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59-598: Thanet District Ashford Dover Whitstable Maidstone , Gravesham & Medway Heart Kent (previously Invicta FM ) was an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Kent from studios at John Wilson Business Park in Whitstable . Originally, independent local radio in Kent was to be provided by two franchisees, one covering Maidstone and Medway, and

118-516: A Mary Portas retail town. Large investment and building work is taking place in schools across the island. In addition, the District Council has introduced an empty property initiative and has compulsory purchased empty and derelict buildings with the objective of bringing them back into use. The Thanet Offshore Wind Project , near North Foreland, began operating in September 2010. The project

177-533: A Holiday Inn (hotel), now open. A large retail and residential development on Ramsgate seafront, known as Royal Sands , started construction in 2011 but was quickly halted. A multimillion-pound art gallery The Turner Contemporary (opened by Tracey Emin in April 2011) in Margate and this has created the opening of many new shops in the Margate old town and visitor numbers have far exceeded expectation. Margate has been chosen as

236-555: A day. All other output is produced at the Gold studios at Leicester Square in London. Capital Radio plc and GWR Group plc merged in 2005 and on 1 May that year, the newly enlarged group was renamed GCap Media plc. The first effects of the GCap merger were felt by Invicta FM soon afterwards. New boss Craig Boddy, assisted by GCap management (Hugh Murray and regional programme boss Peter Sinclair), undertook

295-444: A highly popular station and once achieved a 17% reach in a JICRAR survey; some say much to the disgust of its Southern Radio bosses who, it has been said, preferred their AM stations to hover around the 9% mark. It too lost its identity in 1998 when it became Capital Gold . As Invicta Supergold, the station performed very well and became home to ex Invicta FM presenters such as ex-breakfast presenter Johnny Lewis. In 1991, controversy

354-399: A lot of modern music and rocky/edgey music had by now been dropped by Invicta, in favour of a slightly and bigger concentration of older music, as far back to the late 1970s in a few cases and up to three 1980s songs an hour; sounding a bit like a younger version of another Global Radio station, Heart . All stations affected now shared the same playlist (e.g. Invicta FM played the same songs in

413-399: A mix of local and national retailers complemented by Northdown Road, Cliftonville, Westgate and Birchington-on-Sea. Westwood at the centre of Thanet has seen much major development in recent years with the building of Westwood Cross shopping centre which is the home of national retailers and several restaurant chains including a Travelodge hotel. Associated development has taken place around

472-467: A much larger playlist of songs and, despite some major audiences successes (mainly Thanet) they gradually put extra pressure on Invicta's advertising revenue. Most of the stations also employed many familiar ex-Invicta presenters. These stations are all now known as KMFM following buyouts by the KM Group . When Chiltern closed its SuperGold sustaining service, Invicta FM and Invicta Supergold began sharing

531-420: A new co host - Gemma Shepherd - and the show became known as "Invicta FM Breakfast with James and Gemma" and subsequently as "Heart Breakfast with James and Gemma". James gained Charlie O'Brien as his new co host on 21 January, and their new show started on 24 January 2011. O'Brien left Heart on Christmas Eve 2014 and was replaced by Becky Ives. Both Hemming and Ives left Heart Kent on 24 May 2019, one week before

590-555: A number of them: The lack of a single high-powered frequency for the east of the county was because of international frequency clearance problems due to the proximity to France across the English Channel . Instead three low-powered transmitters were installed in Ashford, Folkestone/Dover and Thanet. This problem did not affect BBC national and local radio, which use a single high-powered site at Swingate, near Dover. A few years after

649-510: A radical restructure of the station in September 2005, in response to falling listening figures and mounting overheads. Boddy changed Invicta from the style influenced by nearby Capital FM, to one which roughly resembled the old Mix Network . Invicta was possibly the last local radio station owned by the company (outside London) to be live and local 24/7*, escaping overnight networking and voicetracking at times when Capital Radio-owned stablemates like Ocean , Southern and Power succumbed to one or

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708-497: A similar way. Thanet has a wide variety of local schools including approximately 41 primary schools such as Drapers Mills, Palm Bay, and Upton. Outstanding secondary schools include Dane Court Grammar, and Chatham and Clarendon Grammar. The community learning within the district is varied and wide, including charitable training organisations such as East Kent ITeC Ltd, and organisations such as Margate Adult Education Centre, Thanet Skills Studio and Thanet Stage School. East Kent College

