The
trading name of a holding group owning many
regional radio stations in
England. Until the partial
deregulation of
radio broadcasting in Britain in the mid-
1980s Capital Radio held the licence to be the independent
music broadcaster for
London. As its only ofiicial competition was
BBC Radio London (as well as
Radio 1, a national broadcaster, and a bewieldering array of
pirate radio stations which came and went), and a potential
audience of 12-15 million people, Capital became one of the country's leading radio stations. Many television personalities started out on
radio, and the usual route to
fame and fortune was: local station -> Capital -> television.
With the coming of the 1980s two things happened. The regulations
concerning the radio market in the UK were greatly relaxed combined
with the "Greed Is Good" philosophy of the Thatcher/Reagan years
meant that the board of Capital Radio embarked on a voracious
acquisition scheme. They split their own station into two brands:
Capital FM continued the classic mix of pop and the occasional more
challenging song, and Capital Gold took over their AM wavelength
broadcasting golden oldies to the nation's capital. As they started
buying other radio stations around the UK: Manchester's
Piccadilly Radio and Newcastle's
Metro FM being two of the major stations which were introduced to
Capital's mind-numbing mix of inoffensive music.
I've also been told (thanks martin) that they've now acquired the
Glasgow/Edinburgh station Beat 106, which presumably gives them
a major presence north of the border.
Capital's plans for total domination of Britain's radio stations
continue apace: they have now bought enough local radio stations to be
brought to the attention of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission,
but not before they managed to get hold of XFM, the only major
broadcaster left in London who were prepared to play non-mainstream
music. Now that XFM is owned by Capital the only alternative to
Britney and her ilk is to listen to either the small
neighbourhood stations, or to the pirates.