Pre-launch The Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 allowed for the establishment of local
commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom to operate alongside the national radio stations provided by the
BBC. In October 1972 the
Independent Broadcasting Authority invited applications for two
local radio licences in London: one for a general and entertainment station, the other for news and information. The successful franchisee, however, was Capital Radio Limited. This company, with shareholders including Rediffusion Radio Holdings Limited, Local News of London Limited and The Observer (Holdings) Limited was headed as chairman by the actor and film director
Richard Attenborough. Other board members at that time included record producer
George Martin, actor and film director
Bryan Forbes, theatrical producer
Peter Saunders, and a millionaire dentist and long-time commercial radio enthusiast Barclay Barclay-White. By the time of Capital Radio's launch in October 1973 some of the competitors for the licence such as Lord Willis and John Whitney had joined the board.
Launch On 16 October 1973 Capital commenced regular transmissions with the British national anthem "
God Save the Queen", then a message from director
Richard Attenborough "...Good morning, this, for the very first time, is Capital Radio" followed by the Capital Radio theme jingle, made by
Blue Mink: :"Isn't it good to know, :Capital Radio :You can turn on the friend, you can turn on the show, :you can turn on the world with Capital Radio :Such a good way to make your day :Capital sounds go round and round, :London town, up and down. :The brightest sound in London town :Capital Radio in tune with London (yeah)"...
Simon & Garfunkel's song "
Bridge over Troubled Water" followed the jingle. The first radio commercial came from
Birds Eye fish fingers, which was also the first ever legal radio commercial on LBC. Capital's programming remit, as with all ILR stations at the time, was to appeal to the broadest range of people as possible, which included specialist music programmes, radio plays, classical music, community features and news documentaries. The host of Capital's first show was former
BBC Light Programme and former
BBC Radio 1 presenter
David Symonds. After Symonds moved to the Capital Countdown show, he was replaced at breakfast by the former Radio London partnership of
Kenny Everett and
Dave Cash (known for
The Kenny & Cash Show). Immediately after going on air, Capital Radio suffered co-channel interference from
Radio Veronica, a pirate radio station off the coast of the
Netherlands. Veronica began broadcasting in the 1960s and it was suggested that the allocation of 539 metres to ILR may have been an attempt to block reception of overseas broadcasts – a battle which preceded the launch of
BBC Radio 1. Capital finally moved into office blocks in
Euston Tower in September 1973, just a few yards away from
Thames Television headquarters. Euston Tower was, at the time, London's tallest office tower. In 1975, the IBA opened the transmission facilities at Saffron Green which allowed both LBC and Capital Radio to move up the dial. Capital moved to 1548 kHz mediumwave (194 m) and LBC to 1152 kHz (261 m). Saffron Green needed to be highly configured as it was sharing the same frequency as other ILR stations and needed to prevent co-channel interference from new ILR stations in
Birmingham and
Manchester. Previously the aerial wire suspended between the towers of Lots Road site gained Capital and LBC the semi-humorous nickname of "Radio Clothesline" however both stations could be heard as far away as the Midlands. FM reception remained unaltered.
Capital in danger (1974–75) Capital continued broadcasting, having been a 24-hour station from the beginning. The so-called '
needle-time' restrictions on playing recorded music were eased, which meant it could play more of it, although they were not abolished entirely until 1988.
Charities and the Flying Eye The mid-1970s saw Capital Radio expand with the launch of the Help a London Child charity, which aimed to raise money for London's poorest children. The charity appeal went on to become one of the longest-running in broadcasting and the most recognised in British radio. In recognition of this,
Network Southeast named
British Rail Class 47 47710 "Capital Radio's Help a London Child", in August 1991. In 1976, Capital Radio,
Thames Television,
London Weekend Television and
British Telecom launched the
Capital Radio Helpline which helped listeners through matters ranging from how to cook a turkey at Christmas time to suicide prevention. In this era the station also lent its support to London-based orchestras, choral societies, the
British Film Institute Children's Film Festival and many other ventures. 1976 saw the launch of the
Flying Eye, a traffic-spotting light aircraft, which could see traffic congestion below on the streets of Central London. LBC also had a similar service but was forced to suspend operations due to cost. Capital's aircraft was originally a
Piper Seneca model, and, later, a twin-engined
Grumman Cougar.
