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GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed on 9 May 2005. It was listed on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008, the company agreed on a takeover by the
Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysal ...
for £375 million. This was completed on 6 June 2008, and the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Global Radio. On 1 November 2008, Global Radio discontinued using the name GCap Media.


Pre-merger


Capital Radio Group

Capital Radio Group was, until May 2005, a London-based British radio group. The company was originally set up to operate a General Entertainment
Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...
service in October 1973.
Capital Radio Capital London is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment as part of its national Capital (radio network), Capital Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Bri ...
was the second legal commercial radio station to launch in the UK, a few days after London news station LBC. In the 1980s, the station was allowed to operate separate services on the AM and FM stations. Changes in the media ownership laws meant, that Capital Radio Group was able to acquire other stations throughout the UK, becoming a powerful player in the UK's commercial radio industry; before the merger with GWR. In 1993, Capital bought BRMB, and in 1994, the Southern Radio Group which owned Southern FM in
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
, Invicta FM in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
,
Power FM Capital South Coast was a regional radio station owned by operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital (radio network), Capital radio network. It broadcast to Hampshire from studios in Segensworth, Fareham. In 2019, Capital South Coast was r ...
and Ocean FM in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, Fox FM in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
and Red Dragon FM in
South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
, were also purchased in the 90s. Capital also acquired the Century FM stations in 2000, as well as Border Television to acquire its radio stations (subsequently selling the station to
Granada plc Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd., Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television. The company agreed a corporate takeover of ...
, a year later). All in all, Capital Radio Group controlled 22 analogue and 59 digital radio licences. In July 1998, Capital Radio Group bought the financially troubled "alternative" radio station, Xfm. In the early 21st century, Capital Radio Group expanded its range of FM stations, and also started broadcasting digital-only stations, such as Capital Disney and Capital Life.


GWR Group

GWR Group was a British radio company with major assets, including the nationwide station Classic FM and an extensive network of
independent local radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...
stations in the UK. Between 1996 and 1999, GWR was a major shareholder in
London News Radio LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed Commercial broadc ...
, which owned and operated London's LBC and News Direct radio stations. These stations were sold to Chrysalis Radio in 2002. GWR was owned by Daily Mail and General Trust plc (majority share), various asset management firms, Sir Peter Michael, and other small shareholders. Until the merger, the group was chaired by Ralph Bernard, and its head office was in the Passage Street,
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
. During its existence, GWR acquired the Marcher Radio Group, Mid Anglia Radio Group,
Chiltern Radio Group Chiltern Radio may also refer to Chiltern Voice FM: Chiltern Radio Network was the parent group of several Independent Local Radio stations in the 1980s and 1990s. These were divided across two networks: ''The Hot FM'' and ''SuperGold''. Hi ...
and East Anglian Radio Group, to name but a few.


Key dates

* 1981: Wiltshire Radio is found. * 1982: Wiltshire Radio begins broadcasting. * 1985: Wiltshire Radio merges with Radio West to form GWR. * 1987: GWR Group goes public. * 1988: GWR joins Classic FM partnership. * 1992: Classic FM begins broadcasting. * 1996: GWR acquires full control of Classic FM. * 1998: GWR wins Digital One license. * 1999: Digital One begins broadcasting; launches Internet radio broadcasts. * 2000: GWR acquires DMG Radio.


Programming

GWR attempted to revolutionise local radio with its policy of branding its stations with similar phrases, initially "today's better music mix", later "today's best mix" and "the best mix of the 80s, 90s and today". This was after a landmark ruling in July 1995 by The Radio Authority had given GWR permission to begin programme-networking across many of its FM stations. By 2008, it had four main syndicated programmes: a weekday mid-morning programme which started in 2008 hosted by Phillippa Collins (this show was only carried on a few stations, when taken over by Global radio, the show was rolled out to all stations), a week-nightly music and showbiz based programme, (formerly called 'Core Control' and then 'Music Control') (weekdays 7 pm to 10 pm) presented by Kam and Sally, (Kam was replaced by Kevin Hughes), 'Late Night Love' (Sunday to Thursday 10pm to 1am) presented by Graham Torrington (later the show was replaced by 'the wind down' presented by Cat James), and Music On Demand (1am till Breakfast, 7 days a week) presented by Tony Wright (Now Celador Radio), then James Clayton and latterly Dan Wood (now Gem) and at weekends Andy Henly. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the network splits, with most stations taking Non-Stop Party (Friday 10pm to 1am) and Party Anthems (Saturday 7pm to 10pm), while the other stations take
School Daze ''School Daze'' is a 1988 American musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee and starring Lee along with Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne), Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell. Released on February 12, 19 ...
(Friday 10 pm to 1 am) and Hairbrush Divas (Saturday 7 pm to 10 pm). All stations then take a Non-Stop Party show (Saturday 10 pm to 1 am).


