[gavindowd]

When they broadcast to over 40 stations, was there any reference to a national network and when the presenters introduced the song, did they use the shows name. eg.

'here's maroon 5 on the late show'
or
'we're playing more music variety, here's maroon 5'
or
'It's <presenters name> on the radio and here comes maroon 5'

[AWradioUK]

Originally Posted by gavindowd

When they broadcast to over 40 stations, was there any reference to a national network and when the presenters introduced the song, did they use the shows name. eg.

'here's maroon 5 on the late show'
or
'we're playing more music variety, here's maroon 5'
or
'It's <presenters name> on the radio and here comes maroon 5'

Pre Gcap in the GWR days during networked hours the presenter just called the station "Todays Best Mix" or "The Better Music Mix" then would fire off a command which would playout a sweeper locally with the station name at the start of the next song. There were also local What's On type inserts and in the case of Late Night Love locally played out sweepers with Graham Torrington reading out each stations phone number and a station namecheck. All very clever for it's time.
I don't think it was much different when it became Gcap

[James Martin 2]

Think it was originally done on a system called DCS but is now all done via Genesys.

Most of the network stuff had a show name anyway, Core Control (earlier on the Hot 30 Countdown), Late Night Love and Music On Demand (earlier the All Night Request Fest).

[solij09]

Was the one network local from 10a-4p?

[east_boy_16]

Originally Posted by solij09

Was the one network local from 10a-4p?

I think it was when it first became GCap / T.O.N. but they eventually introduced network programming I think for 10am-1pm then it was local from 1pm - 7pm. The network programme varied on different stations didn't it? Philippa Collins on 1 and someone else on the other.

Then when it became Heart there was still a local show at 1pm (ours was Nick Pandolfi on SGR FM / SGR Colchester) until Ofcom relaxed the rules.

[James Martin 2]

Network 10am-1pm didn't start up until the GCap-Global crossover period during Summer & Autumn 2008 when the network stopped coming from Bristol.

The One Network was carved up with most stations moving to an AC music log, informally known as Network 1. Network content was broadcast from Leicester Square. This carried Phillipa Collins on midmornings. These stations generally all rebranded to Heart.

Most stations in the Midlands, plus Ten-17 and Mercury Crawley became Network 2 - a CHR format which broadcast network output from Nottingham. These stations all had mixed fates, but those that weren't disposed of generally formed the basis of the pre-Capital FM "Hit Music Network" from Nottingham.

At this point BRMB, Capital and (I think) Red Dragon all did their own thing. Obviously BRMB was sold and Red Dragon eventually came into the Hit Music Network.

After the conditions of sale were published, the West Midlands stations were broken away again into a second CHR network, Network 3 which was based at Birmingham. This remained a CHR format until the Orion takeover. These stations went on to become Free Radio under Orion Media.

[Dan Martin]

Bit of background. Red Dragon FM never I don't think took network output from Nottingham. It was live and local all the time apart from BT40 right up until the Capital launch.

The Hit Music Network also used smart networking very much using localized link intros that after a while, the breaks between the intro and the live link were seemless.

[radiodad]

Am i right in saying at one stage Beacon WM took Network 2 while Beacon Shropshire took Network 1.

[Blah.Blah.Blah.]

Originally Posted by Dan Martin

Bit of background. Red Dragon FM never I don't think took network output from Nottingham. It was live and local all the time apart from BT40 right up until the Capital launch.

The Hit Music Network also used smart networking very much using localized link intros that after a while, the breaks between the intro and the live link were seemless.

Red Dragon didn't take anything from Trent, that's right - although it was automating at times by the end.

And whilst we weren't calling it "smart networking" at that point (very much a Tabor turn of phrase after one of his jollies to the US and something he really wanted to apply to Capital), the likes of Mark Dennison and J did record links specific for each Hit Music Network site, and "localise" the start of some links with the station name. There were beds and ramps with station specific IDs, too. Worked pretty well, as you say.

[rad]

Originally Posted by radiodad

Am i right in saying at one stage Beacon WM took Network 2 while Beacon Shropshire took Network 1.

WM was Network 2 and Shropshire was Network 1. Wyvern was also Network 1.

It's probably fair to say that Beacon Shropshire and Wyvern would now be Heart had Global not have been made to dispose of the Midlands' stations.

[radiodad]

Originally Posted by rad

WM was Network 2 and Shropshire was Network 1. Wyvern was also Network 1.

It's probably fair to say that Beacon Shropshire and Wyvern would now be Heart had Global not have been made to dispose of the Midlands' stations.

You see i dont think so though, They wouldn't change Heart West Midlands to another format.

[djgeeza]

If Global hadn't sold BRMB, what do you think could've happened in that market?
BRMB to Capital, and Galaxy to Choice?

[rad]

Originally Posted by radiodad

You see i dont think so though, They wouldn't change Heart West Midlands to another format.

They wouldn't need to as there wouldn't be much of an overlap. Heart WM only (officially) covers North Worcestershire and the Telford area of Shropshire. The remaining parts of the three counties would not be part of the 100.7 area.

[rad]

deleted

[Andy_Swift]

Originally Posted by rad

WM was Network 2 and Shropshire was Network 1. Wyvern was also Network 1.

