Hmmm. It does sound a bit naff. Global had a listener backlash when the heritage locals became Heart/Capital. The Xfm faithful will not take kindly to Capital Rocks.
I think global have learned from the Choice rebrand.
Capital Xtra dumped Reloaded, majority of its output was dance and they axed two of its longest serving DJs.
This "Capital Rocks" brand should keep the former XFM alternative playlist to evenings/overnights (until early breakfast). They'd be bonkers to get rid of John Kennedy - He could easily rival Annie Mac on the 7pm slot.
I think global have learned from the Choice rebrand.
Capital Xtra dumped Reloaded, majority of its output was dance and they axed two of its longest serving DJs.
This "Capital Rocks" brand should keep the former XFM alternative playlist to evenings/overnights (until early breakfast). They'd be bonkers to get rid of John Kennedy - He could easily rival Annie Mac on the 7pm slot.
They did sort Capital Xtra though. The majority of its output is hip hop and R&B. Who did they axe?
They did sort Capital Xtra though. The majority of its output is hip hop and R&B. Who did they axe?
They axed many of the more specialist shows. I remember hearing Choice FM on DAB a few years ago and at weekend there'd be shows covering Caribbean calypso/soca and other kinds of specialist music. The playlist also changed a lot to include dance music.
Capital Xtra is doing really well nationally and has just pulled ahead of BBC 1Xtra, which is a great achievement. But in stark contrast the ex-Choice FM service in London has just recorded its worst RAJAR yet and lost another 100,000 listeners. The Choice audience have pretty much deserted the new station.
Just imagine if this was all a blag and Moyles goes to Capital and DAve Berry goes back to Xfm with Lisa Snowden off to her house made of Belvita Breakfast Biscuits.
In seriousness though I'm following this story closely for various reasons but mainly as Xfm is my station of choice and I've been a fan of Jon Holmes for years - it made my day when he joined Xfm and has never let me down apart from his little travel holidays when I have to wonder off to Absolute as I can't stand Ian Camfields obsession with the 80's.
The positive part of this is that it feels like the first time Global have put money into X in years, the odd advertising campaign here and there but look at the studios of the other stations! Then look at the Xfm studio. An Xfm flag on the wall and a few branded mics...it has been coming for a while!
The only difference of a major rebrand this time round and the take over in 1998 is that instead of a mass demo outside Capital towers in Leicester Square but a very angry hashtag....
What would be a real twist is that if Chris Moyles has brought the station to be this generations Chris Evans....which teenage pop star could he marry?
Just imagine if this was all a blag and Moyles goes to Capital and DAve Berry goes back to Xfm with Lisa Snowden off to her house made of Belvita Breakfast Biscuits.
In seriousness though I'm following this story closely for various reasons but mainly as Xfm is my station of choice and I've been a fan of Jon Holmes for years - it made my day when he joined Xfm and has never let me down apart from his little travel holidays when I have to wonder off to Absolute as I can't stand Ian Camfields obsession with the 80's.
The positive part of this is that it feels like the first time Global have put money into X in years, the odd advertising campaign here and there but look at the studios of the other stations! Then look at the Xfm studio. An Xfm flag on the wall and a few branded mics...it has been coming for a while!
The only difference of a major rebrand this time round and the take over in 1998 is that instead of a mass demo outside Capital towers in Leicester Square but a very angry hashtag....
What would be a real twist is that if Chris Moyles has brought the station to be this generations Chris Evans....which teenage pop star could he marry?
Since when were Moyles and Evans different generations they're both in their 40s! And they were made famous as being big Radio 1 DJs in the 1990s. Chris became the big name at Radio 1 in 98 whilst Evans was the big name in 96 just 2 years earlier.
Since when were Moyles and Evans different generations they're both in their 40s! And they were made famous as being big Radio 1 DJs in the 1990s. Chris became the big name at Radio 1 in 98 whilst Evans was the big name in 96 just 2 years earlier.
Ah ha! But I meant in context of when Evens brought Virgin in 1998 nearly 20 years ago and I was talking of a world where Moyles brought Xfm
It was all pie in the sky stuff mocking the thread/rumour which is akin to those "Fantasy Schedule" threads that knock around from time to time.
However out of context I will take your comments on board
Back when Capital Life and Capital Disney were going concerns, I did consider that GCap (as it was then) were planning to ultimately brand all their stations under the Capital banner - so Capital Chill, Capital Choice, Capital Century and so on; this was before Global came along and stitched Heart and Galaxy into the network, of course. Back then I too alighted on 'Capital X' to be a potential digital (DAB and post-FM) name for Xfm - I even came up with a tagline, "Excellent music starts with a Capital X"! Although, as noted above, today I'm leaning my personal preference more towards something along the lines of 'X Music'...