767-436: A single programme overnight. It retained its own separate identity by the use of split FM/AM jingles and an hourly out-of-news separate pre-recorded weather forecast, read over the respective station's weather jingle. However, the presenter simply called it "Invicta" elsewhere in the hour. This usually ran from midnight or 1   am until 6   am, although the later launch of an "early breakfast" programme on Invicta FM meant

826-415: A sound mix up which meant that Magnus's discussions with his production team were broadcast to the county. The station output was described as "Radio 2 cum Radio 4", featuring a mix of middle-of-the-road music coupled with a prominent news schedule where a news bulletin would last at least nine minutes. The managing director of the company Cecilia Garnett was sacked after the first few months. The station

885-491: A time, commercial breaks continued to be split four ways on Invicta FM, with East, West, Thanet and Ashford as sub-regions. The Morning Zoo was a fixture of the Invicta FM schedule for many years. Neil Francis was the initial lead presenter of the show until 2000 - he was later partnered with Sam Hughes (known on air simply as 'Sam'). He was also joined by Mark Fox ( Mark Anthony) in the flying eye. From 2000, James Heming

944-554: Is a provider of further education in Thanet and a Training Provider that works with local businesses to raise the level of education across the region. In 2023, Nelson College London overtook the former Canterbury Christ Church University campus in Broadstairs, offering HND courses in Business and Hospitality Management. Thanet enjoys a maritime climate , being surrounded on three sides by

1003-450: Is coming" were played after every song. This changed to "Heart is here" following the rebrand. Heart network programming is overseen by group programme director of the Heart network, Luis Clark, who was programme director of Invicta FM between 1999 and 2000. On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed Heart Kent would be merged with sister stations in the south and south east of England by the end of

1062-582: Is expected to have a total capacity of up to 300 MW which, on average, is sufficient to supply approximately 240,000 homes with green energy. The project will thus make a significant contribution to the government's national and regional renewable energy targets. Thanet Earth is the largest greenhouse development in the UK, covering an area of 91 hectares with 7 greenhouses each the size of 10 football pitches producing cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers all year. Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs each have shopping centres with

1121-493: The Isle of Thanet , a former island which gradually became connected to the mainland between the 12th and 16th centuries. The district lies on the north-eastern tip of Kent, bordering the City of Canterbury to the west and Dover District to the south. It is predominantly coastal, with north, east and southeast-facing coastlines. The Isle of Thanet is the major part of the district. This

1180-743: The Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital , known as the QEQM. Extension work which started in 2007 has made the QEQM a major hospital site. As of July 2010, overall indicators of health were poor for Thanet: Local newspapers are the Thanet Extra , part of the KM Group ; Isle of Thanet Gazette and Thanet Times (merged with Adscene, October 2009), (the Thanet Times was withdrawn in October 2012) all owned by Northcliffe Media ; and

1239-510: The Invicta Sound days, there was some separate programming for East and West Kent, including dedicated Drivetime shows for each half of the county. Some specialist shows could only be heard by one half of the county, including a classical music show and a programme aimed at children, called "Kid's Stuff". In 1985, a general reorganisation of radio frequencies in Britain forced Invicta into changing

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1298-639: The South East of England as a whole, and as a result a great deal of planning is being done to encourage more businesses to relocate to the District. The Thanet & East Kent Chamber produces a weekly business digest, the Thanet & East Kent Insider, which reports on economic activity in the private and public sectors. New projects underway include: A new community centre for Broadstairs. Redevelopment and renovations are to be undertaken at Margate's Dreamland (a Heritage Amusement Park); Cliftonville (Lido site); and

1357-651: The UK's first true high-speed commuter service, according to the South Eastern Railway Company. Main road links are the A28 which brings traffic from Canterbury and Ashford; and the A299 , north coast route. The Saxon Shore Way Long distance footpath skirts the coast. There is an airport, now closed, at Manston , formerly RAF Manston , but later renamed by its commercial operators as Kent International Airport . The airport closed permanently on 15 May 2014. Because it

1416-543: The council since 1974 has been as follows: The leaders of the council since 1999 have been: The current composition of Thanet District Council's Cabinet is as follows: Following the 2023 election and a subsequent change of allegiance in February 2024, the composition of the council was: The independent councillor and the Greens sit together as the "Green and Independent Group". The next elections are due in 2027. Since