GCap – The merged company

The two groups officially "tied the knot" on 9 May 2005, with GCap employees being given branded 'GCap' digital radios to commemorate the launch. For the first five months the group was run by Ralph Bernard (ex-GWR) as Executive chairman, and David Mansfield (ex-Capital Radio Group) as CEO. David Mansfield stepped down on the afternoon of 19 September 2005 with Ralph Bernard taking over both roles. Within weeks of the merger, rumours had abounded about disagreements between Bernard and Mansfield about the future direction of the company, and this was compounded by a £184m loss in the market capitalisation of the two combined entities by the time the merger was sealed. Many market commentators felt that the savings brought about by cost cutting and elimination of duplicated departments across the company were far outweighed by large drops in the audience and advertising revenue across the newly formed group. Over the following months, amid rumours of a GWR putsch, and continuing dissatisfaction from the
City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
, a stream of executives from the former Capital Radio Group side of the business left the company, including David Mansfield himself.


Restructure and the 'failed sale'

In October 2005, GCap Media announced around 100 job losses and the sale of nine non-core radio stations, as part of a restructuring initiative. By this time, over £300m had been wiped off the market capitalisation of GCap Media, and the group was frequently touted as a take-over target by City commentators. The nine stations, which included the Marcher Group stations in
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
and Orchard FM in the
West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...
, came with a price tag of £75m. Eventually, after bids as low as £25m were placed and interest waned, GCap Media called off the sale.


Classic Gold acquisition

In April 2007, GCap Media announced that it was acquiring 18 AM and DAB 'Classic Gold' radio stations from Unique Broadcasting Company Media Group. Many of these licences had formerly been operated by GWR Group before being sold to Unique. It was announced that the stations would be merged with existing Capital Gold AM licences to form a new station,
Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
, which launched on 3 August 2007.


Ralph Bernard leaves

In November 2007, it was announced that Ralph Bernard was leaving as the CEO of the company. This was unusual, as neither he nor the company named a successor, but announced that they would start to look for one. This uncertainty caused a massive drop in the share price of the company, and it never recovered from that, leaving the new CEO with a difficult task to rebuild share value for the shareholders.


Withdrawal from DAB and disposal of "non-core" stations

In the late December 2007, Fru Hazlitt was appointed CEO. Under pressure from a £313m share offer to the board from
Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysal ...
(made possible by the low value of the shares), Hazlitt laid out her plans for the company's recovery to financial health on 11 February 2008. Cost-cutting lay at the heart of Hazlitt's statement, including divesting GCap of its costly involvement in DAB – directly turning her back on the 'digital future' policy of her predecessor. It was announced that GCap had sold its interest in Digital One to Arqiva, and that "non-core" DAB stations, Planet Rock and theJazz, would be closing by the end of March 2008. The station theJazz ceased broadcasting as announced, but Planet Rock remained on air while negotiations took place with potential buyers, which were successfully concluded in June 2008. In addition, the non-London XFM stations would also be closed if they could not be sold, as the stations were forecast to make a combined loss of £800,000 in 2008. An improved offer from Global was finally accepted by GCap shareholders, resulting in the departure of the group's senior management. Fru Hazlitt resigned in May 2008.


Takeover by Global Radio

The
Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...
conducted an investigation into the take-over of GCap by Global, and cleared it in August 2008, on the condition that BRMB,
Beacon Radio Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, formerly Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Shropshir ...
, Mercia FM,
Wyvern FM Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, formerly Free Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Herefordshire and ...
, and Heart East Midlands were sold to satisfy the competition concerns. On 23 September 2008, it was announced that Fun Radio had been sold to Folder Media, leaving
Chill In computing, CHILL (an acronym for CCITT High Level Language) is a procedural programming language designed for use in telecommunication switches (the hardware used inside telephone exchanges). The language is still used for legacy systems ...
as GCap's only digital station.