These days, the name could be driven by what names Global can get hold of online and on social media. According to my browser http://www.capitalrock.com is taken by a financial analysis thing, whilst http://capitalrocks.com and http://www.capitalx.com have 'parker' pages in the 'this domain may be available for sale' form...
These days, the name could be driven by what names Global can get hold of online and on social media. According to my browser http://www.capitalrock.com is taken by a financial analysis thing, whilst http://capitalrocks.com and http://www.capitalx.com have 'parker' pages in the 'this domain may be available for sale' form...
xfm.com is currently a parking page. According to Google translate it says (in Chinese)
Your domain is for sale
Good domain name only to have the economic strength and strategic vision of the business or individual reservations!
Just losing the letter 's' turns the naff 'Capital Rocks' into the more credible-sounding 'Capital Rock'. Though I expect the inclusion of the word 'Capital' into the name in any context, not to mention the arrival of Moyles, could well make 6 Music the main beneficiary here.
Just losing the letter 's' turns the naff 'Capital Rocks' into the more credible-sounding 'Capital Rock'. Though I expect the inclusion of the word 'Capital' into the name in any context, not to mention the arrival of Moyles, could well make 6 Music the main beneficiary here.
Indeed, 6 Music could be in for a windfall here. I suspect it won't hurt the BBC in general either.
It strikes me that the difference between the last time Capital caused a rumpus by trying to make XFM more commercial and this time round - assuming that is the plan - is 6 Music. I got the problem last time round, as there wasn't really anything like XFM on air then. Nowadays if you want that sort of sound, with challenging new music, then surely you're listening to 6 Music anyway. It's come in and essentially taken that crowd away.
Last time I listened to XFM Scotland version 2 it seemed to me like it was a tribute act to the first time round. A lot of older tracks were on the go. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does feel like it's moved a bit towards an older, more mainstream audience already before we even consider the implications of this switch.
I don't know the respective audiences from both eras, but frankly it strikes me that, while XFM is still a good listen, it's no longer distinctive. Would the protests be quite as intense, or would people just bugger off to 6 Music after having a bit of a moan?
So 6 Music would benefit there, but I also wonder whether this will help Radio 1 out a little as well. The station is still struggling to cast off the likes of me, people who want to hear a bit of personality and some new music amid the stuff we know. Commercial radio almost everywhere in the country exists to provide an alternative, but no-one seems to be directly targeting that 30-45 audience which wants something a little different. If - a huge if as it's all rumours right now - Global went with a big personality station playing accessible new indie music and stuff from the TFI Friday era there's an audience to be had. It may also finally drag some of the older audience away from Radio 1. Even if it's only Moyles, and played straight for the rest of the day.
The move obviously has knock-on effects elsewhere in the country, but most of the people involved in XFM in Scotland have history on the likes of Beat 106 (a dance/indie hybrid). I suspect they won't be freaked out by the change. It would just be weird to have another brand switch so soon, but we're used to it up here now.
6Music and XFM arr already different. As someone who likes rock music that aren't just the obvious ever-rotated tracks, but also like them to be accessible rather than wilfully obscure, I much prrfer XFM to 6Music. There must be an audience of rock fans from that midfle ground who don't wsnt Bohemian Rhapsody on constant totation but equally don't want to hear Fall b-sides from 30 years sgo.
"Ben went on to say Moyles is the most successful breakfast host EVER and he's pleased he's back in work after a break."
Producer Ben not being a complete a-hole then.
He really needs to keep his trap shut. Failing to attract and in fact losing existing younger listeners to the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, as the show has consistently done over the past three years, is not something to be proud of - however many older listeners you succeed to lose from the BBC. I see it as a failure of the Trust not to criticise him for this.
"Ben went on to say Moyles is the most successful breakfast host EVER and he's pleased he's back in work after a break."
Producer Ben not being a complete a-hole then.
He really needs to keep his trap shut. Failing to attract and in fact losing existing younger listeners to the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, as the show has consistently done over the past three years, is not something to be proud of - however many older listeners you succeed to lose from the BBC. I see it as a failure of the Trust not to criticise him for this.
The Sun ran a similar story yesterday, they confirmed rumours about the Capital Rocks rebrand. They quote Cooper as saying 'Chris can take all of our older listeners, he's going for a much older audience. He can just play some Shed Seven and he'll be fine'
Sounds like the words of a man who knows he's already beaten.
Says they will announce new daytime lineup soon. Oconnell has been there since 2006, a good run nearly 10 years. Time for a refresh definitely.
Breakfast: Moyles, give him free reign, own producer and a small team. Him and Dom Byrne on news would work. More about the music, I guess the music would be more to his taste. He could work with ads, the podcast would do well, get a good sponsorship deal for the show and would need less frequent ads.
