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Timeline of Capital Radio

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This is a timeline of Capital London, previously known as Capital Radio, 95.8 Capital FM or similar variations, from its initial period as an Independent Local Radio station for Greater London to the present day CHR network serving most of the UK.

1970s

[edit]
  • 1974
    • January – The station changes its music policy following a slow start, moving away from light music to a more pop-based format.
    • Kenny Everett hosts the flagship breakfast show.
    • 2 September – Michael Aspel joins the station to host the weekday mid-morning programme from 9am–12pm.
    • November
  • 1975
    • The IBA finally opens the station's permanent transmission facilities at Saffron Green which allows both LBC and Capital Radio to move up the dial. Capital moves to 1548 kHz medium wave (194 m).
    • May – Graham Dene replaces Kenny Everett as presenter of the breakfast show, as Kenny himself moves to weekends and Rod McKenzie joins the station.
  • 1976
    • December – Capital Radio launches the Capital Radio Helpline – a joint partnership with BT, Thames Television and LWT.
    • Capital Radio launches the Flying Eye, a traffic spotting light aircraft, carrying live reports on traffic congestion on the streets of Central London.
  • 1977
    • No events.
  • 1979
    • 31 December – Alan Freeman joins, marking his debut by hosting The Top 40 of the 70s.

1980s

[edit]
  • 1981
    • No events.
  • 1983
    • No events.
  • 1984
    • Chris Tarrant joins the station to present a Sunday lunchtime show, before later moving to a late morning slot on weekdays.
    • June – Kenny Everett rejoins the station, reviving his Saturday lunchtime show.
    • 30 September – The first edition of The Network Chart Show is broadcast. Aired on almost all of the UK's Independent Local Radio network, the programme is presented from Capital's Euston Tower studios by David Jensen who joins the station to present this programme and to take over as host of the station's mid-morning show.
    • October – Mike Allen launches the influential hip hop show.
    • 30 December – Michael Aspel leaves. He had been presenting a short-lived Sunday show after ending his long-running mid-morning programme on 27 July.
    • Rod McKenzie leaves the station to join BBC Radio 1.
  • 1985
    • No events.
  • 1986
    • 4 May – As part of an IBA experiment in split broadcasting on Independent Local Radio, Capital runs a Sunday daytime service called CFM, broadcasting a more contemporary mix of music than normally broadcast by the station.
    • Nicky Campbell joins.
  • 1989
    • No events.

1990s

[edit]
  • 1990
    • Paul Gambaccini leaves the station to rejoin BBC Radio 1.
    • Clive Warren joins, presenting an overnight slot as well as covering other shows. He will later present the early weekend morning show and also the weekday overnight slots.
  • 1992
    • No events.
  • 1996
    • September – Capital launches its website.
    • October – Long-running news programme The Way It Is ends.
    • Chris Moyles joins.
  • 1999
    • Following the company's purchase of Red Dragon FM and its medium wave service Touch Radio in South Wales, Capital Gold replaces Touch Radio.
    • 15 November – Life launches on the new Digital One national multiplex.

2000s

[edit]
  • 2002
    • The Capital Gold network relaunches with the new slogan of ‘’The Greatest Hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s.’’
    • Chris Brooks joins the station to host a new Weekend Breakfast Show.[8]
    • After two years at Virgin Radio, Steve Penk rejoins to present a networked late evening show. However, he only stays for a short period returning to Key 103 in Manchester in the New Year.
    • Edith Bowman leaves the station to join BBC Radio 1.
    • Tony Blackburn leaves.
  • 2003
    • December – Martin Collins leaves the station after 20 years of broadcasting.
  • 2005
    • Spring – Neil Fox leaves.
    • May – Capital Radio Group and GWR Group merge to form GCap Media.
    • DAB station Life is relaunched as Capital Life with a full presenter line-up. The station had dropped presenters outside breakfast in the New Year.
    • December – In an attempt to win back listeners, shorter commercial breaks (two adverts per break) are introduced, although there are more as a result. The policy is dropped after a few months.
  • 2006
    • 9 January – Capital is relaunched under its original name Capital Radio, with a modified line-up of presenters and a slightly tweaked music format.
    • September – Following an unsuccessful relaunch in January, a new programme controller, Scott Muller joins from the Nova group in Australia, and the station sees another tweak in style and brands itself as "London's Hit Music Station".
    • December – Jeremy Kyle leaves the station to rejoin ITV.
  • 2007
    • Dave Berry joins the station, presenting the Saturday afternoon show.
    • 12 March – The station is rebranded once again as Capital 95.8 – together with a new slogan, The Sound of London.
    • 3 August – All stations in the Classic Gold and Capital Gold networks are replaced by a new network called simply Gold, the result of the merger of the Classic Gold and Capital Gold networks under one owner, GCap Media.
    • 10 December – Capital 95.8 slips down to fourth in the listening charts in London. London's Hit Music Network is reintroduced as the slogan and Greg Burns becomes drivetime presenter. Lucio moves to the evening show, replacing the departing Bam Bam.
  • 2009
    • Chris Brooks leaves the station.[17]

2010s

[edit]
  • 2010
    • 13 September – Global announces plans to scrap the Galaxy Network in order to create a nationwide Capital FM. The plans will also include the closure of four further stations, with the new network going live in early 2011.[18]
    • David Jensen leaves.
  • 2011
    • 3 January
    • 1 July – Global Radio requests changes to the formats of Capital Birmingham and Capital Scotland, which had inherited obligations from previous owners. This was to enable format consistency within all nine Capital stations.[21] On 17 November 2011, Ofcom approved both format change requests.[22]
    • 18 November – After more than seven years hosting the London breakfast show, Johnny Vaughan abruptly leaves Capital. The show's audience had increased to over a million listeners.[23]
  • 2015
    • 13 November – Lisa Snowdon announces her departure from Capital Breakfast and the station at the end of the year. She was the programme's co-host since August 2008.[31]
    • 18 December – Lisa Snowdon leaves.
  • 2018
    • 2 August – After Global's purchase of Brighton and Hove station Juice 107.2 earlier in the year, Global announces the service will be relaunched as Capital Brighton from Monday 3 September.[33]
    • 11 October – After six years on the air, Capital TV ceases broadcasting.[34]
  • 2019
    • 26 February – Following further deregulation, Global Radio announces plans to replace the local breakfast shows on Capital, Heart and Smooth with a single national breakfast show for each network. Local weekend output is also axed.[35]
    • 5 April – The final editions of Capital's local breakfast shows air. Two stations in Brighton and the East Midlands cease broadcasting.
    • 8 April
    • 23 May – Capital Cymru drops all networked programming and launches a full 24-hour schedule of local output, including additional Welsh language daytime shows and an automated off-peak service of bilingual music. The station continues to air Global's The Official Big Top 40 on Sundays.[39]
    • 2 September – Capital XTRA Reloaded launches as a full-time station.[40]
    • 2 December – Capital becomes available on FM in the south east Midlands when it replaces six local stations owned by Quidem. The six stations operate as a single network called Capital Mid Counties, sharing all programmes with the Capital network apart from a local weekday drivetime show.[41]

