Heart Essex Launches

Today, Monday the 22nd June 2009, Essex FM was replaced by "Heart", taking the total of Heart-branded stations in the UK to 33, and adding networked daytime programming from London.

The station re-launched at 6am - first track was Janet Jackson, The Best Things in Life are Free.

Here's a short extract from today's 6am launch: Heart Essex Relaunch 2.1 Meg MP3.

Below is a picture of the main Heart Essex stuio in Glebe Road, Chelmsford, rebranded with Heart.



As we covered in our recent Essex FM becomes Heart piece, many will see the transition to the Heart corporate brand as a sad day for local radio in Essex after 27 years of Essex Radio and Essex FM.

Got a comment? Noticed the change? Let us know.

Puppets on the Pier

News of a local Puppet Festival. If puppets are your thing, look out for the Puppet Festival on July 31st, August 1st and August 2nd.

There will be a number of free shows on and near Southend Pier. Kids; bring your grown-ups to see Punch. Grown-ups; bring your kids to see Judy. The shows, from all over the country, are free. Pier entrance at usual prices. Sponsored by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council.

Essex FM becomes Heart from Monday

From Monday the 22nd June, Essex FM vanishes from our local airwaves, to be replaced by "Heart"

As we've reported before, Essex FM is owned by the largest commercial radio group in the UK, Global Radio. Their three-phase plan to rebrand over 30 stations with a local identity to "Heart".

For the last couple of weeks, listeners to Essex FM will have noticed subtle changes to the music format and branding - getting listeners gently ready for Monday's change.

What does this mean for local listeners? Many of the presenters remain the same, including Martin and Sue's breakfast show. Some shows will now be "networked", including the 10am-1pm weekday show with Toby Anstis, and the evening "Heartbreakers" show. Less local programming, new jingles, and a form of programming identical to the other 32 "Heart" stations around the UK.

The Good Old Days: Essex Radio started back in 1981, and has seen many changes over the years. Any of these ring any bells? "Somewhere Special", "We'll make it a great today", "The Big SX", "Greatest Memories, Latest Hits", "Essex (swoosh swoosh) FM", or "Today's Best Mix". Various identities that your first local station has been known by.

Want more? Keen to reminisce about local radio in Essex? Here's some links: Essex Radio Remembered | Archive recordings and jingles | Longpier's tribute.


Happy with Heart?: Happy to find your local station becoming part of a brand? Moved on to a different Southend radio station? Or happy to stick with Heart? Please add your comments below.

Farewell Essex Radio and Essex FM... and thanks for being "Somewhere Special".

Queen: "All we hear is Radio ga ga... Radio goo goo... Radio blah blah..."

iPhone 3GS on sale in Southend

This morning we saw ten eager shoppers in the o2 queue by 8:30, and two chaps with laptops and seats outside Southend High Street's Carphone Warehouse.

These chaps have been queueing for the new Apple iPhone 3GS, which goes on sale today.

The new phone, an update on last year's 3G version, offers a faster processor, a 3 Meg camera (still low compared with most smartphones), better battery life, video recording and a digital compass.

Below is a photo of the queue this morning...



... compared to the queue for the iPhone 3G in July 2008...



Those queueing today are likely to be interested in the new 32Gig version - the cost? £275 plus £35 a month for 18 months - That totals £890 for a phone. Those queuing last year that bought on an 18 month contract will also have to pay around £245 to buy out their old contract and upgrade.

More on the iPhone: UK iPhone details

Southend Book Fair 2009

A date for your literary diary... Saturday the 6th of June sees the third Southend Book Fair come to town.

Writers Anonymous and South East Essex College are working together to make the 2009 Southend Book Fair the literary event of the local calendar. The free fair is open to all with an interest in the written word; fact, fiction, orated poetry, spoken ideas or themes, illustrated concepts or plays, or just words set to a musical back drop.

South East Essex College will open the doors to their theatre and atrium to promote a new cultural insight into the mysteries of language, to pull back the sheets on something everyone takes for granted and expose what it really means to communicate. The theatre will be hosting events such as talks by writers and their experiences of the writing process, talks by a publisher about the publishing industry and how to get your works in the public domain. There are extracts from plays by local theatre groups and poetry readings.

In the main atrium of the college will be the book fair, where you can meet and talk with writers and illustrators, discover the works they've completed and obtain limited signed copies of their books.
Entrance to the Southend Book Fair 2009 is free, and takes place on Saturday 6th June from 10am to 4pm at South East Essex College in Luker Road, just next to Southend Central station.

More details at www.writersanonymous.org.uk/sbf.html

Essex FM goes "Heart" in June

Global Radio, the largest player in UK commercial radio, is set to re-brand local station Essex FM to "Heart" this June.

This UK-wide re-branding of stations to the "Heart" umbrella started in January 2009, and Essex FM will be one of the last stations to change its name. Once complete, 33 local radio stations will be "Heart" branded. More on the re-brands.

