Heart Oxfordshire

Heart Oxfordshire (formerly Fox FM) was a local radio station broadcasting to Oxfordshire on 102.6 MHz FM from the Oxford transmitting station and 97.4 MHz FM from a relay station at Farthinghoe, near Banbury.

Originally launched in September 1989, it was rebranded on 23 March 2009 by Global Radio in line with its rebranding of most of the One Network, of which the station was formerly a part. The station was closed and relocated to the Heart Berkshire studios in July 2010 and rebranded again as "Heart Thames Valley".

History

Fox FM was launched on Friday 15 September 1989 from an ex-carpet warehouse in Cowley, Oxford. Following weeks of test transmissions, its first song after official sign-in was Uptown Girl. The Fox name was said to be a contraction of the original company name, the 'First Oxfordshire Radio Co'. The station was originally a joint venture between Capital Radio and County Sound. Jeremy Loyd (General Manager of Capital) and Mike Powell (Managing Director of County Sound) were the driving forces behind the licence application that won the frequency. The original presenters were Phil Miles, Steve Ellis, Tony James, Jane Markham (the Fox Report), Steve Priestly, Paul Evans, Stuart Cameron, Henry Aubrey-Fletcher and Claire Thomas. The Chairman was Julian (Toby) Blackwell and the Managing Director (MD) was Tom Hunter. In 1994, Sally Oldham became MD and Jean-Paul Hansford became the Programme Director (PD). The following year, the MD was Mark Flanagan and PD Phil Angell. In 1998, Capital Radio plc took full control of Fox and Lyn Long became MD.

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire (/ˈɒksfərdʃər/ or /ˈɒksfərdʃɪər/; abbreviated Oxon) is a county in South East England bordering on Warwickshire (to the north/north-west), Northamptonshire (to the north/north-east), Buckinghamshire (to the east), Berkshire (to the south), Wiltshire (to the south-west) and Gloucestershire (to the west).

The county has major education and tourist industries and is noted for the concentration of performance motorsport companies and facilities. Oxford University Press is the largest firm among a concentration of print and publishing firms; the University of Oxford is also linked to the concentration of local biotechnology companies.

The main centre of population is the city of Oxford. Other significant settlements are Banbury, Bicester, Kidlington and Chipping Norton to the north of Oxford; Carterton and Witney to the west; Thame and Chinnor to the east; and Abingdon, Wantage, Didcot, Wallingford and Henley-on-Thames to the south.

The highest point is White Horse Hill, in the Vale of White Horse, reaching 261 metres (856 ft).

Oxfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Oxfordshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It was represented by two Members of Parliament. In 1832 this was increased to three Members of Parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1885, being split into three single member divisions.

The bitterly contested Oxfordshire election of 1754 was the main inspiration for Hogarth's famous series of paintings and engravings, The Election.

Boundaries

The constituency comprised the whole of the historic county of Oxfordshire, in the northern part of South East England. (Although Oxfordshire contained three parliamentary boroughs for part of this period – Oxford (from 1295), Woodstock (or New Woodstock) (1302–1555 and from 1571) and Banbury (from 1554) – each of which elected MPs in their own right, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election. The Oxford University constituency was also often listed as an Oxfordshire constituency, but was non-territorial and had no effect on the right to vote in the county.)