weekdays half hourly between 6am and 9am, then hourly from 9am to 6pm. At the weekend, local news is broadcast hourly between 8am and 11am. National news updates are broadcast at 7pm weekdays and at 6am, 7am, 12noon and 1pm at the weekend.
Travel news is broadcast every 15 minutes weekdays 6am-9am and every 20 minutes 4pm-7pm. The travel is read by the on-air presenters - Natalie Besbrode at Breakfast and Matt Jarvis at Drivetime.