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Heart

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,505
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Personally I think it's time to start a new Heart thread or rename the old one unless any further stations are to be rebranded as Heart (and we know that is unlikely to happen for some time yet).

On the way back home tonight I was shocked then pleasantly surprised to hear two songs on Heart between 18:15 and 19:00 that I hadn't heard on the radio in many years. KWS - Please Don't Go and I'll Fly For You by Spandau Ballet - I haven't even got either yet on my Spotify station!

If this is a change of tactic by Heart then it is very welcome. Heart is a big enough brand to the extent that I think playing two great but less aired songs each hour amongst Take That and all the other usual suspects will do them absolutely no harm at all - it would bring in people like me who tire easily of repetitive playlists. The fact that every now and then you hear something that you don't hear every day is one of the reasons why Radio 2 is so consistently popular.

If they continue to play familiar songs that their target audience loves but just spring a few surprises every now and then that sound great and do not detract from the format, so that people don't get fed up of hearing the same music every day, I think more people will listen to Heart for longer and change station less. And their advertisers would like it too.

I would love to hear more different and great sounding songs on Heart!
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    dpbdpb Posts: 12,031
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    "Please Don't Go" by KWS has been on rotation for a few weeks now.
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    boywonderboywonder Posts: 1,397
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    RED KITE wrote: »
    On the way back home tonight I was shocked then pleasantly surprised to hear two songs on Heart between 18:15 and 19:00 that I hadn't heard on the radio in many years. KWS - Please Don't Go and I'll Fly For You by Spandau Ballet - I haven't even got either yet on my Spotify station!

    If this is a change of tactic by Heart then it is very welcome.
    Just because you hear a song that you haven't heard in ages it doesn't mean it's a "change of tactic".

    Heart add songs on a regular basis. However, the bashers fail to mention this and go for the tired "oh they are playing the same 50 songs over and over" argument without really playing any close attention.

    How many times have the Heart bashers on here said "they should be playing this, this and this, blah blah blah" when in actual fact they already do :rolleyes:
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 112
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    dpb wrote: »
    "Please Don't Go" by KWS has been on rotation for a few weeks now.

    Usally on the Club Classics show.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 64
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    Usally on the Club Classics show.

    I wouldn't mind betting that now Capital is back on form, Richard Park has turned his attention to Heart.

    Over the last 18 months, even Heart London has moved away from the pure 'Rhthmic AC' sound that earnt it top spot in London. I think the feeling is 106.2 has suffered musically to accomodate the network - and that balance is now being readdressed. There are usually three gold songs an hour on the 'new' heart stations, I guess the thinking is take some of the Abba out and replace with the likes of Joyce Sims, KWS, Midnight Star, etc.
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    worldladworldlad Posts: 427
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    Personally I wonder why you listen to this station
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 665
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    dpb wrote: »
    "Please Don't Go" by KWS has been on rotation for a few weeks now.

    Sure has!
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    Murray MintMurray Mint Posts: 9,129
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    dpb wrote: »
    "Please Don't Go" by KWS has been on rotation for a few weeks now.

    Heart has the same ruddy tracks on rotation!
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    FM LoverFM Lover Posts: 50,839
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    We are having some work done at home and I was home on Monday, the builders had Heart on and I heard Christmas songs already - a full month & 2 days before Christmas.

    I left the room:mad:
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    Murray MintMurray Mint Posts: 9,129
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    FM Lover wrote: »
    We are having some work done at home and I was home on Monday, the builders had Heart on and I heard Christmas songs already - a full month & 2 days before Christmas.

    I left the room:mad:

    It's bad enough that some shops have been playing Christmas songs since early November!
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    Ten_BenTen_Ben Posts: 2,534
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    FM Lover wrote: »
    We are having some work done at home and I was home on Monday, the builders had Heart on and I heard Christmas songs already - a full month & 2 days before Christmas.

