That's damning coming from you, Joey. Really, it is.
I disagree that the complainants here "just don't like Capital."
With Heart, they largely inherited the format from Chrysalis with a few tweaks. Capital, however, is an entirely new Global, post-Tabor creation. But it's obvious Z100 has been looked to for inspiration.
Notwithstanding the fact that Z100 jocks are tighter than a virgin nun and slicker than a BP oil spill, we're not American. The Yanks love the plastic world of high-burn but the Brits don't. Even GWR at least tried to adapt a format otherwise nicked lock, stock and barrel from Australia for the UK market.
Basically - Americans love "disposable". They want the right now, and 5 minutes later they'll throw it in the trashcan. There's no appreciation for heritage in the USA because a. there's very little heritage for the USA to appreciate and b. the States is fad-led. Look at the Jack FM format.
The Yanks certainly don't give a shit about news, and especially not International news. I doubt very much that the blanket coverage we afforded to 9/11, was afforded to 7/7 over there.
Here, we care about our past and our heritage. And trying to make Capital FM into a British Z100 isn't going to be compatible with that. Ashley Tabor coming along and saying "What has always been will not necessarily be for ever" is definitely not compatible with that; there's a fine line between steadfastly staying where you were 20 years ago because it's comfortable to do so; and being a group who always evolve and refuse to ever stand still - but meanwhile always consider the listener and respect the heritage of your brands.
Oh, and Z100's processing is about 50 times better than Capital FM's. I suggest next time Ashley invites an engineer into his Bentley, they are a. not deaf and b. over the age of 5, as that's what the settings sound like.
I don't like Capital FM. I'm not going to make any secret of that. I think the entire thing serves only to completely insult the UK's commercial radio industry. I think it's badly programmed, badly produced, badly processed and badly implemented as a brand (what's next, Lincs FM Group renaming all their stations Lincs FM?)
And I should point out again that I'm not a Global-basher. By contrast, I actually think Heart was more than worth the sacrifice made in heritage names as it was (and still is) a bloody good product. Great production, great DJs, great imaging, yes some local content's gone but otherwise they've taken the Chrysalis brand and nailed it for a national audience.
Am I still going to have an opinion on Capital, and specifically opinions on how I think it could be better, even we have to put up with such a shit name? Yes, yes I am.
But it's obvious Z100 has been looked to for inspiration.
That, and KIIS in LA.
Legend has it that when Ashley and Richard flew to Seattle to record the new Capital jingles, they popped down to LA to visit KIIS. And were blown away by the way Ryan Seacrest voicetracks his Z100 show and all his other syndicated shows while also presenting his live (or partly live) breakfast show on KIIS. Hence the "smart networking" we now have on Capital.
But, as you say, what works amazingly in the US won't necessarily work amazingly here. And of course in America if a format or show doesn't work they have no hesitation in blowing it up and starting again from scratch, which isn't as easy here.
Except Ryan Seacrest 10am-1pm, who is very voicetracked. His links are regurgitated from his KIIS breakfast show.
Oh, and I have to take issue with James Martin's assertion that Americans "don't give a shit about news". Is that why most markets have rolling news and talk radio stations? The local tv stations run anything from 4 hours per day upwards. News is massive over there, even if it is all very parochial.
Global do make me laugh with their hilarious descriptions of the service they are providing:
Enhanced news - we've enhanced the news by making it shorter and less informative... however, since our news service was awful in the first place, we consider less of it to be an improvement.
Smart networking - like normal networking, but with pre recorded links for each of the stations. Remote voicetracking? Sorry, never heard of it.
Oh, and I have to take issue with James Martin's assertion that Americans "don't give a shit about news". Is that why most markets have rolling news and talk radio stations? The local tv stations run anything from 4 hours per day upwards. News is massive over there, even if it is all very parochial.
Maybe that was a tad unfair, but certainly I don't think the audiences for Z100 watch much CNN, put it that way.
Are Capital playing Avril Lavigne's "What The Hell"?
I imagine they might try and pretend it's not there, due to staying within Galaxy's format - which would be a shame, it's a very on-brand tune for Capital London.
Are Capital playing Avril Lavigne's "What The Hell"?
I imagine they might try and pretend it's not there, due to staying within Galaxy's format - which would be a shame, it's a very on-brand tune for Capital London.
Or more reasonably, you could argue they're not playing it because it's not a hit
You could've argued The Wanted's All Time Low wasn't a hit too. But they forced it on their listeners and made it one.
It's one of those "Radio made it" songs. Mika's "Grace Kelly" is a notable one.,
Or they were minor hits first time around, but we also now have a situation where a song's usage on a mass-market TV show means radio picks them up and runs with them, again forcing them into massive htis. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and Adele's "Make You Feel My Love" are two classic examples. Had it not been for Glee or The X Factor, neither song would be on as high rotation at AC stations as they both are.
