Timeline of Capital Radio explained
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
- 1970
- Capital Radio is formed in early 1970 by Nicholas Vincent-Brown, David Maule-ffinch and one other friend Tony Parmiter with the intent to apply for London's Independent Local Radio general entertainment licence. In late 1970, future brothers-in-law Vincent-Brown and Maule-ffinch's father-in-law, Barclay Barclay-White, become involved. By the time the consortium applies to the IBA, Capital Radio's board also includes Richard Attenborough, George Martin, Bryan Forbes and Peter Saunders (impresario).[1]
- 1973
- February – Capital Radio is awarded the licence to provide London's general entertainment service. Michael Bukht is appointed programme controller, Aidan Day Head of Music and Ron Onions Head of News. The chief engineer is Gerry O'Reilly.
- 16 October – At 5am, Capital Radio begins broadcasting a music-based general entertainment service to the London area.[2] Launching eight days after the news and information service of LBC, Capital becomes the UK's second Independent Local Radio station. It broadcasts on 95.8 MHz from the Croydon transmitter and 557 kHz (539m) MW from London Transport's Lots Road Power Station, Chelsea. The medium-wave frequency and location were temporary sites as the then new high-powered medium-wave station at Saffron Green, Barnet, was incomplete. Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel is the first record to be played on the station. Launch presenters include Kenny Everett, Tommy Vance, David Symonds, Roger Scott, Dave Cash, Joan Shenton, Monty Modlyn, Tony Myatt, Nicky Horne, Robin Houston, Allan Hargreaves, Marsha Hunt, Tim Rice, Susan Stranks, Brian Rust, Robin Ray, Kerry Juby, Gerald Harper, Humphrey Burton, Simon Jenkins, Simon Prebble, Sue Denny, Sarah Ward, Don Blake, Sean Kelly, and Tricia Ingrams.
- 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
- 1978
- 1979
- 31 December – Alan Freeman joins, marking his debut by hosting The Top 40 of the 70s.
1980s
- 1980
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 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
- 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.
- 1987
- 1988
- 1989
1990s
- 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.
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993
- 1994
- 1995
- 1996
- September – Capital launches its website.
- October – Long-running news programme The Way It Is ends.
- Chris Moyles joins.
- 1997
- 1998
- 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
- 2000
- 2001
- 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.
- 2004
- 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.
- 2008
- 4 February – Denise Van Outen joins former The Big Breakfast colleague Johnny Vaughan as co-host of the breakfast show.[11] She will be leaving after just six months of broadcasting on 29 July, midway through her contract.[12]
- 31 March
- 29 July – Denise Van Outen leaves.
- August – Lisa Snowdon replaces Denise Van Outen as breakfast co-presenter, as Lisa herself joins the station.[14] [15]
- October – the flagship breakfast show becomes the most popular breakfast show in London with a weekly audience of 862,000 listeners.[16]
- 31 October – Global Radio officially takes control of all GCap Media and its brands, giving it ownership of The One Network. The GCap Media name is dropped at this time.
- 2009
- Chris Brooks leaves the station.[17]
2010s
- 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]
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 6 February – Global Radio announces it will sell two Capital stations – in Scotland and South Wales – to Communicorp. Capital's network programming and brand name is still used by both stations under contract.[29]
- 6 May – Two Capital stations launch in North Wales – Capital Cymru, a bilingual station serving Anglesey and Gwynedd, and Capital North West and Wales, serving the rest of the region, as well as Cheshire and the Wirral. These stations replace Heart, which launches on the former Real Radio stations in North and Mid Wales and the North West of England.[30]
- 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.
- 2016
- 18 January – Following Global Radio's purchase of Liverpool station Juice 107.6, the station is relaunched as Capital Liverpool.[32]
- 2017
- 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
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 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]
- 2024
- 8 April – Jordan North succeeds Roman Kemp as the new host of "Capital Breakfast" on Capital.[53]
Notes and References
- News: Obituary: Barclay Barclay-White – Dentist who was instrumental in the launch of London's commercial broadcaster Capital Radio. Times Online. 22 January 2007.
- News: Isn't it good to know…. Capital Radio . Radio Today . 16 October 2013 . 17 October 2013.
- Book: Stoller, Tony . Sounds Of Our Life: The Story of Independent Radio in the UK . John Libbey Publishing Ltd .
- Web site: Details of Capital Radio's acquisition . 2010-01-18 .
- Web site: Brief history of South Coast Radio . 2009-12-23.
- Web site: History of Southern Radio Group . 2010-01-18.
- News: Capital Radio bags Border TV . BBC News . 13 April 2000 . 6 February 2009 .
- https://mediatel.co.uk/news/2002/06/28/capitals-new-controller-makes-breakfast-appointment/
- News: Chris Tarrant – last show on Capital – 2004. Audioboom. 2018-03-01. en.
- Web site: UK Television industry news . 10 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20041207002737/http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/frames/master.asp?sid=20 . 7 December 2004 . dead . dmy-all .
- News: Denise van Outen to become Capital Radio Breakfast Co-host. BBC News. 10 January 2008. 12 January 2008.
- Web site: Van Outen quits Capital Radio a half-year early. Brand Republic. 29 July 2008. 29 July 2008.
