Heat Radio Announces Top Presenters For New Format
The newly revamped heat radio has announced several presenters for its new format, with former Heart 106.2 voice Rachel Hopper joining heat as the host of its flagship afternoon show.
Hopper – a regular expert on the GMTV showbiz sofa – will be broadcasting live to the nation when heat goes live at 2pm on Tuesday, 25 September.
The 2pm – 5.30pm weekday show will be full of celebrity news, gossip, guests, competitions and the heat music mix. Each day will have a different theme, with features including: confessionals from the weekend; backstage at ‘heat towers’; listener debates and countdowns to the weekend.
Fresh from hosting Saturday night TV show Dance X, Ben Shephard will be joining Hopper on the heat radio team. Shephard will be hosting ‘Hot or Not’ – a weekly review of the latest DVD, film, book and video releases. Every Monday, he will be joined by a host of experts and celebrity guests to debate what’s hot or not.
Paul Coyte will be presenting the weekday 9am – 12am show. Coyte, currently presenting early mornings on Capital Gold, will take a light-hearted look at the world of entertainment.
Andria Vidler, MD of Magic 105.4 who is leading the heat radio launch, said: “Just as heat magazine blazed a new trail across the newsstands, heat radio will be setting a new standard in radio.
“This is digital radio but not as you know it. Not only will heat be the UK’s first celebrity-focused radio station, we will launch with a revolutionary new commercial model and are attracting great talent capable of recreating the irreverent, tongue-in-cheekiness of heat.”
In July, Emap announced heat radio was to relaunch with a celebrity news format and sponsorship, promotions and ad-funded programming in place of spot advertising.
The national digital station, which is currently an automated jukebox, will be relaunched at the end of September (on DAB, Freeview and Sky) with an “exclusive club” of five clients whose advertising will be worked into the station’s content (see Heat Radio To Relaunch With Integrated Advertising).
Traditional day-part presenting is also being scrapped in favour of more flexible editorial-led content aligned to Heat Magazine and Heatworld.com (see Heat Gets Online Presence).
Yesterday the station signed Ford as one of five VIP advertisers for its relaunch, in a six-figure, 12-month deal that will see Ford partner heat radio for the weekday morning 9am to 12pm show (see Ford Named As Heat Radio VIP Advertiser).
Emap: 01733 568 900 www.emap.co.uk