GCap Media

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GCap Media
"GWR Group" redirects here. For the current train operator with this name, see Great Western Railway (train operating company).

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

Global Radio for £375 million.[1] This was completed on 6 June 2008, and the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Radio.[2]

On 1 November 2008, Global Radio discontinued using the name GCap Media.[3]

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

Capital Radio 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 AM and FM.

Changes to 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

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

independent local radio stations in the UK. The letters "GWR" were chosen because its launch coincided with the reopening of the Great Western Railway
in Bristol in 1985.

Between 1996 and 1999 GWR was a major shareholder in

Chrysalis Radio
in 2002.

GWR was owned by

Sir Peter Michael and other small shareholders. Until the merger, the group was chaired by Ralph Bernard and its head office was in Passage Street, Bristol
.

During its existence, GWR acquired the

East Anglian Radio Group to name but a few.[4]

Key dates

  • 1981: Wiltshire Radio is founded.
  • 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" after a landmark ruling in July 1995 by

The Radio Authority gave GWR permission to begin programme networking across many of its FM stations.[5]

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 weeknightly music and showbiz based programme (formerly called 'Core Control' and then 'Music Control') (weekdays 7 pm to 10 pm) presented by Kam and Sally,[6] 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 (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'

putsch and continuing dissatisfaction from the City
, 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

Orchard FM in the West Country
, 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, which launched on 3 August 2007.

Ralph Bernard leaves

In November 2007 it was announced that Ralph Bernard was leaving as CEO of the company.[7] 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 [8] 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 late December 2007 Fru Hazlitt was appointed CEO. Under pressure from a £313m share offer to the board from

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.[9]
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

Heart East Midlands
were sold to satisfy competition concerns.

On 23 September 2008, it was announced that

Chill as GCap's only digital station.[11]

Stations owned

National radio stations

XFM stations

  • Xfm London
  • Xfm Manchester
  • 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 Capital Radio Groups local stations.

  • 2CR FM
    (Bournemouth)
  • 2-Ten FM
    (Reading)
  • Beacon Radio
    (Wolverhampton)
  • Beat 106
  • BRMB
    (Birmingham)
  • Radio Broadland
    (Norwich)
  • Buzz 97.1
    (Wrexham)
  • 95.8 Capital FM
    (London)
  • Champion 103
  • 96.9 Chiltern FM (Bedford)
  • 97.6 Chiltern FM (Dunstable)
  • Coast 96.3
    (Bangor)
  • Essex FM
    (Chelmsford)
  • Fox FM (Cowley)
  • Gemini FM
    (Exeter)
  • 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
  • Marcher Sound
    (Wrexham)
  • Mercia FM
    (Coventry)
  • Mercury FM (Crawley)
  • Northants 96
    (Northampton)
  • Ocean FM (Fareham)
  • Orchard FM
    (Yeovil)
  • Plymouth Sound
  • Power FM
    (Fareham)
  • Q103 (Cambridge)
  • RAM FM
    (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
    (Worcester)

AM local radio stations

  • Gold – 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
    – National Digital Station also on Sky and Virgin Media.

Internet television stations

Former stations

See also

References

  1. ^ "Global to acquire GCap for £375m". Digital Spy. 31 March 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  2. ^ Fru Hazlitt and Richard Eyre to leave GCap Media plc Archived 15 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Global Radio/GCap Media deal is a watershed for radio Chris Tryhorn, The Guardian. 1 April 2008
  4. ^ "History of GWR". Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  5. ^ Stoller, Tony. Sounds Of Our Life: The Story of Independent Radio in the UK. John Libbey Publishing Ltd.
  6. ^ radionow. "radio-now.co.uk: Galaxy 101 sold by Chrysalis Radio to Vibe FM". www.radio-now.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  7. ^ Wray, Richard; Plunkett, John (24 November 2007). "GCap boss quits after 25 years with group". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  8. ^ "GCap shares continue to fall – RadioToday". radiotoday.co.uk. 23 November 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  9. ^ "FE Investegate -GCAP Media PLC Announcements - GCAP Media PLC: Strategy Presentation". www.investegate.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Global to sell stations including BRMB". Digital Spy. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  11. ^ Plunkett, John (23 September 2008). "Folder Media buys GCap's Fun Radio". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2018.

External links

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