Music Power (1980s) Charlie Gillett had his world music programme
The World of Difference on Sunday evenings. Several of Capital's early presenters had moved on, to be replaced by newer disc jockeys, some of whom had experience presenting on Radio Luxembourg. Although it would only broadcast for three years, the Mike Allen
hip hop show was influential during this time to bring the new music culture to the UK. In 1987, a new programme controller
Richard Park, oversaw an overhaul of Capital's output from a full-service station to a music-intensive
CHR format, which proved highly successful. The revamp was underlined by a new on-air imaging package, known as 'Music Power'.
One becomes two: the frequency split (1986–96) As part of an
IBA experiment in split broadcasting on
Independent Local Radio, in 1986, Capital runs a Sunday daytime service called CFM, broadcasting a more contemporary mix of music than normally broadcast by the station. This was precursor to the
Broadcasting Act 1990 which required all ILR stations to permanently split simulcasting output on both its AM and FM frequencies in order to create new local radio stations and improve choice. Capital responded in 1988 by launching a golden oldies station called
Capital Gold, initially at the weekend prior to going full time on 1 November, on its AM frequency while Capital on FM became
95.8 Capital FM, a chart contemporary music station. Both stations received brand-new jingle packages from Californian jingle house
Who Did That Music (later Groove Addicts, now GrooveWorx), that went on to become well known and essential parts of its music programming.
1997–2010 Since 1997, the studios of 95.8 Capital FM have been based in
Leicester Square, which is also home to Capital's parent company,
Global. The studio complex is shared with many other stations, including
Heart,
Smooth Radio,
Classic FM,
Capital XTRA,
Radio X,
LBC and
Gold. The station launched its website in September 1996 resulting in high demand which led to it crashing within a few hours. Beginning in late 2005, the station went through a number of changes. In December 2005, Chris Brooks moved from weekend breakfast to host 1–4 in the afternoon and Richard Bacon presenting The Go Home Show between 4–7. A new policy started of two advertisements in each break to win favour with listeners, though there were more frequent breaks as a result. This policy was changed within a few months. On 9 January 2006, the station was relaunched under its original name
Capital Radio, with a modified line-up of presenters and a slightly tweaked music format. After this re-launch turned out not to have had the desired success, a new Programme Controller was appointed that September. Scott Muller came from the
Nova group in Australia, and the station saw another tweak in style. The changes continued seeing Capital re-branded back to "London's Hit Music Station", a play on the station's earlier brand of "London's Number One Hit Music Station" with noticeable improvements – leading to a rise in audience figures at the end of 2006. The station also changed its on-air name to
95.8 Capital Radio, incorporating the frequency of "95.8" back into the station since it was dropped at the January 2006 re-launch. In March 2007, the station was then renamed
Capital 95.8 and its slogan became "The Sound of London". The marketing campaign combined outdoor, cinema, and print adverts.
RAJAR figures for Q2 2007 showed Capital 95.8 slipping to fourth place in the London local radio market ratings, recording the lowest-ever share of the London audience and for the first time falling behind
Emap-owned station
Magic and
Heart, now owned by Global. Capital 95.8's audience share slipped from 4.6 to 4.1 per cent over the quarter. The station then returned to the "London's Hit Music Network" tagline on 10 December 2007, with ex-
Absolute Radio presenter Greg Burns replacing Lucio on drivetime, and Lucio moving to the evening show. Lucio took over from Bam Bam (
Peter Poulton) who left Capital in early December 2007. On 6 June 2008, Global completed its £375 million takeover of Capital's owner
GCap Media.
2011–present On 3 January 2011, the Capital brand began to be rolled out across the UK when Capital London became a founder member of a nine-station
Capital network as part of a merger of the
Global owned
Hit Music and
Galaxy networks and with the exception of weekday breakfast and drivetime plus weekend mornings, all output was simulcast with the rest of the network. On 12 May 2011 it was announced that 95.8 Capital remained the most-listened-to commercial radio station in London, on both share and reach, beating rival
Magic 105.4. However, on 4 August that year it was announced that rival Magic 105.4 had overtaken the position. As of April 2019, only one programme – weekday drivetime – remains local, with all other programming coming from the national Capital network. ==Notable presenters==