Choice FM to Capital Extra?

nikobatallonesnikobatallones Posts: 3,991
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Tucked away in RadioToday's article on Westwood joining Choice is a report that Global is to rename Choice to Capital Extra.

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2013/09/1xtras-tim-westwood-joins-global-radio/

Interesting and intriguing move. Thoughts?
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Comments

  • FM LoverFM Lover Posts: 50,669
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    That sounds to me that they may try to roll this out as a national brand in direct competition to Kiss
  • COTTONHEATCOTTONHEAT Posts: 12,041
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    It's going to be interesting to see if this does happen & it goes National who else they bring in
  • hanssolohanssolo Posts: 22,561
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    Tucked away in RadioToday's article on Westwood joining Choice is a report that Global is to rename Choice to Capital Extra.

    http://radiotoday.co.uk/2013/09/1xtras-tim-westwood-joins-global-radio/

    Interesting and intriguing move. Thoughts?
    Can't see any report except they added "captial extra" linking capital and 1 xtra as a search?
    There was a blog by James cridland which suggested it but the main point of the blog is that Global are not into brand extensions, also from http://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/sep/15/global-radio-bbc-ashley-tabor-digital-radio
    "Global has stepped up and said we are absolutely doing it, we have great new ideas of things we could do on digital but we are not going to do it until our listeners can hear it in decent quality and that is something that we have been clear from the start the Beeb will need to do," said Tabor, the Global Group founder and chief executive.
    Looks like the BBC and commercial stations have now agreed to fund roll out local DAB coverage, but will take time.
    So it could be Choice FM remains as a London station for a while.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    "Global has stepped up and said we are absolutely doing it, we have great new ideas of things we could do on digital but we are not going to do it until our listeners can hear it in decent quality and that is something that we have been clear from the start the Beeb will need to do," said Tabor, the Global Group founder and chief executive.

    I wonder if they have sorted the quality issue out?
  • paulx23paulx23 Posts: 2,138
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    Tucked away in RadioToday's article on Westwood joining Choice is a report that Global is to rename Choice to Capital Extra.
    No there isn't.
  • SouthCitySouthCity Posts: 12,354
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    paulx23 wrote: »
    No there isn't.

    The text of the article has been altered since it was first published. The original text said that "Radio Today understands that Choice is shortly being renamed to Capital Extra".

    It's probably true, but they were not meant to reveal this yet hence the swift removal of this line from the website.
  • Les WiresLes Wires Posts: 6,610
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    SouthCity wrote: »
    The text of the article has been altered since it was first published. The original text said that "Radio Today understands that Choice is shortly being renamed to Capital Extra".

    It's probably true, but they were not meant to reveal this yet hence the swift removal of this line from the website.

    At the end of the article there are a number of 'buttons' with one linked to 'Capital Extra'
    http://radiotoday.co.uk/tag/capital-extra/
  • nobjockeynobjockey Posts: 1,788
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    SouthCity wrote: »
    The text of the article has been altered since it was first published. The original text said that "Radio Today understands that Choice is shortly being renamed to Capital Extra".

    It's probably true, but they were not meant to reveal this yet hence the swift removal of this line from the website.

    Not really, Radio Today's first articles are notoriously inaccurate most of the time. They seem to have a policy of publishing asap rather than checking for facts, only to remove or edit them later on. In the recent news about Bauer making breakfast producers redundant, they originally claimed it was presenters!

    Many of their articles make false claims or just have blatant errors in their first drafts, only to be removed or corrected a few hours later. I'd take anything Radio Today publish with a large pinch of salt until the commenters have had time to correct them.
  • SouthCitySouthCity Posts: 12,354
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    nobjockey wrote: »
    I'd take anything Radio Today publish with a large pinch of salt until the commenters have had time to correct them.

    Radio Goss Twitter posted this last week:

    Radio Goss‏@radiogoss10 Sep
    @JamesCridland: What's Tim Westwood going to do next, I wonder? I bet where he's going next will be extra special.”

    What a Capital idea.


    My guess is that the news is embargoed until Global officially announce it this week.

    The brand extension makes a lot of sense, the BBC have done the same thing with 1Xtra & 4 Extra. I'm sure that 6 Music would have become 2 Extra if the Trust hadn't prevented any changes in their review.
  • Seagull259Seagull259 Posts: 1,519
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    capitalextra.com appears to be registered at 30 Leicester Square

    http://whois.net/whois/capitalextra.com
  • nikobatallonesnikobatallones Posts: 3,991
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    That said, it's interesting the RT article goes to lengths to say that Westwood has "a new weekly show in the capital" rather than "a new weekly show on Choice FM", and the header says he joins "Global Radio" rather than "Choice FM".

    Don't want to be the guy that reads too much into things, but I think this is more of an embargo thing than something not being true at all.
  • hanssolohanssolo Posts: 22,561
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    I wonder if they have sorted the quality issue out?
    They seem to be rolling out Heart, Capital and Gold on local muxes at 128k stereo where they have space, 112k where space is limited.
    The improved local coverage in 2014 in the memorandum of understanding for a radio DSO if given the go ahead, will ensure the local signals are more stable which they are variable at the moment.

    if they get approval they will get 2 80k stations on d1 from Smooth and Smooth 70's, which could be ideally used for a merged stereo Smooth/Gold station, or perhaps a mono Choice renamed Capital extra alongside Smooth? But if it goes ahead the station may be London only initally!
  • SportKaSportKa Posts: 122
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    Maybe Global threatened Radio Today and they took it off?? It all points to be a fact, it's just when not if.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    hanssolo wrote: »
    They seem to be rolling out Heart, Capital and Gold on local muxes at 128k stereo where they have space, 112k where space is limited.
    The improved local coverage in 2014 in the memorandum of understanding for a radio DSO if given the go ahead, will ensure the local signals are more stable which they are variable at the moment.

    if they get approval they will get 2 80k stations on d1 from Smooth and Smooth 70's, which could be ideally used for a merged stereo Smooth/Gold station, or perhaps a mono Choice renamed Capital extra alongside Smooth? But if it goes ahead the station may be London only initally!

