is a
British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It is listed on the
London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index .
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.
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 service in October 1973.
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 BRMB Birmingham, and in 1994 the Southern Radio Group (
Southern FM ,
Invicta FM and
Power FM ).
Fox FM in
Oxfordshire and
Red Dragon FM in
Wales were also purchased in the 90s. Capital also acquired the
Century FM stations in 2000. 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 was a
British Radio company with major assets including the nationwide station
Classic FM and an extensive network of independent local radio stations.
Between 1996 and 1999 GWR was a major shareholder in
London News Radio , 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 Passage Street,
Bristol .
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 allowed it to syndicate a number of programmes across its network of radio stations. It currently has three main syndicated programmes:
Music Control (weekdays 7pm to 10pm) presented by Kevin Hughes, Late Night Love (Sunday to Thursday 10pm to 1am) presented by
Graham Torrington and Music On Demand (1am til Breakfast, 7 days a week) presented by Dan Wood or Andy Henley. On Friday and Saturday evenings the network splits, with most stations taking Non-Stop Party (Friday 10pm to 1am) and Saturday Night Bam Bam (Saturday 7pm to 10pm) while the other stations take
School Daze (Friday 10pm to 1am) and
Hairbrush Divas (Saturday 7pm to 10pm). All stations then take a Non-Stop Party show (Saturday 10pm to 1am).
The two groups officially "tied the knot" in May 2005, with GCap employees being given branded 'GCap'
Digital Radios to commemorate the launch. Within weeks of the merger rumours abounded about disagreements between
Executive Chairman Ralph Bernard and
Chief Executive David Mansfield about the future direction of the company and this was compounded by a £184 m loss in the
Stock Market Capitalisation of the two combined entities by the time 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 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 stream of executives from the former
Capital Radio Group side of the business left the company, including David Mansfield himself.
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 and
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.