Indeed, even I had never heard of "Don't Stop Believin'" until The X Factor.
I didn't notice I was listening to a different presenter.
I know people who hadn't noticed the presenters had changed when the name altered.
I also had my sister accuse me of taking the Galaxy preset off in her car and duplicating Capital on it last week. (Hinckley can get all the East Midlands AND West Midlands stations, basically. Great for Heart fans who don't like Gem, not so good for Galaxy fans who don't like Leicester Sound.) As well as "Where's Heart?"
So I left Gem where it was and put 100.7 on Galaxy's old preset for her. Interestingly though, she wasn't bothered about Leicester Sound going, but she wasn't happy they did the same to Galaxy. If I were a betting man, I'd say there's definitely more pissed-off ex-Galaxy listeners, than there is pissed off ex-Hit Music Network listeners.
Obviously, The HMN stations may well have lost a couple of local shows and gained some new network presenters but apart from the name everything else is pretty much the same.
Galaxy on the other hand has changed beyond recognition from what it was 2 years ago.
The changes may have been implimented in a very subtle way but now its a totally different station in every way.
Think about it from a listener's perspective...
HMN's have gradually changed from a CHR format with a local name to a CHR with a national :rolleyes: name.
Galaxy has gradually changed from an already nationally (generically) branded Dance and Rhythmic format to a CHR format with a name that screams LONDON! to an audience that are mainly Northern and have little time for "That London".
RE: the older tracks starting to filter through. Some bits of info you might be interested in, having looked briefly over the music for the last couple of weeks on the North East version.
As far as I can see, a smallish number of "gold" tracks (Ghetto Superstar etc) were put into rotation - mostly but not exclusively between 9am and 3pm (ie for workday listening) - about ten days ago.
The rotation for the "gold" tracks is unusually high and weird, too - City High two days running in the same day part.
You can't be rotating classics like current CHR. You destroy people's favourites.It's just silly buggers. And almost as if one person in particular is throwing his inexperienced weight around and forcing stuff onto the playli...
I wonder if Rihanna songs are given, shall we say, "prominence" on the output as part of the TV spot deal?
It's a horse/cart thing.
Record companies pretty much decide in advance who they're going to push... Radio rarely disagrees.
Part of the deal is playing ball on promo stuff.
It made me laugh when Tabor started suggesting Global shouldn't pay royalties for the music they play because they are promoting the artist. He really does not have a clue.
Record companies pretty much decide in advance who they're going to push... Radio rarely disagrees.
Part of the deal is playing ball on promo stuff.
It made me laugh when Tabor started suggesting Global shouldn't pay royalties for the music they play because they are promoting the artist. He really does not have a clue.
But a very very very rich father and a group of body guards so the second two cancel the first I'm afraid.
Comments
Hey Joey, what do you think of the "enhanced" local news service on Capital?
Hopeless.
Agreed!:D
I disagree that the complainants here "just don't like Capital."
With Heart, they largely inherited the format from Chrysalis with a few tweaks. Capital, however, is an entirely new Global, post-Tabor creation. But it's obvious Z100 has been looked to for inspiration.
Notwithstanding the fact that Z100 jocks are tighter than a virgin nun and slicker than a BP oil spill, we're not American. The Yanks love the plastic world of high-burn but the Brits don't. Even GWR at least tried to adapt a format otherwise nicked lock, stock and barrel from Australia for the UK market.
Basically - Americans love "disposable". They want the right now, and 5 minutes later they'll throw it in the trashcan. There's no appreciation for heritage in the USA because a. there's very little heritage for the USA to appreciate and b. the States is fad-led. Look at the Jack FM format.
The Yanks certainly don't give a shit about news, and especially not International news. I doubt very much that the blanket coverage we afforded to 9/11, was afforded to 7/7 over there.
Here, we care about our past and our heritage. And trying to make Capital FM into a British Z100 isn't going to be compatible with that. Ashley Tabor coming along and saying "What has always been will not necessarily be for ever" is definitely not compatible with that; there's a fine line between steadfastly staying where you were 20 years ago because it's comfortable to do so; and being a group who always evolve and refuse to ever stand still - but meanwhile always consider the listener and respect the heritage of your brands.
Oh, and Z100's processing is about 50 times better than Capital FM's. I suggest next time Ashley invites an engineer into his Bentley, they are a. not deaf and b. over the age of 5, as that's what the settings sound like.
I don't like Capital FM. I'm not going to make any secret of that. I think the entire thing serves only to completely insult the UK's commercial radio industry. I think it's badly programmed, badly produced, badly processed and badly implemented as a brand (what's next, Lincs FM Group renaming all their stations Lincs FM?)