- News: Stephen . Brook . Global Radio buys GCap Media for £375m . The Guardian . 31 March 2008 . 13 May 2018.
- News: Lisa Snowdon replaces Denise Van Outen on 95.8 Capital FM. Plunkett, John. The Guardian. 28 August 2008. 31 August 2008 . London.
- News: New breakfast presenter for Capital . Radio Today . 28 August 2008 . 31 August 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081207045203/http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.3745.2 . 7 December 2008 .
- http://thelondonpaper.typepad.com/thelondonblog/2008/10/lisa-snowdon-gi.html Lisa Snowdon Gives Johnny Vaughan Radio Boost
- https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/1153109/chris-brooks-leaving-captial Chris Brooks Leaves Capital
- News: Maisie . McCabe . Global Radio takes Capital national . Campaign Live . 13 September 2010 . 11 May 2018.
- http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1028137/Global-Radio-takes-Capital-national/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH Global Radio takes Capital national
- http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.6265 Capital FM to replace Galaxy
- http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/07/global-requests-capital-fm-format-change/ Global requests Capital format change
- http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/11/ofcom-approves-capital-format-change/ Ofcom approves Capital format change
- http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/1115282/rajar-q4-2011-capitals-johnny-vaughan-bows-londons-no-1 Rajar Q4 2011: Capital's Johnny Vaughan bows out as London's no 1
- https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/01/dave-berry-replace-johnny-vaughan-capital-breakfast?newsfeed=true Dave Berry to replace Johnny Vaughan on Capital breakfast show
- News: Heart and Capital TV start broadcasting . Radio Today . 12 October 2012 . 13 October 2012.
- News: Dominic Byrne to join Capital FM London . Radio Today . 8 March 2013 . 10 March 2013.
- Web site: Global to change Choice to Capital XTRA . Radio Today . 3 October 2013 . 3 October 2013.
- http://www.capitalxtra.com/radio/tim-westwood/ Tim Westwood | Saturday 7pm-11pm | Radio – Capital XTRA
- Web site: Martin . Roy . Communicorp buys 8 Global stations . RadioToday . 6 February 2014 . 6 February 2014.
- http://radiotoday.co.uk/2014/04/global-confirms-heart-expansion-details/ Global confirms Heart expansion details
- Web site: Lisa Snowdon to leave Capital FM breakfast show for 'next big adventure' . . 12 November 2015 . 13 November 2015.
- http://www.thisisglobal.com/global-updates/?hp=1551#capital-liverpool-will-launch-in-january-2016 Capital Liverpool Will Launch In January 2016
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/08/capital-brighton-to-launch-on-3rd-september/ "Capital Brighton to launch on 3rd September"
- News: Global pulls plug on TV stations. a516digital. 2018-10-11.
- News: Capital, Heart and Smooth cull local radio shows . BBC News . BBC . 26 February 2019 . 26 February 2019.
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/03/roman-kemp-vick-hope-and-sonny-jay-to-go-national-on-capital/ Roman Kemp Vick Hope and Sonny Jay to go national on Capital
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/07/global-to-extend-into-lancashire-after-buying-2br/ Global expands in Lancashire after buying 2BR
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/02/lancashires-2br-to-join-capitals-new-national-radio-network/ Lancashire's 2BR to join Capital's new national radio network
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/05/extra-welsh-programmes-and-presenters-for-capital-cymru/ Extra Welsh programmes and presenters for Capital Cymru
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/08/global-to-launch-capital-xtra-reloaded-across-the-uk/ Global to launch Capital XTRA Reloaded across the UK
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/11/global-confirms-capital-fm-to-replace-quidem-stations/ Global confirms Global confirms Capital FM to replace Quidem stations
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2020/02/vick-hope-announces-capital-breakfast-departure/ Vick Hope announces Capital Breakfast departure
- https://radiotoday.co.uk/2020/03/sian-welby-joins-roman-and-sonny-on-capital-breakfast/ Sian Welby joins Roman and Sonny on Capital Breakfast
- Web site: Jammy move as Global poach MistaJam for Capital Dance . RadioToday . Roy . Martin . 1 October 2020 . 18 October 2020 .
- Web site: Capital Lancashire takes over Chorley FM radio frequency. 18 August 2021. 20 August 2021.
- Web site: Heart 00s launches on DAB with Mike Panteli and Ashley Roberts – RadioToday . Radiotoday.co.uk . 20 May 2022 . 2022-05-20.
- Web site: Big changes to Capital's schedule as Chris Stark joins Breakfast. 6 October 2022. 6 October 2022.
- Web site: Global updates Capital logo and removes radio frequencies . 2 November 2022 .
- Web site: Global launches Capital Chill radio station on national DAB . Radio Today . 13 February 2023 . 13 February 2023.
- Web site: Martin . Roy . ITV to air special programmes to showcase Capital's two balls . Radio Today . 18 May 2023 . 18 May 2023.
- Web site: Collins . Steve . Big name artists take part in new multi-media campaign for Capital . Radio Today . 8 July 2023 . 8 July 2023.
- Web site: Roy . Martin . Roman Kemp to step down from Capital Breakfast . 19 February 2024 . 20 February 2024 . Radio Today.
- Web site: Date set for Capital’s new breakfast show with Jordan North . Radio Today . Roy . Martin . 28 March 2024 . 28 March 2024.