    Actually movement in the right direction - good news for people that want to listen to music in stereo.
  • MusicmasterproxMusicmasterprox Posts: 959
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    Looking at Choice FM's new studio desk (same style as Capitals; blue top) I think this is possibly going to happen.

    But will it go down with advertisers? Does Global have plans to rebrand a few exsisting regionals to Extra? (Birmingham ideally?)
  • BMRBMR Posts: 4,351
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    Does Global have plans to rebrand a few exsisting regionals to Extra? (Birmingham ideally?)

    It could be that Global are hedging their bets against a time when chart music is much less dominated by Urban than it is today.

    They *might* be hoping OFCOM will allow them to further increase the % of non-urban music on Birmingham 102.2 in return for running Capital Extra on DAB. They might even (and this is going into crazy speculation) be planning to put Capital on 105.7 and Capital Extra on 102.2. That would be one hell of a format flip, but stranger things have been allowed.

    It would sound a bit silly if Birmingham had Capital Extra without Capital!!
  • MusicmasterproxMusicmasterprox Posts: 959
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    BMR wrote: »
    It could be that Global are hedging their bets against a time when chart music is much less dominated by Urban than it is today.

    They *might* be hoping OFCOM will allow them to further increase the % of non-urban music on Birmingham 102.2 in return for running Capital Extra on DAB. They might even (and this is going into crazy speculation) be planning to put Capital on 105.7 and Capital Extra on 102.2. That would be one hell of a format flip, but stranger things have been allowed.

    It would sound a bit silly if Birmingham had Capital Extra without Capital!!

    Well don't forget that they have the XS network.. Not ruling that one out (XFM Scotland > Galaxy).

    Your idea seems right. But what really surprises me is why didn't they put Craig David onto Choice instead of Capital?
  • radrad Posts: 703
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    BMR wrote: »
    It could be that Global are hedging their bets against a time when chart music is much less dominated by Urban than it is today.

    That was my first thought too - roll out Capital 'Extra' on the ex-Galaxy stations, which would give Capital London the ability to move away from the playlist restrictions it currently has.
  • MusicmasterproxMusicmasterprox Posts: 959
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    rad wrote: »
    That was my first thought too - roll out Capital 'Extra' on the ex-Galaxy stations, which would give Capital London the ability to move away from the playlist restrictions it currently has.
    So if the 6 stations were replaced, would choice have to refocus on the old Galaxy FM format? (as well as having a few underground dance shows)


    Is it still possible for Choice to be rebranded as Galaxy FM (as well as reverting a few of the Capitals back?) Just incase if both Capital's weren't broadcasting in the same regions? It's a successful brand. I'm sure Choice's format would fit in nicely (replacing the charty-type playlist that Galaxy used in it's final years.)
  • BMRBMR Posts: 4,351
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    Which of the ex Galaxy Stations have the 10% non urban music limit? Is it all of them?
  • dpbdpb Posts: 12,024
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    Looking at Choice FM's new studio desk (same style as Capitals; blue top) I think this is possibly going to happen.

    But will it go down with advertisers? <snip>

    I would suspect that Global would sell Capital and Capital Extra to the majority of advertisers as one package. Choice on its own or even as an add-on might not be as attractive as an enlarged Capital package might be?
    Does Global have plans to rebrand a few exsisting regionals to Extra? (Birmingham ideally?)
    BMR wrote: »
    It could be that Global are hedging their bets against a time when chart music is much less dominated by Urban than it is today.

    They *might* be hoping OFCOM will allow them to further increase the % of non-urban music on Birmingham 102.2 in return for running Capital Extra on DAB. They might even (and this is going into crazy speculation) be planning to put Capital on 105.7 and Capital Extra on 102.2. That would be one hell of a format flip, but stranger things have been allowed.

    It would sound a bit silly if Birmingham had Capital Extra without Capital!!

    I would be surprised if that happens. Capital Birmingham is only now expected to include urban music (no minimum requirement) as part of its requirement to be rhythmic based (urban, dance, urban pop and urban dance) - and to also include programmes of specific appeal to listeners of African or Afro-Caribbean origin which Craig David's show now does (and elements of Marvin Humes and Max's show cover). I would say that requirement would be easy enough to meet when urban music becomes less in fashion.

    http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/capital-FM-Birmingham/statement
    BMR wrote: »
    Which of the ex Galaxy Stations have the 10% non urban music limit? Is it all of them?

    They can do up to 5% of non-rhythmic (i.e. non dance or non urban)

    http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/capital-FM-Scotland/statement

    http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/radio-ops/sampling/galaxy.pdf
  • MusicmasterproxMusicmasterprox Posts: 959
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    BMR wrote: »
    Which of the ex Galaxy Stations have the 10% non urban music limit? Is it all of them?

    Think that it was Scotland? (previously XFM)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 577
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    Personally I think the name Capital Extra is horrid, Choice FM sounds a lot better, but I understand why Global are doing this as Capital is such a huge, heritage name.
  • hyperstarspongehyperstarsponge Posts: 16,564
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    Another station to avoid then, The first Capital FM is annoying enough :D
  • occyoccy Posts: 64,630
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    I wonder Richard Park can pouch anyone else from the Beebs Broadcast Centre to the equivalent Global Broadcast Centre ?
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