Essex Radio started in 1981 from a basement below Southend's Clifftown Road. The company was owned by local businesses including department store Keddies, H.W Stones, Garons and T.O.T.S nightclub. The station's changed hands a few times, and now broadcasts from Chelmsford.

After nearly 28 years, it seems seems "Essex" will be dropped from the station's name in the next couple of months.

Sad to see "Essex" lose its identity? Looking forward to the new sound of "Heart"? Or have you moved on to listening to the newer local stations? Have your say below...

Southend A127 Speed Camera are live

Users of the A127 'Arterial Road' into Southend take note... The SPECS Average Speed Camera network is now live.

As locals will know, the speed for the stretch of the dual carriageway approaching Southend recently dropped from 70mph down to 50mph, with average speed cameras in place to enforce this limit.

According to reports on longpier.com, these cameras are now live, and offenders will be prosecuted.

Essential safety solution, or a council money-maker? More discussion on the A127 50mph Speed Limit Protest Group on Facebook.

Leigh-on-Sea Fire

Doing our bit for citizen jornalism, we're just back from the scene of what seems to be a fairly major fire on London Road, Leigh-on-Sea.

It seems that the blaze has hit the showroom of Mad Dogs & Englishmen at 1345 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea, and Just Bikes at 1339 London Road, Leigh-on-Sea.

As of 19:55 on Sunday 05 April 2009, the fire is still blazing away. We saw at least six engines in attendance, including crew from Hadleigh, Leigh, Southend and Canvey Island. The aerial platform was also in use to fight the flames. The crews appeared to be drawing water from three different hydrants. We saw some of the crews donning breathing apparatus, and there were at least two ambulances in attendance.

According to initial reports, the fire may have started at Just Bikes, spreading to Mad Dogs. The petrol and oil at the rear of the bike shop, plus the paints and thinners at the furniture store had for a particularly nasty fire.

At the time of writing, the London Road remains closed between Elmsleigh Drive and Belfairs Drive, with a solid police cordon. Smoke and flames can be seen from quite a distance.

Lots of locals are in attendance to see what's going on, and a fair few were snapping away on camera phones, capturing the scene for posterity.

As were we. Here are a few photos taken between 7 and 8pm:











Congrats to the emergency services for their hard work.

Contact us for images if required.

Students set to shine at the Beecroft Art Gallery

Students from the South East Essex College are preparing to shine with their very own exhibition that started on 28 February 2009.

Local fashion and design students are exhibiting the Beecroft Art Gallery in Westcliff. The exhibition has been inspired by, and forms part of, the Essex Jiangsu Festival.

Students taking courses in Fashion Promotion and Fashion Design have worked together to design garments and promotional materials inspired by Chinese prints and patterns. Their work has been designed and developed to reflect the style of particular high street fashion houses.

Jo Stringer, Course Leader for BND Fashion and Clothing at SEEC: "We are delighted that the Beecroft have offered the students this wonderful opportunity to showcase their work, so much effort goes into their work. There will be varied work on show including garments, ideas for promotional posters, bags, swing tickets all the things you would expect to see in one of our high street stores."

The China Now exhibition runs until the 18th April 2009.More details: beecroft-art-gallery.co.uk

Woolworths and Zavvi set to vanish

Hot on the heels of December's announcement that High Street name Woolworths is set to vanish from Southend and Leigh's high streets in January, it has s today been announced that Zavvi, situated at Southend's Victoria Shopping Centre, has also gone into receivership.

Woolworths has been trading in the UK for nearly 100 years, and its departure from the High Street marks a sad day in Southend's retail history. The news leaves around 75 Woolworths Southend employees looking for work.

Zavvi's days too are numbered. Zavvi was a management buy-out of the Virgin Megastore brand, and it seems their shut-down is also largely down to the Woolworths closure, as much of Zavvi's stock was sourced from Woolworth's supplier.

You have to wonder what other big High Street names could be next to fall, and what our High Street may look like a year from now.


Woolworths Closing Down Sale, Southend (December 2008)

Essex FM apologises for publicity stunt

Listeners to Essex FM at the start of this week were surprised to hear a message that morning presenter Martin Day, plus studio cohort Su Harrison had been taken off-air after comments about boy scouts in a recent show.

Within a few hours, listeners started springing up on Facebook trying to "Save Martin and Su", but the whole story was in fact, a publicity stunt, presumably to hide the fact that the pair were taking a few days off, and in the hope of getting some media attention.

Seems Essex FM got what it bargained for - the badly-timed stunt clashed with the Jonathan Ross / Russell Brand / Andrews Sachs controversy, and, according to the Evening Echo, as "an unauthorised publicity stunt". Parent company Global Radio is apparently launching an internal enquiry, and the pair returned to the station on Thursday.

For more on the story, see the Evening Echo Story, where you'll find over 40 comments, mostly indicating that Southend Radio's done rather well out of this.

Also, see the following story: Martin and Su's jobs are safe

Quiet please... on c2c trains

Silence is golden - and it's about to be enforced on c2c.

