Heart On 25 June 2012, Global Radio (the owner of stations such as Capital and Heart) announced it had bought GMG Radio, however the GMG radio stations would continue to operate separately until a regulatory review into the sale took place. Secretary of State Maria Miller announced in October 2012 that the sale would not be investigated on the grounds of plurality. The Competition Commission was due to publish its final report on 27 March 2013, but delays over the decision left the former GMG stations in a hold separate situation. A holding company called Real and Smooth Limited was formed. On 21 May 2013, the Competition Commission ruled Global would have to sell radio stations in seven areas of the UK - including all areas served by a Real Radio station. A subsequent appeal by Global was rejected at a tribunal. On 6 February 2014, Global Radio announced it would be rebranding all Real Radio stations as Heart and be selling Real Radio Yorkshire and the Northern licence of Real Radio Wales to Communicorp. Heart's network programming and brand name will be used under a franchise agreement. On 25 March 2014, the stations began a transition period to the Heart branding. The Real Radio branding was phased out on Sunday 20 April 2014 - for the time being, all stations are referred to on air as The Heart of (TSA). The full launch of the new Heart stations took place at 6am on Tuesday 6 May 2014. All local programming is retained with networked output on all stations carried from Global's Leicester Square studios in London, replacing the once networked output from Real Radio's Laser House studios in Salford Quays. Real Radio Wales has now been split into two separate stations following the changes, by providing localised programming from Cardiff and Wrexham respectively. List of former Real Radio stations Heart North East Heart North Wales Heart North West Heart South Wales Heart Yorkshire References External links Heart Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom Former British radio networks Heart (radio network)