Heart West Midlands

Heart West Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands and parts of the East Midlands.

Heart began broadcasting to the West Midlands on Tuesday 6 September 1994, as 100.7 Heart FM, becoming the UK's third Independent Regional Radio station, five days after Century Radio in the North East and Jazz FM North West.

The first song to be played on 100.7 Heart FM was Something Got Me Started by Simply Red. Its original format of "soft adult contemporary" music included artists such as Lionel Richie and Tina Turner. Reflecting this, its early slogan described the station as being "100.7 degrees cooler".

Its programming format was modified in 1996, a year after Chrysalis launched Heart 106.2 in London. The new format saw the "soft" AC music replaced with a generally more neutral Hot AC music playlist. This saw radio audience listening figures grow to equal that of local rival BRMB, which had been the leading commercial radio station in the West Midlands. New presenters were brought in from other stations; Daryl Denham arrived in 2000 from Hallam FM's breakfast show in a high-profile move, while Ian Danter and Carlos also arrived from BRMB.

One of Heart's most popular presenters, Tushar Makwana, was killed in 2004 following a burglary at his home which left him injured on his doorstep. The station's staff paid tribute to the presenter on-air, and campaigned for the person(s) responsible to be brought to justice. The station's reception area at the former Broad Street studios included a photographic tribute and plaque.

Following a corporate rebrand of the station, including a change of logo, the more contemporary look was soon reflected in the station's sound. The format was later described as more Hot AC and featured more music from the likes of Natasha Bedingfield, James Blunt and Keane as well as soul music from the 1970s, branded as Club Classics. During this relaunch, long-time presenters departed the station, such as Carlos, and Nick Piercey, to be replaced by younger presenters.

2005 saw the evacuation of its studios after West Midlands Police alerted staff and other civilians following a bomb alert in Birmingham's Broad Street complex. The station continued to operate, initially relaying sister station LBC News 1152 before transmission switched to the studios of Century 106 (now Hits Radio East Midlands) in Nottingham which broadcast reports from DNN journalists, who had to broadcast from a phone booth due to restrictions on the use of mobile phones.

On 11 September 2006, new station idents and jingles were used for the first time, and saw the station referred to purely as 'Heart' rather than '100.7 Heart FM'.