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This article is about the British radio station. For other uses, see Capital Radio (disambiguation).

Capital 95.8
File:Capital958.gif
Broadcast areaLondon
Frequency95.8 MHz
Sky Digital: 0109
Tiscali TV: 610
Virgin Media: 958 (931/932 ex Telewest)
DAB Digital Radio (London)
Programming
FormatContemporary
Ownership
OwnerGCAP Media
History
First air date
16 October 1973
Links
Websitewww.capitalradio.com

Capital 95.8 is a London radio station owned by GCap Media.

History

Early years

The station, which was based on the first two floors of the Euston Tower was originally named Capital Radio, and was launched by the then-chairman Richard Attenborough at 5:00 AM on Tuesday, 16 October 1973. In 1997 Capital moved from its legendary home on the Euston Road, to a new purpose-built base at Leicester Square. In 2005, the famous "Capital Radio London" signage was removed following the inauguration of GCap Media, but was reinstalled in January 2006.

A recent photo of the GCap Media building.

Capital went on air just over a week after news station LBC, making it the second legal commercial radio station in the UK. The first song to be played on Capital was Bridge Over Troubled Water, by Simon and Garfunkel.

Broadcasting on FM and medium wave, it has used 95.8 MHz since its inception, while the medium wave frequency was originally 539 metres (557kHz). This happened to be the same frequency that the Dutch pirate radio station Radio Veronica was using, and the interference between the two meant that neither station could be heard clearly in parts of southern England or Belgium.

In 1975, Capital's medium wave frequency moved to 194 metres (1548 kHz) after Veronica had been closed by the Dutch anti-pirate legislation. As the British government encouraged an end to simulcasting as part of its plan to expand choice in UK radio, a separate service - Capital Gold - was set up in 1988 to broadcast on Capital's medium wave frequency. At the same time, the FM frequency station was relaunched under the name Capital FM.

Recent times

The studios of Capital 95.8 are today based in Leicester Square, which is also home to Capital's parent company, GCap Media.

In September 1996 the then Capital FM launched its website, a little later than some UK broadcasters, but high demand led to it crashing within a few hours.

Towards the end of 2005, and the beginning of 2006, the station went through a number of changes. From December 2005 it was decided to have only two advertisements in each break in order to get listeners back to the music faster (these adverts were however played on the station at more frequent intervals).

On 9 January 2006 due in part to the fact that by then many people were no longer listening on FM but via the Internet, TV or DAB,[citation needed] the station was once again relaunched under its original name (Capital Radio), with a modified line-up of presenters and a slightly tweaked music format. After this re-launch turned out not to have had the desired success, a new Programme Controller was appointed in September 2006. Scott Muller came from the Nova group in Australia, and the station saw another tweak in style.

The new era has seen Capital re-branded back to "London's Hit Music Station", a play on the station's earlier brand of "London's Number One Hit Music Station" with noticeable improvements - leading to a rise in audience figures at the end of 2006. The station also changed its on air name to 95.8 Capital Radio, incorporating the frequency of "95.8" back into the station since it was dropped at the January 2006 re-launch.

In March 2007 the station was renamed Capital 95.8 and its slogan became "The Sound Of London". The marketing campaign combines outdoor, cinema, and print adverts. [1]

Rajar figures for Q2 2007 showed Capital 95.8 slipping to fourth place recording the lowest-ever share of the London audience and for the first time falling behind Emap-owned station Magic and Heart, owned by Global Radio UK. Capital 95.8's audience share slipped from 4.6 to 4.1 per cent over the quarter.[1]

10 December 2007 saw the station return to the "London's Hit Music Station" tagline, with ex-Virgin Radio presenter Greg Burns replacing Lucio on drivetime, and Lucio moving to the evening show. Lucio took over from Bam Bam who left Capital in early December 2007.

On 6 June 2008 Global Radio completed its £375 million takeover of GCap Media. The Office of Fair trading has ruled that the two companies must remain separate until it has reviewed the takeover. Global Radio's Ashley Tabor and Charles Allen have left their posts at Global to take up their respective posts at GCap Media, while Richard Park will be acting Chief Executive and Don Thomson will be acting Chief Operating officer until the OFT review is complete.

Current DJs

Previous DJs

The station's original presenters include:

Later presenters include:

More recent DJs include: 

presenter and also presented his own shift Nightshift show before Tim Lichfield.
    • Des Paul -[DECEASED after an accident on air on July 10th 2008]

The following also worked on Capital's sister station Capital Gold:

See also

References

  1. ^ Radio battle gets hot at the top (Times Online)
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