For a while now, c2c has been running one in four of its train carriages as a "Quiet Zone", where mobile phones and other electronic devices are banned - but this is tricky to enforce, and sometimes scowls from fellow travellers just doesn't work...

Soon, c2c will be making use of new technology on the Southend to Fenchurch Street line to block mobile phone signals.

Windows on the quiet carriages will be coated with a special film that will let light, but not RF radio frequencies, in and out of the carriage.

c2c says that this is in response to customer demand for a quieter trip, and a better option that trying to police a "keep quiet" policy on its train services.

Essex FM gets Heartbroken

Essex FM, owned by the massive UK radio group Global Radio is set to be re-branded.

Global Radio has plans to re-brand 29 of their UK commercial radio stations either to "Heart" or to "Galaxy", and Essex FM will reportedly be rebranded to be "Heart". Also set to go, is Kent radio station "Invicta FM".

The loss of the Essex FM identity could take up to 18 months to take effect. Possibly not good news for Essex listeners who've grown up with Essex Radio / Essex FM brand since 1981. More on Essex Radio's history.

Not happy to see the loss of Essex FM? Comments welcomed below...

No Southend Christmas Lights in 2008

Bad news for visitors to Southend as the famous seafront illuminations are set to remain off in 2008.

The Southend-on-Sea Christmas lights weren't on in 2007. The reason? The Southend Seafront Illuminations and Business Association chose not to light the lights in 2007 due to the "spiralling costs and increasing maintenance" needed to keep the bulbs burning.

Originally set to return in 2009, a news story on the Echo News website earlier this year highlighted that the seafront illuminations may now be un-illuminated until 2010.

Online protest as BBC withdraws football commentary

Local radio station BBC Essex, is set to reduce its live commentary of both Southend United and Colchester United's games for the forthcoming 2008/9 football season.

Southender Gary Bullock told us: "From a Southend perspective, last season's home gate averaged over 8,000. With travelling fans averaging a creditable few hundred, that leaves over 7,000 avid supporters who, for reasons such as other commitments or financial considerations, will not now be able to enjoy the excitement of a Saturday afternoon's sport. Even more supporters will suffer as the financial burden of spiralling fuel costs make the prospect of regular away travel simply too expensive. Considering the nature of the Corporation's funding I would have expected a more community-friendly approach to broadcasting schedules.

A member of Shrimperzone.com, a Southend United fansite, has instigated an on-line petition to press the BBC to reconsider. www.petitiononline.com/bbcessex/petition.html.

Got a comment? Add it below.

Southenders mad for iPhone

Apple's new 3g launched this morning, and queues started forming at the Southend o2 store on the High Street.

At opening time, there were at least 70 good folk queuing to get their hands on this new phone.

Overheard in the queue...

Passer by: "What's everyone queuing for?"
Queuer : "The new 3G iPhone from Apple"
Passer by "Oh, are they free?"
Queuer: "I wish"

... At which point, the passer by rolled her eyes, laughed, and passed by... giggling.

It's only a phone, Southenders!

If you're desperate for a 3G iPhone, try your luck ordering online at o2 or Carphone Warehouse

Hooters coming to Southend

US restaurant chain Hooters, known for cladding their waitresses in orange hotpants and low-cut tops, is coming to Southend.

Planning permission has been granted by the council for Hooters to open at the old MVC site, close to Sainsburys and the Odeon - there's a pic of the site here. Source

There's an anti-Hooters petition, and a Bring on the Hooters petition - Guess which one's winning?

Southend Radio has launched

The new local radio for Southend-on-Sea launched this morning. The station broadcasts on 105.1FM, from studios next to the Adventure Island Theme Park, close to Southend Pier.

The new station is staffed by a number of names from former Southend-based radio station Essex FM, including Mike Porter, Tracie Young, Ben Payne, Tracy Cooper, Nick Hull and Adrian Fox.

With the slogan "Playing Just Great Songs", the station went live on Friday the 28th of March 2008, following weeks of test transmissions consisting of the sound of waves sloshing against the shore.

The station kicked off at 8am, with breakfast show presenter Mike Porter and newsman Nick Hull. In the first link, Mike told listeners that this morning, the "colour of adrenaline is brown", played a station jingle, remarked that the toilet roll holder in their new building only dispenses one sheet of toilet paper at a time, before kicking off with the first song: Chris Rea's On The Beach.

More on Radio in Southend
Any comments on Southend Radio? Leave them below, or in our forum

Victoria Shopping Centre - Nearly ready

The Victoria Shopping Centre re-development is nearly complete. This Easter weekend, they're holding a series of events, to give you the chance to look over the £21.5 million redevelopment. Pop down and take a look - more at http://www.victoriasc.co.uk

Southend Radio - Starts March 2008

Southend Radio has started test transmissions on 105.1FM today. The tests consist of various Southend-related noises, plus an announcement of the station's name.

The on-air date for the station is understood to be 28th March 2008