Heart Northern Ireland

Heart Northern Ireland is a regional radio station owned and operated by as part of the  network. The station relaunched as Heart on 6 May 2014, serving from studios in.

Heart Northern Ireland originally broadcast as Pirate Radio until 2004, when bought the station, leading to a relaunch as Real Radio Northern Ireland. acquired GMG Radio on 25 June 2012, but operated Real Radio in a "hold separate" situation known as Real and Smooth Ltd, which ended on 1 April 2014.

Pirate Radio
In May 1995, Pirate Radio began broadcasting a regional 24-hour service to the Derry region from studios in, , on 558 AM. Originally billed pre-launch as a full-service contemporary radio station in the vein of, the station went through numerous format changes, financial difficulties and mixed ratings fortunes, despite managing to acquire additional broadcast licenses for the Belfast, North West, Causeway Coast and Fermanagh/South Tyrone regions.

In 2004, bought Pirate Radio from it's previous owners,.

Real Radio
Shortly afterwards, a major overhaul of the station was announced including an on-air rebrand, a move to new studios at near, a revamped programming line-up and a strengthened round-the-clock news service. Real Radio Northern Ireland began broadcasting at 8am on 5 May 2005 with breakfast presenter Liam McSorley introducing the first song to be played, "Come Alive" by Ben Hartikainen Park.

Programming
All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including Heart Breakfast, presented each weekday by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden.

Regional programming is produced and broadcast from Heart's Dundonald studios from 4-7pm on weekdays, presented by Liam McSorley, Ronan Gettys, and Mia Trinh.

News
Heart Northern Ireland broadcasts hourly regional news bulletins, produced by Global's Northern Ireland newsroom at Dundonald, from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12pm at weekends. It also broadcasts headlines on the half hour during weekday breakfast and drive time shows.

National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times. The Dundonald newsroom also produces bulletins for Capital Northern Ireland, Smooth Northern Ireland (owned by Beacon Media Group), and both Global stations on the (Capital Isle of Man and Beacon-owned Heart Isle of Man).