2020s

[edit]
  • 2023
    • 13 February – Capital Chill launches on the Sound Digital multiplex, and becomes the fifth Capital-branded station.[49]
    • 18 May – Global Radio have signed a deal with ITV to show highlights of the Capital Summertime Ball and Capital Jingle Bell Ball.[50]
    • 8 July – Global Radio launches its "Play Capital" ad campaign on television, social media and outdoors, and featuring artists including Ed Sheeran, Tom Grennan, Dua Lipa and Leigh-Anne Pinnock.[51]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Obituary: Barclay Barclay-White – Dentist who was instrumental in the launch of London's commercial broadcaster Capital Radio". Times Online. 22 January 2007.[dead link]
  2. ^ "Isn't it good to know…. Capital Radio". Radio Today. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  3. ^ Stoller, Tony. Sounds Of Our Life: The Story of Independent Radio in the UK. John Libbey Publishing Ltd.
  4. ^ "Details of Capital Radio's acquisition". Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  5. ^ "Brief history of South Coast Radio". Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  6. ^ "History of Southern Radio Group". Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  7. ^ "Capital Radio bags Border TV". BBC News. 13 April 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  8. ^ [1] Media Tel News, 28th June 2002
  9. ^ "Chris Tarrant – last show on Capital – 2004". Audioboom. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  10. ^ "UK Television industry news". Archived from the original on 7 December 2004. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Denise van Outen to become Capital Radio Breakfast Co-host". BBC News. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2008.
  12. ^ "Van Outen quits Capital Radio a half-year early". Brand Republic. 29 July 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  13. ^ Brook, Stephen (31 March 2008). "Global Radio buys GCap Media for £375m". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  14. ^ Plunkett, John (28 August 2008). "Lisa Snowdon replaces Denise Van Outen on 95.8 Capital FM". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  15. ^ "New breakfast presenter for Capital". Radio Today. 28 August 2008. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  16. ^ Lisa Snowdon Gives Johnny Vaughan Radio Boost Archived 6 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine thelondonpaper, 16 October 2008
  17. ^ Chris Brooks Leaves Capital Digital Spy, 31st October 2009
  18. ^ McCabe, Maisie (13 September 2010). "Global Radio takes Capital national". Campaign Live. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  19. ^ Global Radio takes Capital national, Brand Republic, 13 September 2010
  20. ^ Capital FM to replace Galaxy Archived 25 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, RadioToday, 13 September 2010
  21. ^ Global requests Capital format change Radio Today, 1 July 2011
  22. ^ Ofcom approves Capital format change Radio Today, 17 November 2011
  23. ^ Rajar Q4 2011: Capital's Johnny Vaughan bows out as London's no 1 MediaWeek, 2 February 2012.
  24. ^ Dave Berry to replace Johnny Vaughan on Capital breakfast show John Plunkett, Guardian, 1 December 2011
  25. ^ "Heart and Capital TV start broadcasting". Radio Today. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  26. ^ "Dominic Byrne to join Capital FM London". Radio Today. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  27. ^ "Global to change Choice to Capital XTRA". Radio Today. 3 October 2013. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  28. ^ Tim Westwood | Saturday 7pm-11pm | Radio – Capital XTRA
  29. ^ Martin, Roy (6 February 2014). "Communicorp buys 8 Global stations". RadioToday. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  30. ^ Global confirms Heart expansion details, RadioToday, 14 April 2014
  31. ^ "Lisa Snowdon to leave Capital FM breakfast show for 'next big adventure'". Daily Mirror. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  32. ^ Capital Liverpool Will Launch In January 2016 Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, Global Radio, 16 December 2015
  33. ^ "Capital Brighton to launch on 3rd September", RadioToday, 2 August 2018
  34. ^ "Global pulls plug on TV stations". a516digital. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  35. ^ "Capital, Heart and Smooth cull local radio shows". BBC News. BBC. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  36. ^ Roman Kemp Vick Hope and Sonny Jay to go national on Capital
  37. ^ Global expands in Lancashire after buying 2BR, RadioToday, 31 July 2018
  38. ^ Lancashire's 2BR to join Capital's new national radio network, RadioToday, 26 February 2019
  39. ^ Extra Welsh programmes and presenters for Capital Cymru, RadioToday, 22 May 2019
  40. ^ Global to launch Capital XTRA Reloaded across the UK
  41. ^ Global confirms Global confirms Capital FM to replace Quidem stations
  42. ^ Vick Hope announces Capital Breakfast departure, RadioToday, 24 February 2020
  43. ^ Sian Welby joins Roman and Sonny on Capital Breakfast
  44. ^ Martin, Roy (1 October 2020). "Jammy move as Global poach MistaJam for Capital Dance". RadioToday. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  45. ^ "Capital Lancashire takes over Chorley FM radio frequency". 18 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  46. ^ "Heart 00s launches on DAB with Mike Panteli and Ashley Roberts – RadioToday". Radiotoday.co.uk. 20 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  47. ^ "Big changes to Capital's schedule as Chris Stark joins Breakfast". 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  48. ^ "Global updates Capital logo and removes radio frequencies". 2 November 2022.
  49. ^ "Global launches Capital Chill radio station on national DAB". Radio Today. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  50. ^ Martin, Roy (18 May 2023). "ITV to air special programmes to showcase Capital's two balls". Radio Today. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  51. ^ Collins, Steve (8 July 2023). "Big name artists take part in new multi-media campaign for Capital". Radio Today. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
  52. ^ Martin, Roy (19 February 2024). "Roman Kemp to step down from Capital Breakfast". Radio Today. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  53. ^ Martin, Roy (28 March 2024). "Date set for Capital's new breakfast show with Jordan North". Radio Today. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  54. ^ "Global's 12 new radio station names confirmed". Radio Today. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.