Heart North East

Heart North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle.

History

Century Radio

Conceived as the second regional station for North East England, it was also the first to use the Century brand, which followed a 'personality' format, mixing speech and music. The station was originally based beside the Tyne Bridge in Gateshead, before relocating to Team Valley in 2008 to share a building with GMG stations Smooth Radio and Rock Radio. The station was originally called Century Radio, before changing its name to Century FM and finally reverting to the original moniker in 2008.

The station was set up by Border Television, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as programme director. Myers presented the breakfast show under the pseudonym of John Morgan. The first song played on air was "A Star is Born" (also used to launch the North West's Century FM).

Real Radio

Real Radio was a network of five regional radio stations broadcasting to Northern England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire. Each station broadcast a mix of local and networked programming. On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the stations were merged with the Heart network.

History

Sir Robert Phillis, the former GMG chief executive, enlisted John Myers to establish GMG Radio. Myers became the company's managing director in 1999, and won GMG its first licence in South Wales in April 2000.Real Radio (Wales) launched on Tuesday 3 October 2000. Initially serving south and west Wales, the station expanded to north and mid Wales in January 2011, over two years after winning a second licence.

In June 2001, Scot FM was acquired from the Wireless Group for £25.5 million. Scot FM would become Real Radio's second station at 8am on Tuesday 8 January 2002. A bid to expand the service to Aberdeenshire in 2006 proved unsuccessful, losing out to Original 106.

Real Yorkshire, the third station, launched on 25 March 2002 and broadcast to South & West Yorkshire.

Real Radio Digital

Real Radio Digital was a DAB Digital Radio station operated by GMG Radio as part of their Real Radio network of stations. The station was designed to provide service over digital services in areas where Real was not available in a local form.

Real Radio Digital was primarily provided on the MXR regional digital multiplexes. It was not available on MXR Yorkshire (where Real Radio (Yorkshire) was carried instead) or on MXR South Wales & Severn (Real Radio (Wales)); the Switch Scotland (Central Scotland regional multiplex) carries Real Radio (Scotland).

Real Digital initially broadcast to the North West, North East, and West Midlands on the regional DAB multiplexes. In 2007, GCap Media sold the Century Network of stations to GMG, which consisted of FM/DAB stations in the North East and North West and a digital-only Century broadcast in London, Cardiff and Birmingham. This move made Century and Real sister operations.

Century Digital was removed from DAB in Birmingham and Cardiff, with listeners in these areas advised by the Century Digital website to instead listen to Real on the regional multiplex. In March 2007, Century Digital ceased on DAB in London and was replaced by Real Digital.

Heart Wales

Heart Wales is an Independent Local Radio station serving South and West Wales. The station is owned and operated by Global Radio and forms part of the expanded Heart radio network of stations.

Background

Real Radio

On 3 October 2000 the Real Radio brand was launched after GMG Group won its first broadcast licence, serving South and West Wales. Following an introduction by Tom Jones, the station's founding managing director John Myers introduced the song "A Star is Born".

In December 2008, GMG Group was awarded the corresponding North and Mid Wales licence. Following an agreed format change request with OFCOM, the existing South and West Wales service was rolled out to the new coverage area. The station began broadcasting on its North and Mid Wales frequencies on 4 January 2011.

Real Radio Wales was a music and speech station, playing a AC format of classic, contemporary and current music the past 25 years to the present day.

The station also carried news bulletins every hour between the hours of 6am and 7pm weekdays and from 6am to 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays (including half-hour headlines at breakfast and drivetime) from Cardiff. Other bulletins were provided by Sky News through IRN.

.wales

.wales is one of two country code top level domains for Wales (the other being .cymru) which were put forth by Nominet UK in 2012. Final approval for both top level domains for Wales was granted by ICANN in June 2014.

A phased launch of the new domains was scheduled, with trademark holders being eligible to apply initially. General availability was expected by the spring of 2015. Early adopters of the domains include the Welsh government and male voice choir Only Men Aloud!.

References

External links

Wales

Wales (ⁱ/ˈweɪlz/; Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəm.rɨ]) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain,bordered by England to its east, the Irish Sea to its north and west, and the Bristol Channel to its south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km² (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.

Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to what was to become modern Wales, in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century; Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters.

Wales, Wisconsin

Wales is a village in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States, first settled by Welsh immigrants. The population was 2,549 at the 2010 census.

Geography

Wales is located at 43°0′14″N 88°22′39″W / 43.00389°N 88.37750°W / 43.00389; -88.37750 (43.003882, -88.377558).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.29 square miles (8.52 km²), of which, 3.28 square miles (8.50 km²) of it is land and 0.01 square miles (0.03 km²) is water.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,549 people, 949 households, and 792 families residing in the village. The population density was 777.1 inhabitants per square mile (300.0/km²). There were 987 housing units at an average density of 300.9 per square mile (116.2/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.9% White, 0.4% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.2% from other races, and 0.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population.