Stations owned


National radio stations

* Classic FM


XFM stations

* Xfm London * Xfm Manchester * Xfm Scotland – previously Beat 106


The One Network

This was a network of local radio stations in various towns and cities around the UK. It comprised the local stations previously part of GWR's Mix Network and the Capital Radio Groups local stations. *
2CR FM CR or Cr may refer to: In business * Conversion rate, in marketing * Credit Record, in accounting * Crown Royal, a brand of Canadian whisky Organizations Religious organizations * Celtic Reconstructionism, a form of Polytheism * Congregation ...
(Bournemouth) * 2-Ten FM (Reading) *
Beacon Radio Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, formerly Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire, is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Shropshir ...
(Wolverhampton) * Beat 106 * BRMB (Birmingham) * Radio Broadland (Norwich) * Buzz 97.1 (Wrexham) * 95.8 Capital FM (London) * Champion 103 (Bangor) * 96.9 Chiltern FM (Bedford) * 97.6 Chiltern FM (Dunstable) *
Coast 96.3 Heart North Wales Coast (formerly Coast 96.3 and originally Marcher Coast FM) was an independent local radio station broadcast along the North Wales coast, and owned & operated by Global Radio. The station, which broadcast from studios in Colwy ...
(Bangor) * Essex FM (Chelmsford) * Fox FM (Oxfordshire) * Gemini FM (Exeter & Torbay) * GWR FM Bath * GWR FM Bristol * GWR FM Wiltshire (Swindon) * Hereward FM (Peterborough) * Horizon Radio (Milton Keynes) * Invicta FM (Whitstable) * Lantern FM (Barnstaple) *
Leicester Sound Leicester Sound was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Leicestershire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's The Capital FM Network, C ...
* Marcher Sound (Wrexham) * Mercia FM (Coventry) * Mercury FM (Crawley) * Northants 96 (Northampton) * Ocean FM (Fareham) * Orchard FM (Taunton) *
Plymouth Sound Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England. Description Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abo ...
*
Power FM Capital South Coast was a regional radio station owned by operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital (radio network), Capital radio network. It broadcast to Hampshire from studios in Segensworth, Fareham. In 2019, Capital South Coast was r ...
(Fareham) * Q103 (Cambridge) *
RAM FM Ram FM was an Independent Local Radio station, which broadcast to central and southern parts of Derbyshire on 102.8 FM. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Leicester Sound to form Capital FM East Midlands (p ...
(Derby) * Red Dragon FM (Cardiff) * Severn Sound (Gloucester) * SGR Colchester * SGR Ipswich * South Hams Radio (Kingsbridge) * Southern FM (Portslade) * Ten 17 (Harlow, Essex) * Trent FM (Nottingham) *
Wyvern FM Hits Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, formerly Free Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Herefordshire and ...
(Worcester)


AM local radio stations

*
Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
– quasi-national network, broadcasting in the following areas: Birmingham (AM & DAB), Black Country (AM & DAB), Bournemouth (AM & DAB), Bristol & Bath (AM & DAB), Cambridge (DAB), Cardiff & Newport (AM & DAB), Coventry (AM & DAB), Derby (AM), Essex (AM & DAB), Exeter & Torbay (DAB), Gloucester & Cheltenham (AM), Greater London (AM & DAB), Humberside (DAB), Kent (AM & DAB), Lancashire (DAB), Leeds (DAB), Luton & Bedford (AM), Manchester (AM & DAB), Norfolk & North Suffolk (AM & DAB), Northamptonshire (AM), Nottingham (AM & DAB), Peterborough (AM & DAB), Plymouth (AM & DAB), Reading (AM & DAB), Reigate & Crawley (AM), Shropshire (AM), South Hampshire (AM & DAB), South Yorkshire (DAB), Suffolk (AM), Sussex (AM & DAB), Swindon & Wiltshire (AM), Teesside (DAB), Tyne & Wear (DAB), Wrexham & Chester (AM).


Digital-only stations

*
Chill In computing, CHILL (an acronym for CCITT High Level Language) is a procedural programming language designed for use in telecommunication switches (the hardware used inside telephone exchanges). The language is still used for legacy systems ...
– National Digital Station also on Sky and Virgin Media.


Internet television stations

* Classic FM TV


Former stations

* KMFM Medway – sold to the KM Group in 2002 * KMFM West Kent – sold to the KM Group in 2002 * The Storm – closed 20 January 2006 * Capital Disney – closed 29 June 2007 * Core – closed 11 January 2008 * Capital Life – closed 31 March 2008 * theJazz – closed 31 March 2008 * Xfm South Wales – sold to Town and Country Broadcasting on 31 May 2008 * Planet Rock - sold to Malcolm Bluemel's 'Rock Show' consortium * Fun Radio (with
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...
)


See also

* The One Network


References


External links


Global Radio corporate home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gcap Media Mass media companies established in 2005 British companies established in 2005 Mass media companies disestablished in 2008 British companies disestablished in 2008 2005 mergers and acquisitions 2008 mergers and acquisitions Global Radio Daily Mail and General Trust Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom Mass media companies based in London Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom