GCap Media
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| GCap Media plc | |
|---|---|
| Type | Public (LSE:GCAP) |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | London |
| Key people | Fru Hazlitt (CEO) |
| Industry | Media |
| Products | Broadcasting |
| Website | www.gcapmedia.com |
GCap Media plc 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 was 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. In late December 2007 Fru Hazlitt was appointed CEO.
As of 31st March 2008, the company is set to become part of the biggest radio group in the UK. Global Radio have been recommended to acquire GCap Media by the GCap board for £375 million [1].
Contents |
[edit] Pre-merger
[edit] Capital Radio Group
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, 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 as well as Border Television in order to acquire its radio stations (subsequently selling the station to Granada plc a year later). 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.
[edit] GWR Group
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 in the UK. GWR was an acronym for Great Western Radio.[citation needed]
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).
[edit] GCap - The merged company
The two groups officially "tied the knot" in 26th 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.
[edit] Restructure and the 'failed sale'
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.
[edit] Classic Gold acquisition
In April 2007 GCap Media announced that it was acquiring 18 AM and DAB 'Classic Gold' radio stations from Unique Broadcasting Company Media Group plc. Many of these licences had formerly been operated by GWR Group before being sold to Unique. It was announced that the stations would be merged with existing Capital Gold AM licences to form a new station Gold, which launched on 3rd August 2007.
[edit] Withdrawal from DAB and disposal of "non-core" stations
Under pressure from a £313m share offer to the board from Global Radio, GCap's new Chief Exective Fru Hazlitt laid out her plans for the company's recovery to financial health on 11th February 2008. Cost-cutting lay at the heart of Hazlitt's statement, including divesting GCap of its costly involvement in DAB - directly turning her back on the 'digital future' policy of her predecessor. It was announced that GCap had sold its interest in Digital One to Arqiva and that "non-core" DAB stations Planet Rock and theJazz would be closing by the end of March 2008.
In addition, the non-London xfm stations would also be closed if they could not be sold, as the stations were forecast to make a combined loss of £800,000 in 2008.[1]
[edit] Stations owned by GCap Media
[edit] National radio stations
[edit] FM Local radio stations
[edit] AM Local Radio Stations
- Gold — quasi-national network, comprising a number of licences as follows:
Gold (Birmingham), Gold (South Hampshire), Gold (Medway, Maidstone and East Kent), Gold (Cardiff & Newport), Gold (Brighton, Eastbourne & Hastings), Gold (Greater London), Gold (Manchester), Gold (Plymouth), Gold (Bristol & Bath), Gold (Peterborough), Gold (Coventry), Gold (Southend & Chelmsford), Gold (Reading), Gold (Reigate & Crawley), Gold (Northampton), Gold (Exeter & Torbay), Gold (Gloucester & Cheltenham), Gold (Bournemouth), Gold (Luton & Bedford), Gold (Swindon/West Wilts), Gold (Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury & Telford), Gold (Norwich & Great Yarmouth), Gold (Ipswich & Bury St. Edmunds), Gold (Nottingham & Derby), Gold (Wrexham & Chester) and Gold (Bradford).
[edit] Digital-only stations
- Chill — National Digital Station
- Fun Radio (with HIT Entertainment)
- Planet Rock — National Digital Station
[edit] Internet Television stations
[edit] Defunct stations
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- GCap Media corporate home page
- Press Release concerning acquisition of Classic Gold stations
- Save Planet Rock - Listeners Campaign Website
