,
London . In
2005 , the famous "Capital Radio London" signage was removed following the inauguration of GCap Media, however in January 2006 the signage was reinstalled. The "Yates" signage refers to a bar underneath the radio building.]]
is a
London radio station owned by
GCap Media (formerly
Capital Radio Group ). The station, which was based at
Euston Tower until early in
1997 , was originally named Capital Radio, and was launched by then-chairman
Richard Attenborough in October
1973 . 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 . In 1988, the station relaunched under the name '''Capital FM'''. On January 9th 2006 the station was once again relaunched under its original name, with a modified line-up of presenters and a more restricted format excluding modern rock music.
From its inception, the station broadcast on
FM and
Medium Wave - it has used 95.8 MHz since its inception, while the medium wave frequency was originally 539 metres, before it moved to 194 metres (1548 kHz) in
1975 . As the 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.
The station's former DJs include
Tommy Vance , Ian Davidson/Damon, Peter Young, Grahame Dene,
John Sachs , Gerald Harper, Maggie Norden,
Michael Aspel ,
David Jensen ,
Chris Tarrant (who hosted the breakfast show for 17 years),
Pat Sharp ,
Richard Allinson ,
Roger Scott ,
Neil Fox ,
Katy Hill ,
Nicky Campbell ,
Richard Skinner ,
Kenny Everett ,
Dave Cash ,
Paul Burnett and
Alan Freeman - the last four of the broadcasters named above also worked for Capital Gold. Capital FM's leading presenters today are
Johnny Vaughan ,
Richard Bacon ,
Jezza ,
Chris Brooks and
Margherita Taylor .
The studios of Capital Radio 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 lead to it crashing within a few hours.