1475-521: The county, as had been the case since 1984 - all ads now broadcast on the station are heard on both of the station's frequencies. By September, Capital Gold could also be heard in Birmingham , Sussex , Hampshire and, not long after, South Wales . A while later, the decision was taken to network the Drivetime show (presented by Tony Blackburn and instead local breakfast shows would be broadcast on each of

1534-403: The district is also covered by civil parishes , which form a third tier of local government. The council has been under Labour majority control since the 2023 Thanet District Council election . The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities before coming into its powers on 1 April 1974. Political control of

1593-477: The end of some long-running programmes including Party Invicta and an increase in networked output, including the mid-morning show with Philippa Collins (aired from 10   am to 1   pm). Andy Walker presented the local 1   pm – 4   pm show until December 2008 when he was replaced by ex night time presenter Stephen Sullivan with Neil Kefford hosting the 4 pm – 7 pm slot. In common with most of its sister stations,

1652-500: The expanding operation started to become known as the Invicta Radio Group . Coast AM was an AOR/soft rock station under the leadership of ex-Capital Producer/DJ Kerry Juby with music programmed by Paul Stafford (Head of Music and "Living on Rock" presenter, 7 – 11   pm weekdays). Eammon Kelly was the station's first breakfast host. A few months after the launch, Coast AM was renamed "Coast Classics" . (Although

1711-586: The group as a result of a reverse takeover by the Invicta Radio Group. In 1994, Capital Radio purchased Southern Radio plc, which included Ocean Sound. This led to the station being a more music-led station, playing heavy rotation soft adult contemporary hits, with its news and information sequences reduced in length and finishing with the sentence "And that's the way it is at <time check>" like Capital FM. Whilst Power FM took on Capital FM's long-established, successful and highly polished sound. In 1997

1770-472: The jingles sang "Coast Classic"). The service began playing more 'oldies' and by 1990 it became a fully fledged 'Golden Oldies' station. Throughout this period, Coast was a 24-hour live local station, but in 1991 it started taking a "sustaining service" from Chiltern Radio Group 's expanding AM 'Gold' service, SuperGold . As a result of this change, the station was renamed Invicta Supergold . This helped as research had shown that listeners never fully got used to

1829-492: The last boundary changes in 2003 the council has comprised 56 councillors representing 23 wards , with each ward electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held every four years. The district straddles two constituencies, one of which extends beyond the district boundary to include parts of neighbouring districts: The council is based at the Council Offices on Cecil Street in the centre of Margate. The building

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1888-512: The local Capital Gold services. Kent's local opt-out show was then presented by Tim Stewart, who moved over from Invicta FM. Ex-Radio 1 DJ Adrian John took over the Kent breakfast show in 2000. A local breakfast show survived until August 2007, when Capital Gold owners GCap Media purchased the Classic Gold stations from UBC. Ofcom agreed a proposal to move the four-hour local opt-out from breakfast to afternoons. Kent's breakfast show host by now

1947-593: The midweek Your Thanet published online by KOS Media . The county-wide newspaper Kent on Saturday also serves the district. Local radio stations are; National TV stations carry regional news: The ITV1 service is provided currently by Meridian Broadcasting ; and the BBC South East Today . Thanet also has a local online radio and podcasting service currently operating online only known as 'Thanet Community Radio' (TCR). The station works closely with Dover -based 'Dover Community Radio' (DCR) which operates in

2006-545: The other covering East Kent. The companies that were awarded the licences to broadcast to these areas were Northdown Radio and Network East Kent respectively. The two companies merged on 26 March 1984. The company's new name was taken from a failed bid for the East Kent licence, owned by former Radio 2 presenter Desmond Carrington , Radio Invicta Ltd. The new countywide station went on air as Invicta Sound at 6am on 1 October 1984. The first few seconds of broadcasting were marred by

2065-520: The other. (*Excluding the short-lived Steve Penk late night show heard across the Capital FM network, a Sunday afternoon show presented by Cat Deeley and Edith Bowman, and the weekly chart show, currently known as 'The Big Top 40 Show') The new relaunched Invicta carried the first of the GWR straplines 'The best mix of the 80s, 90s and today' from Monday 19 September 2005. The second strapline 'Today's Best Mix',

2124-453: The overnight presenter would do the last hour on Supergold only. Invicta Supergold closed down May 1998, to be replaced by the mainly networked Capital Gold . The change happened with no promotion, save for a handful of promos scheduled to run over the weekend prior to the Monday launch. A local Drivetime show was retained, presented initially by Mike Peters, then Peter Fielding. This was ahead of

