Hit40UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Genre | Chart |
|---|---|
| Running time | Sundays 4.00pm - 7.00pm |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | 95.8 Capital FM |
| TV adaptations | 4Music and The Box |
| Starring | Dr. Fox (2003 - 2004) Katy Hill (2004 - 2005) Simon Hirst (2004 - 2006) Lucio Buffone (2006 - 2009) Rich Clarke (2009) |
| Creators | Global Radio |
| Air dates | January 5th 2003 to June 7th 2009 |
Hit40UK was a networked Top 40 chart show broadcasting on around 130 UK commercial radio stations every Sunday from 4pm to 7pm. It was produced in house by Global Radio (formerly GCap Media) and Somethin' Else. The show was cancelled on 7th June 2009 and the last ever number 1 single was Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas, played at 6:52pm.
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[edit] Format
The radio show counted down the top 40 songs in the chart. Unlike the official UK Singles Chart broadcast at the same time by BBC Radio 1, the Hit40UK chart included only the digital downloads and airplay in the UK, whereas the official chart includes physical and download sales with no radio airplay. [1] The show has enjoyed higher audience figures than Radio 1's Official Chart Show since 1993, except for a brief period of 2006, when a weak commercial radio sector caused Hit40UKs share to fall below that of its rival.
[edit] Chart history
Hit40UK descended from The Network Chart Show, which was hosted by David Jensen on the commercial radio network from September 30, 1984 to July 25, 1993, sponsored from 1985 onwards by Nescafe. On August 1, 1993, Pepsi began their sponsorship of the show and Neil Fox became its host; it was known as the Pepsi Network Chart before becoming the Pepsi Chart around 1996. Pepsi ended their sponsorship of the show on December 29, 2002, and the ‘’Hit40UK’’ name was adopted on January 5, 2003, but Fox remained the host until May 30, 2004. On June 6, 2004 Simon Hirst and Katy Hill became co-hosts of Hit40UK, but Hirst later hosted the show on his own.
In March 2006, Hit40UK began broadcasting worldwide on the U-Pop satellite channel. The international version of the show is hosted by Mark Daley. It can be heard on XM Satellite Radio across the US and around the planet on WorldSpace Satellite Radio.
On October 12, 2006, it was announced that the programme was to be relaunched on October 22, with a new presenter, 95.8 Capital FM's Lucio Buffone. A new logo was also introduced to replace their old look. Emap dropped their Smash-Hits! Chart to broadcast the relaunched version of the Hit40UK show across their Big City Network of stations. In the same week, a dance and urban chart, the Fresh 40, hosted by Dynamite MC, was introduced to commercial radio's dance and urban stations, such as those in the Galaxy Network and the Kiss Network.
In April 2009, Lucio's contract with Hit40UK ended, therefore a new presenter, Rich Clarke, became the presenter of the network chart show, introducing a new image to the chart. The top 40 format also changed ; instead of charting the most popular tunes from radio airplay, downloads and single sales, the chart consisted of downloads alone. However, after a couple of weeks into the revamped show, Hit 40 UK ceased broadcasting and the last show was completed on June 7th 2009, resulting in a new chart show to be broadcast on 14th June 2009.
The chart that descends from Hit40UK is known as The Big Top 40 Show, with presenters Rich Clarke and Kat Shoob. It launched on Sunday June 14th and is the first ever real-time chart to be broadcast in the United Kingdom.
Cover presenter, Matt Wilkinson, from Global Radio’s Heart Network presented the last Hit40UK show, although Rich Clarke presented a London-centric version on 95.8 Capital FM live from their Summertime Ball.
Although the radio version of the chart has ended, it continues to be compiled, and a TV version is shown on The Box, Smash Hits and 4Music.
[edit] Sister chart shows
- Smash Hits Chart (TV Top 40) The Smash Hits! Chart was produced by Emap. It counted down the week's top 40 singles, as voted for by viewers of TV channels The Box, The Hits and Smash Hits TV. It was broadcast across the Big City Network, Kiss Network, The Hits Radio and Smash Hits! Radio, as well as a number of non-Emap stations. It ceased broadcasting in 2006, due to the launch of the revamped Hit40UK.
- The A List (Adult Contemporary) launched in February 2006 on stations including Heart, Real Radio and Century Radio. At launch it was presented by Melanie Sykes and Nick Snaith. The show ended on Sunday 23 December 2007.
- Fresh 40 (Dance and Urban) started nearly a year later in March 2007. It was presented by Kiss 100's Dynamite MC, and was broadcast on the Kiss and Galaxy Network's, plus a few local stations.
- Galaxy 40 (Dance, Urban, Pop) launched in late 2008 across the Galaxy Network, but was cancelled in June 2009 due to the formation of The Big Top 40 Show, which broadcasts across 141 stations in the United Kingdom.
[edit] References
- ^ Hit40UK to Digital, Hit40UK On Guardian, 7 January 2009
[edit] External links
- Official Hit40ukwebsite
- Official Big Top 40 website
- Official YouTube channel
- Official Hit40UK image from Wise Buddah (2008 / 2009)
- Official Facebook fan page
- Official Twitter feed
- Official Bebo group
- Official MySpace profile
- hit40uk news by RSS
- Global Radio website
- Hit40uk podcast at iTunes
- RadioFeeds (Contains an up-to-date list and map of stations participating in the show.)
- UKPopCharts.co.uk (Where hit40uk chart is compared with the current week's Official UK Top 40.)