    I left the room:mad:

    Indeed. I've just been to my local shop who always have Heart on and they had Merry Christmas Everybody playing... it's still November for heaven's sake. I suppose it makes a change from 'This is Heart' and something unfamiliar (presumably Take That or Lady Whatever) which is what I usually get.
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    dpbdpb Posts: 12,031
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    Usally on the Club Classics show.

    I've heard it a couple of times in Club Classics but mainly outside of Club Classics - in fact it's been played in the last hour on the London and two Midlands regional stations.
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    wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    I listen to Heart on the way to work a few times a week just to give them a chance to see if they can bring me over to the heart side (a good hours worth of listening twice a week), however I'm just not feeling it, Real radio NW 105.4 always puts a smile on my face with the songs they play, up beat, happy radio.


    I dont know why Heart don't use the 'the Heart of Cheshire and north east wales' strap line for the area like they did before the switch over, its sounds some much better than just 'this is heartttt' , personally i thought it sounded better

    could be something like 'your station for the Heart of Cheshire and north east wales, this is heart' has more local feel about it, and they get 2 hearts in 1 strap line;)

    don't get me started on club classics :yawn::yawn::yawn::yawn: BORING
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,505
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    boywonder wrote: »
    Just because you hear a song that you haven't heard in ages it doesn't mean it's a "change of tactic".

    Heart add songs on a regular basis. However, the bashers fail to mention this and go for the tired "oh they are playing the same 50 songs over and over" argument without really playing any close attention.

    How many times have the Heart bashers on here said "they should be playing this, this and this, blah blah blah" when in actual fact they already do :rolleyes:

    I'm surprised your eyes haven't gone inside out by now!

    This is just for you! ;)

    smiley-rolleyes003.gif
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    Murray MintMurray Mint Posts: 9,129
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    I remember earlier this year I used to listen to Club Classics in the car on the way home from work on Fridays. After a weeks I got fed up with hearing the same tracks being played.

    Soul 2 Soul, Imagination, Scritti Politti, ABC, Abba...:yawn:
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,505
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    worldlad wrote: »
    Personally I wonder why you listen to this station

    There is nothing else to listen to on the bus at breakfast and drive - well there is but I don't like what's on offer.
    The only exception is Geoff Lloyd on Absolute but try listening to AM on a moving bus! It's only since there's been nothing to see out of the windows due to the dark mornings and evenings that I've started listening to the radio on the way to and from work again. What does annoy me though is that there are two songs then 4 minutes of adverts - I guess that have to pay the bills but it doesn't make it very listenable when you're only listening for half an hour or so.

    Anyway as soon as I'm indoors I can listen to songs like this - just two of more than 3030 songs:

    http://open.spotify.com/track/5nIJzlVNFyfTGQ5sJoeFHr

    http://open.spotify.com/track/1FbTceMivK92mVV3iGdwZk

    Future hits I'm sure.
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    wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    I remember earlier this year I used to listen to Club Classics in the car on the way home from work on Fridays. After a weeks I got fed up with hearing the same tracks being played.

    Soul 2 Soul, Imagination, Scritti Politti, ABC, Abba...:yawn:

    very true, i feel this is also the case on fri and sat nights with signal 1's party classics:yawn:, at first it sounded great but its the same every week now, i listen in the car on the way home too im surprised i havent fallen sleep and careered off the road in to a hedge
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,505
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    I listen to Heart on the way to work a few times a week just to give them a chance to see if they can bring me over to the heart side (a good hours worth of listening twice a week), however I'm just not feeling it, Real radio NW 105.4 always puts a smile on my face with the songs they play, up beat, happy radio.


    I dont know why Heart don't use the 'the Heart of Cheshire and north east wales' strap line for the area like they did before the switch over, its sounds some much better than just 'this is heartttt' , personally i thought it sounded better

    could be something like 'your station for the Heart of Cheshire and north east wales, this is heart' has more local feel about it, and they get 2 hearts in 1 strap line;)

    don't get me started on club classics :yawn::yawn::yawn::yawn: BORING

    Probably because next year there will only be two Heart Stations in Wales - Heart Wales and Heart Cymru - and the latter only because of they're scared of Cymdeithas (Welsh language militants) after the Radio Carmarthenshire incident.