2183-530: The rebranding of the station to Invicta Radio , the station became known as Invicta FM . Soon after, separate breakfast shows started to be broadcast to the following areas: As required by the Home Office to end simulcasting on FM and AM, in March 1989, Invicta Radio became Invicta FM and a sister station, Coast AM began broadcasting on Invicta's AM frequencies. Whilst the company name remained Invicta Sound plc,

2242-417: The roll out of Capital Gold across other AM stations owned by the company; the Kent site acted as a test station, chosen in part because of its close proximity to Capital Gold in London, to ensure syndication worked, and to iron out any problems. Another change that occurred at the launch of Capital Gold in Kent is that for the first time, advertising was no longer split with different ads in the east and west of

2301-434: The same order as sister station Essex FM ). The strapline also mirrored Heart's - More Music Variety - as did the name of the now renamed 'guess the year' feature, The Time Tunnel. In September 2008, it was reported that Invicta, along with 28 other local radio stations, would be renamed as "Heart" with local programming reduced to Breakfast and Drivetime shows on weekdays and a four-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays. Whilst

2360-497: The sea. This generally results in mild winters and warm, dry summers. Southern Radio The Southern Radio Group was a company which owned and operated radio stations on the south coast of England. Southern Radio Group was formed when Ocean Sound merged with Southern FM . Later, in 1992, Invicta FM and its AM services Invicta SuperGold in Kent , and Mellow 1557 in Essex joined

2419-733: The shopping centre spawning other retail parks. National retailer Primark opened a new superstore in October 2012, the largest Primark store in Kent. The rail connections are via the Chatham Main Line through Margate to Ramsgate, and the Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line . New high-speed rail links from London to Thanet began in December 2009, and it is now possible to travel from Margate to St Pancras railway station at an average speed of 96 kmh (around 60 mph); maximum speed of 225 km/h (around 140 mph). This will form part of

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2478-717: The station by Invicta presenter Tim Stewart. Shortly after moving to its current base, the station was acquired by Southern Radio plc which, in turn, was acquired by Capital Radio plc in May 1994. Mellow 1557 was sold by Southern Radio plc a few months after it took control of the Invicta Radio Group. New rival commercial stations in the late 1990s were awarded licences in Kent by the Radio Authority. These were TLR ( Thanet ), Medway FM ( Medway Towns), Neptune Radio (Shepway and Dover), CTFM (Canterbury and district) and KFM (Tonbridge and Sevenoaks). These new stations mainly adopted

2537-503: The station ceased all local programming. 51°21′29″N 1°3′20″E  /  51.35806°N 1.05556°E  / 51.35806; 1.05556 Thanet District Thanet / ˈ θ æ n ɪ t / is a local government district in Kent , England. The council is based in Margate and the district also contains the towns of Broadstairs , Ramsgate and Westgate-on-Sea , along with several villages. It takes its name from

2596-508: The station ran four breakfast shows from Whitstable - Invicta Supergold, Invicta FM (102.8 and 103.1 and in Dover on 97.0) Invicta FM Ashford (96.1) and Invicta FM Thanet (95.9). The different programmes all took the same news and sports bulletins but had different presenters. The split FM breakfast was discontinued with the launch of The Invicta FM Morning Zoo in 1995. The Morning Zoo was the brainchild of then programme controller Sandy Beech. For

2655-479: The station was still known on air as Invicta FM, airtime on the station was sold nationally as part of the Heart Network . The station was amongst the final phase of stations to be rebranded, becoming Heart on 22 June 2009. Two months before the rebrand, the station was referred to as "The Heart of Kent". Two weeks before the rebrand, all references to the Invicta FM name were removed, and trailers advertising "Heart

2714-414: The station's name, many still calling it Invicta. A near-identical set of jingles from JAM were re-sung with the station's new name, and there were no major schedule changes. However, just before this change took place, and for most of Summer 1991, presenters at the station were instructed to call the station "Coast Classics Invicta Supergold" on air, to enable listeners to get used to the change. It became

2773-460: The ten years since the previous census. The whole district suffers from seasonal unemployment, in spite of its proximity to London, because of various factors, among them being inward migration, high numbers of old people, and low numbers of affluent people. It is not helped by poor overall indicators for health. In a study of resilience to economic downturns, Thanet was poorly rated at 295th out of 324 districts. Unemployment levels are nearly twice