It's probably fair to say that Beacon Shropshire and Wyvern would now be Heart had Global not have been made to dispose of the Midlands' stations.

Correct, at the time. I remember the day Piano In the Dark came on my drive time show and Leona Lewis was on every 45 minutes. But the Ofcom region changes shortly after would now mean that beacon Shropshire would probably have flipped to Capital and just simulcast Wolverhampton OP. Wyvern would probably simulcast Gloucester.

Anyway, 2 or 3 weeks after the "will be hearts" network started the stations were held separate and we had to look after ourselves (musically)

[gavindowd]

Funny how 2-ten fm and mercury which were both in the chr selection of stations or 'the hit music network' were rebranded as heart. And they must of been planing to rebrand them if they didn't buy the re-sings of the 95.8 capital fm jingles that we're bought for all the other stations in the hit music network. Funny to think red dragon was in the network but received no network programming, I guess it really is 'LIVE FROM CARDIFF BAY!'. BTW anyone have airchecks of the hit music stations?

[Gary_h]

Originally Posted by gavindowd

Funny how 2-ten fm and mercury which were both in the chr selection of stations or 'the hit music network' were rebranded as heart. And they must of been planing to rebrand them if they didn't buy the re-sings of the 95.8 capital fm jingles that we're bought for all the other stations in the hit music network. Funny to think red dragon was in the network but received no network programming, I guess it really is 'LIVE FROM CARDIFF BAY!'. BTW anyone have airchecks of the hit music stations?

2 ten was not part of the hit music network, do you mean Ten 17? I think Cardiff was different because it's in Wales, so slightly different laws/rules.

[radiodad]

Talk of the Hit Music Network, today would have been it's birthday.

[gavindowd]

ten17's the one btw was there two mercury fm's in the hit music network

[Martin Phillp]

Originally Posted by gavindowd

ten17's the one btw was there two mercury fm's in the hit music network

Not too sure, I think Mercury Watford went from taking the one size fits all network to the soon to be Heart Network 1.

Mercury Crawley was Network 2 (HMN)

[sparry]

Originally Posted by Martin Phillp

Not too sure, I think Mercury Watford went from taking the one size fits all network to the soon to be Heart Network 1.

Mercury Crawley was Network 2 (HMN)

Mercury Watford was Hit Music Network until the middle of 2010 when it flipped to Heart.

Of course that's the one that isn't owned by Global, it's Adventure Radio that own that station.

[kev]

Originally Posted by AWradioUK

Pre Gcap in the GWR days during networked hours the presenter just called the station "Todays Best Mix" or "The Better Music Mix" then would fire off a command which would playout a sweeper locally with the station name at the start of the next song. There were also local What's On type inserts and in the case of Late Night Love locally played out sweepers with Graham Torrington reading out each stations phone number and a station namecheck. All very clever for it's time.
I don't think it was much different when it became Gcap

Did it ever work properly though? - when I had to listen to Trent FM (while my Walkman decided to stop playing tapes ) it always seamed to be playing adverts and jingles over the top of the music A few years on The Storm (later XFM) the news would start about a second late one day, two seconds the next and so on until you were getting about thirty seconds silence followed by the music crashing the news - argh!! (Oh well, at least it was doing a whole summer of "London's Magic 105.4 999AM" like Magic 999 managed - 105.4 of course being their main competitor - 105.4 Century FM )

[Willum]

Originally Posted by sparry

Mercury Watford was Hit Music Network until the middle of 2010 when it flipped to Heart.

Of course that's the one that isn't owned by Global, it's Adventure Radio that own that station.

Both Mercurys flipped to Heart at that stage.

Watford, along with Ten-17, was folded into Heart Essex, while Crawley was folded into Heart Sussex.

As these stations were latecomers to the Heart network, about a year after the rest) there was no transitional phase arranged as there was for Network 1 while that was converted to Heart region by region.

So, with the enlarged Heart Sussex and Heart Essex launching on Monday 26th July 2010, both Mecury FMs continued to broadcast all Hit Music Network programming from Nottingham, plus the regular playlist right up until and including the Sunday immediately before.

All that changed in the last week or two leading up to the effective closure of these stations, that I recall, was the introduction of the "Heart is coming" sweepers to replace the regular station ones, and the websites turning pink as with the rebranding of Network 1 to Heart.

But unlike Network One, there was no transitional period of Heart-esque network shows, and no More Music Variety strapline running alongside the original on-air station names.

As others said on here at the time, the Heart is Coming promos on Mercury Crawley jarred a bit with the regular HMN playlist! It was a rather abrupt change when implemented, and that was barely a month after being announced.

[-ajm-]

Originally Posted by Willum

Both Mercurys flipped to Heart at that stage.

Watford, along with Ten-17, was folded into Heart Essex, while Crawley was folded into Heart Sussex.

But Watford has it's own breakfast and drive.

Daniel Fox I beleive.

[Gary_h]

Originally Posted by Willum

Both Mercurys flipped to Heart at that stage.

Watford, along with Ten-17, was folded into Heart Essex, while Crawley was folded into Heart Sussex.

Mercury Watford did not merge into what is now Heart Essex. It is owned by adventure radio (I Think) so does it's own local and drive shows.