and Steve Saunders. The technical team was headed locally Zulqar Cheema. Many volunteers who presented programmes on Ten 17 have gone on to have successful careers in broadcasting and the media, including Simon Burrell (Simon James) and James Burrell ("Hill"), Scott Hughes, Chris Badcock, Gavin Inskip, David Francis, Debbie Mackintosh (Mac), Dave Wartnaby (Kelly) and Gary Mulligan. Peter Kerridge, the first Station Director, is now Chief Executive of Christian radio station Premier. On Peter's departure from Ten 17, Russ Lewell, one of the original founders and presenter became Station Director. 1993 to 1999 - The Essex Radio Group The local station for the Essex new town of Harlow was launched back in May 1993 by the Essex Radio Group, and was closely linked to sister station Essex FM in Southend-on-Sea. Essex FM made use of the 101.7 FM transmitter to rebroadcast its output, leaving Ten 17 to broadcast a mere three-hour evening show from local studios in Harlow. As time moved on, the station took on more hours, more staff, better studio equipment, and computerisation. Eventually, Ten 17 became a completely local station for Harlow. 1999 - DMG Radio ltd In 1999 Ten 17 FM was rebranded as Mercury FM, as were 5 of the 6 stations owned by DMG Radio Ltd. This station was known as Mercury 101.7. It was then changed back to Ten-17 when it was bought by GWR. The 2000s onwards - GWR, GCap, and Global Ten-17's owners, GWR, later merged with Capital Radio to become G-Cap. The station was retained. G-Cap was then bought by Global Radio in 2008. Up until July 2010, the station formed part of Global's The Hit Music Network, broadcasting a mix of locally produced output from Harlow and networked programming from Nottingham. Closure On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to rebrand Ten 17 as Heart and merge the station with Heart Essex and Heart Colchester as part of restructuring plans for the Heart Network. The new station, Heart Essex, launched on Monday 26 July 2010 and broadcasts from studios in Chelmsford. The very last programme from Ten 17 was broadcast on Sunday 25 July 2010. References External links Ten-17 FM website The Hit Music Network Harlow Radio stations established in 1993 Radio stations in Essex Radio stations in Hertfordshire 1993 establishments in England