    There is a "Made for local people by local people" trailer on our Heart though I think it's more just to give listeners the impression that Global actually cares about local radio - I think ClearChannel does the same.
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    Murray MintMurray Mint Posts: 9,129
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    very true, i feel this is also the case on fri and sat nights with signal 1's party classics:yawn:, at first it sounded great but its the same every week now, i listen in the car on the way home too im surprised i havent fallen sleep and careered off the road in to a hedge

    Sadly, the nolvelty soon wears off! I think if a more diverse mix of dance tunes were played then the show wouldn't sound so predictable!
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,505
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    Sadly, the nolvelty soon wears off! I think if a more diverse mix of dance tunes were played then the show wouldn't sound so predictable!

    As I've said before once they realise that their listeners are listening to their MP3 players or Spotify on their mobile phones instead of Heart I think they'll realise that they have to widen the playlist.

    My friend loves Heart, but even she can only listen for about 4 hours max each day - when they start playing the same songs all over again, she switches to her MP3 player.

    Now if I was an advertiser if even fans of Heart are doing that I'd be concerned. How many of us have to hear an advert several times before we finally notice it? If you are only listening for a short time and change station to hear something different then you probably haven't listened to any of the adverts at all.

    I think Global is right be highly targetted formats but if they want people to have Heart on all day every day and not change stations or switch to their own music, then they should only be repeating the most popular songs of the moment every 4 hours - they should look at varying the older stuff more. To their credit they have started tinkering with that but they should really look at playing two different songs every hour. I was impressed when they played that different Spandau Ballet track if they did that with all their popular artists then the station would sound so much better.
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    wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    RED KITE wrote: »
    Probably because next year there will only be two Heart Stations in Wales - Heart Wales and Heart Cymru - and the latter only because of they're scared of Cymdeithas (Welsh language militants) after the Radio Carmarthenshire incident.

    There is a "Made for local people by local people" trailer on our Heart though I think it's more just to give listeners the impression that Global actually cares about local radio - I think ClearChannel does the same.


    so heart 103.4 will become heart wales?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,505
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    so heart 103.4 will become heart wales?

    Very likely because Wales is a single Ofcom "region" and it would make sense to broadcast from Wales to Wales on DAB instead of from London. I think the digital version of Heart available in South Wales will soon switch to the output of 103.4 if it hasn't already done so.
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    wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    RED KITE wrote: »
    Very likely because Wales is a single Ofcom "region" and it would make sense to broadcast from Wales to Wales on DAB instead of from London. I think the digital version of Heart available in South Wales will soon switch to the output of 103.4 if it hasn't already done so.


    I wonder what will happen with the cheshire part? Lee Thomas does drive across all the nw hearts and the wirral too
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,505
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    I wonder what will happen with the cheshire part? Lee Thomas does drive across all the nw hearts and the wirral too

    That will eventually become part of Heart NorthWest (England).

    Sharing a local or regional station between Wales and England is silly and impractical since devolution even if Wrexham was part of Anglo-Saxon Mercia ;)
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    wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    RED KITE wrote: »
    That will become part of Heart NorthWest (England).

    well anything that makes it a bit more local/regional is a good thing imo
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    boywonderboywonder Posts: 1,397
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    Sadly, the nolvelty soon wears off! I think if a more diverse mix of dance tunes were played then the show wouldn't sound so predictable!
    So how do you explain the healthy ratings?

    You aren't an average listener. You are an anorak. If figures are on the rise that must mean more and more people are tuning in :rolleyes:
    RED KITE wrote: »
    As I've said before once they realise that their listeners are listening to their MP3 players or Spotify on their mobile phones instead of Heart I think they'll realise that they have to widen the playlist.
    Thanks for the laugh...
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