Hertbeat Rebrands

Hertbeat FM is dropping it's name and most of it's presenters.

From 8am tommorrow the station will be branded as 106 Jack FM, taking on the Jack format which features virtually no live presenters and a larger and more varied playlist.

The only live show to remain on the station will be Steve Folland's breakfast show.

MD Brett Harley said: "The feedback from listeners and advertisers gets better and better - however, the radio market in the south-east is full of Heart stations - and being Hertbeat we were often being grouped in the same category.

"So we decided to look at other names for the station. Leicester Sound, Rugby FM and BBC Leeds were all taken - so we picked 'Jack FM'."

The local station was founded by Robbie Owen in 2000 and taken over by Shadow Holdings in 2005.

The Jack format was devised in the US in 2000 and there are currently two other Jack branded stations in the UK - in Oxford and Bristol.