2832-421: The title "town council". The two parishes of Sarre and St Nicholas-at-Wade share a grouped parish council. The town of Margate comprises an unparished area . The Thanet councillors representing the wards covering Margate act as charter trustees , choosing one of their number to be the mayor of Margate each year. According to the 2011 census, the population of Thanet was 134,186, an increase of about 6000 in

2891-858: The year. Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content, the station is allowed to share all programmes with another six licences located in the ITV Meridian region, which previously broadcast under three Heart stations ( Solent , Sussex and Surrey and Thames Valley ). As of June 2019, regional output on the merged 'Heart South' station consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside local news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. Heart Kent's Whitstable studios closed with operations moving to studios at Fareham , Hampshire . Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with network programming from London. Heart Kent ceased local broadcasting at 7pm on 31 May 2019. Heart South began broadcasting regional programming on 3 June 2019. For some time

2950-528: Was Neil Winfield who left the station and ex-Invicta jock Russ Lowe came in to present the 12-4 slot on weekdays. It was, and remains, pre-recorded ('voicetracked') and 'music heavy'. As it is recorded especially for the Kent audience of the now-renamed Gold ; station, it is able to include occasional Kent information and other references to the county. Local news and travel remains in the Breakfast and Drivetime programmes, and local commercials are broadcast 24 hours

3009-472: Was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 covering the whole area of three former districts and part of a fourth, which were all abolished at the same time: The new district was named Thanet, after the isle which covered approximately the same area. Thanet District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Kent County Council . Much of

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3068-551: Was due to the company getting too big for its Canterbury home having started to expand its radio operations beyond Kent. By now it had acquired a radio station in Frinton , Essex called Mellow 1557 (now known as Dream 100 ), as well as a stake in a radio station in Boulogne-sur-Mer , France , which it had relaunched as Continental Invicta FM . Some of Invicta FM's jingles were resung as "Continental FM" and voice overs appeared on

3127-465: Was formerly an island separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel . The channel gradually closed between the 12th and 16th centuries through a combination of natural silting and artificial land reclamation . An Isle of Thanet Rural District covering the rural parts of the isle had existed from 1894 until it was abolished in 1935 to form part of Eastry Rural District . The modern district

3186-651: Was introduced on Bank Holiday Monday 28 August 2006. In May 2008, both Craig Boddy and Regional Programme Director Peter Sinclair left and in July 2008 former Invicta FM and KMFM Programme Controller Mike Osborne was appointed to the newly created role of Programme Director On 30 June 2008, following the relaxation of OFCOM regulations on networking, the new owners of GCap Media, Global Radio , cut minimum local programming to ten hours on weekdays (from 6 to 10   am and 1 to 7   pm) and four hours on Saturdays & Sundays (from 8   am to 12   pm). The changes signalled

3245-502: Was originally designed in the early 1970s to be a new headquarters for Margate Borough Council, but by the time the building was finished in 1974 that council had been abolished and absorbed into the larger Thanet District Council. The building was formally opened on 9 April 1975. The district contains 11 civil parishes , covering most of the area. The parish councils for Broadstairs and St Peter's, Ramsgate, and Westgate-on-Sea have declared their parishes to be towns, allowing them to take

3304-510: Was relaunched as Invicta Radio in spring 1985. The company's studios, originally purchased by Desmond Carrington's Radio Invicta Ltd, were based in an old warehouse, at 15 Station Road East in Canterbury , with a second, smaller base at 37 Earl Street in Maidstone . Originally, presenters generally had the option of choosing where to present their show from, depending on where they lived. Plus, in

3363-510: Was sparked as one of the famous DJs, Chris Ryder (aka Caesar the Boogieman ), was sacked over criminal charges related to theft from charity. He was ultimately found not guilty on these charges, but was convicted of intent to defraud Also in 1991, the Maidstone studios and offices closed and a few months later, the entire company moved to a brand new, larger, building just outside Whitstable. This

3422-477: Was the lead presenter of the Morning Zoo following the departure of Neil Francis. The last Morning Zoo was broadcast on Friday 22 December 2006. The breakfast show was rebranded "James and Ali in the morning" at the beginning of 2007. From May 2008, it was known as "James Heming in the morning", following Ali Wheeler's departure from the station to have her first child. From November 2008 to December 2010, James had

3481-575: Was used as a U.S. airbase during the Second World War it has one of the longest runways in the UK, and while open it was designated by the United Nations as an emergency landing site for aircraft in trouble. Ferry services are no longer running from the Port of Ramsgate, and the council is currently in dispute with the former operators over the payment of £3.3 million Thanet has a large hospital:

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