And I should point out again that I'm not a Global-basher. By contrast, I actually think Heart was more than worth the sacrifice made in heritage names as it was (and still is) a bloody good product. Great production, great DJs, great imaging, yes some local content's gone but otherwise they've taken the Chrysalis brand and nailed it for a national audience.
Am I still going to have an opinion on Capital, and specifically opinions on how I think it could be better, even we have to put up with such a shit name? Yes, yes I am.
That, and KIIS in LA.
Legend has it that when Ashley and Richard flew to Seattle to record the new Capital jingles, they popped down to LA to visit KIIS. And were blown away by the way Ryan Seacrest voicetracks his Z100 show and all his other syndicated shows while also presenting his live (or partly live) breakfast show on KIIS. Hence the "smart networking" we now have on Capital.
But, as you say, what works amazingly in the US won't necessarily work amazingly here. And of course in America if a format or show doesn't work they have no hesitation in blowing it up and starting again from scratch, which isn't as easy here.
Z100 is live and has that flair.
Much of Capital's networked daytime stiuff is voicetracked.
Try their best as Roberto and Bassman do, it lacks fun and spontenaity.
Except Ryan Seacrest 10am-1pm, who is very voicetracked. His links are regurgitated from his KIIS breakfast show.
Oh, and I have to take issue with James Martin's assertion that Americans "don't give a shit about news". Is that why most markets have rolling news and talk radio stations? The local tv stations run anything from 4 hours per day upwards. News is massive over there, even if it is all very parochial.
Enhanced news - we've enhanced the news by making it shorter and less informative... however, since our news service was awful in the first place, we consider less of it to be an improvement.
Smart networking - like normal networking, but with pre recorded links for each of the stations. Remote voicetracking? Sorry, never heard of it.
These older tracks have made it a much better listen, wall to wall (re)current hits was so tedious.
I imagine they might try and pretend it's not there, due to staying within Galaxy's format - which would be a shame, it's a very on-brand tune for Capital London.
Or more reasonably, you could argue they're not playing it because it's not a hit
It's one of those "Radio made it" songs. Mika's "Grace Kelly" is a notable one.,
Or they were minor hits first time around, but we also now have a situation where a song's usage on a mass-market TV show means radio picks them up and runs with them, again forcing them into massive htis. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and Adele's "Make You Feel My Love" are two classic examples. Had it not been for Glee or The X Factor, neither song would be on as high rotation at AC stations as they both are.
Indeed, even I had never heard of "Don't Stop Believin'" until The X Factor.
I know people who hadn't noticed the presenters had changed when the name altered.
I also had my sister accuse me of taking the Galaxy preset off in her car and duplicating Capital on it last week. (Hinckley can get all the East Midlands AND West Midlands stations, basically. Great for Heart fans who don't like Gem, not so good for Galaxy fans who don't like Leicester Sound.) As well as "Where's Heart?"
So I left Gem where it was and put 100.7 on Galaxy's old preset for her.
Galaxy on the other hand has changed beyond recognition from what it was 2 years ago.
The changes may have been implimented in a very subtle way but now its a totally different station in every way.
Think about it from a listener's perspective...
HMN's have gradually changed from a CHR format with a local name to a CHR with a national :rolleyes: name.
Galaxy has gradually changed from an already nationally (generically) branded Dance and Rhythmic format to a CHR format with a name that screams LONDON! to an audience that are mainly Northern and have little time for "That London".
Giving them heavy play on ~Capital also serves to make more money for The Wanted managed by Global management - makes payola look like childs play.
James Barr covered Dave Kelly's show once last week, too.
I wonder if Rihanna songs are given, shall we say, "prominence" on the output as part of the TV spot deal?
RE: the older tracks starting to filter through. Some bits of info you might be interested in, having looked briefly over the music for the last couple of weeks on the North East version.
As far as I can see, a smallish number of "gold" tracks (Ghetto Superstar etc) were put into rotation - mostly but not exclusively between 9am and 3pm (ie for workday listening) - about ten days ago.
The rotation for the "gold" tracks is unusually high and weird, too - City High two days running in the same day part.
You can't be rotating classics like current CHR. You destroy people's favourites.It's just silly buggers. And almost as if one person in particular is throwing his inexperienced weight around and forcing stuff onto the playli...
Oh.
It's a horse/cart thing.
Record companies pretty much decide in advance who they're going to push... Radio rarely disagrees.
Part of the deal is playing ball on promo stuff.
It made me laugh when Tabor started suggesting Global shouldn't pay royalties for the music they play because they are promoting the artist. He really does not have a clue.
But a very very very rich father and a group of body guards so the second two cancel the first I'm afraid.