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Public File

Each local commercial radio station in the UK has requirements in respect of its music and local content, such as news, speech levels etc. These requirements are set out in the station "Format", a document issued by Ofcom, the UK’s radio regulator.

This Public File contains details of the elements that Ofcom regulate, such as music tracks, local news etc. It is intended to give you a better understanding of our output and what we are doing for our local community.

News Bulletins

We broadcast news bulletins on the half-hour between 0600 and 0900 and hourly from 0900 and 1900 on weekdays. Breakfast and drive time bulletins contain a  full mix of local, national and world stories, along with appropriate weather, sport and entertainment stories.

At the weekend, news bulletins containing local, national and world news are broadcast between 0800 and 1100 with extra national and world news bulletins at 0600, 0700, 1200 and 1300

News Team:
Huw James - News Editor - huw.james@thisisglobal.com
Chris Maskery - chris.maskery@thisisglobal.com
Laura Francis - laura.francis@thisisglobal.com

All contactable on 01582 676240

For Latest News Stories: click here

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The Programme Schedule: This can be viewed here

Automated Programming: We automate between 1-2pm weekdays and between 6-10am Sunday mornings

Local Programming: The amount of local programming per day produced on the station -

Weekday output from 0600hrs until 1000hrs, from 1300hrs until 1900hrs and weekend output from 0800hrs to 1200hrs is produced and presented from our Dunstable studios

Other programming (Mid-Morning Show, Evening Show, Heartbreakers, Heart overnights, Club Classics, Hit 40UK, Neil Bentley, and Jason Donovan) is produced at various studios, owned and operated by our parent company Global

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Ofcom Localness Guidelines and how to Complain to Ofcom

Ofcom, the government regulator with responsibilities for local radio, has produced localness guidelines that this station adheres to. These guidelines can be read here

In addition, all local radio stations have written ‘formats' that they must follow at all times. Check the format guide here

If you have a complaint to make about this station, in the first instance you should contact the programme controller at the address below. If you are unhappy with the response you receive, you can complain directly to the regulator, Ofcom. Their website has full details about how to do this:

Station Contact Details: Our Programme Controller is Paul Holmes and our address is:

Heart 97.6
Chiltern Road
Dunstable
Bedfordshire
LU6 1HQ

You can email Paul here

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Charities support or coverage: Our main charity coverage is of the Race For Life events across the area. We attend Races in Luton, Stevenage, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Welwyn Hatfield

In addition, we attend a number of charity events throughout the year.

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Issues or areas of interest likely to impact on localness: There are no current issues that impact on the localness of the station

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Recent programming and/or news highlights: We broadcast all day from an open top bus at the Luton International Carnival. This is Europe's biggest one-day carnival and we broadcast 12 hours from the event capturing a flavour of the day for those listeners unable to be at the event. Also, we attend all 5 Cancer Research UK Race for Life events in our broadcast area each summer.  We get involved with many charity and community events every weekend  including various fireworks and Christmas lights events

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Playlist: The current playlist can be found here

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