Mornings/Daytime: Classics, limited new songs. Go back to what Virgin used to do. Get a slick DJ in someone with a bit of a name, Mark Goodier would be a good fit if he could do a daily show will his business commitments. Alternatively Pete Mitchell
Afternoon/Drive: Adam Cattrall or Tim Cocker (from XFM Manchester Breakfast), very good feel to show, tongue in cheek, could work nationally.
Evenings: Pete Donaldson - sounds good, bring the music more up-to-date. Similar to Radio 1 but pick up the indie angle as Annie Mac seems to be more dance oriented. Drop Coldplay, Mumford and Sons.
Weekends and Overnights - get in some new personalities and use this as proving ground. Keep Frank Skinner as he is popular.
A must changing the imaging - the Matt Berry voiceover wasn't funny to start with, bin it and make the station slicker, aim for updated Virgin Radio feel/XFM.
I'd not lose Geoff and Annabel, they have one of the best shows on radio IMO. Can't stand O'Connell, tried in the early days but he's just too Partridge, it's like listening to North Norfolk Digital.
The Sun ran a similar story yesterday, they confirmed rumours about the Capital Rocks rebrand. They quote Cooper as saying 'Chris can take all of our older listeners, he's going for a much older audience. He can just play some Shed Seven and he'll be fine'
Sounds like the words of a man who knows he's already beaten.
But he has kept the Radio Centre and Trust happy taking R1 back to it's remit.
Its target audience is 15-29 year olds and it should also provide some programming for younger teenagers.
It should offer a range of new music, support emerging artists - especially those from the UK
So he, as a PC, is a success lossing older listeners.
XFM, Absolute and Virgin (UTV) can now plan how to get the older 25 plus listeners and probably haveconsultants working on it.
Like Choice XFM may lose a few listeners with a change, but gain many more.
Global are probably muling new names and if they merge the Capital and XFM heritage names as Capital XFM or Capital X may need to rebrand Capital xtra to save confussion? Whereas Capital Rock(s) may clash with the existing Bauer station.
I'd not lose Geoff and Annabel, they have one of the best shows on radio IMO. Can't stand O'Connell, tried in the early days but he's just too Partridge, it's like listening to North Norfolk Digital.
You do know they announced the new line-up several weeks ago?
So what will this mean for XFM listeners in Manchester?
Will I be able to listen to Moyles at Breakfast? What will happen to Tim at breakfast in Manchester?
Are we thinking Moyles will be the national breakfast show host? Will I have a choice of 2 versions of XFM?? One on DAB and one on FM?
I'm a bit confused?!
So what will this mean for XFM listeners in Manchester?
Will I be able to listen to Moyles at Breakfast? What will happen to Tim at breakfast in Manchester?
Are we thinking Moyles will be the national breakfast show host? Will I have a choice of 2 versions of XFM?? One on DAB and one on FM?
I'm a bit confused?!
I too am confused by it all but by picking through some of the posts it appears that XFM must include a local Breakfast show as part of its remit.
So, assuming Chris does join and host the Breakfast show it'll be London only plus DAB/online until of course Global can persuade OFCOM to allow them to ditch local programming from XFM manchester and Scotland.
But he has kept the Radio Centre and Trust happy taking R1 back to it's remit.
So he, as a PC, is a success lossing older listeners.
It's not a success when R1's Breakfast show is failing to attract 15-29 year olds, and in fact losing 15-29 year olds it already has.
That it's losing 30+ even faster is neither here nor there. The trust says it should target all 15-29 year olds, not just the small percentage of 15-29 year olds who like bad radio.
It's just a bad show, badly presented. The last couple of weeks with Scott and Chris have been a huge improvement. It's time for a change.
The Trust should challenge Ben Cooper on these statements.
I couldn't care less what the Radio Centre thinks, and neither should the BBC. A trade body fighting for commercial radio could be a very good thing - but the Radio Centre is full of jumped up salesmen talking out of their bottoms.
I too am confused by it all but by picking through some of the posts it appears that XFM must include a local Breakfast show as part of its remit.
So, assuming Chris does join and host the Breakfast show it'll be London only plus DAB/online until of course Global can persuade OFCOM to allow them to ditch local programming from XFM manchester and Scotland.
As things stand XFM Manchester must do 7 hours local (including 6-9am) even if XFM London is on national DAB, as it isn't a regional station. However, they could apply for full networking:
If any individual local stations (not on the list of qualifying 'regional' stations) wish to be considered as part of a service broadcast nationally on DAB, on the basis of the specialist nature of their format, and to have their localness obligations reduced accordingly, they may make an appropriate Format change request to us. We will consider each case on its merits and would consult on a case by case basis. Ofcom would, however, expect such stations to satisfy us that they share the more specialist music characteristics of the relevant regional stations, as opposed to being focused primarily on providing locally made programming and local material, and that the rationale for our policy also applies to them.
Why does it have to have Capital in the name at all? Global have clear distinguished brands - Capital is fresh hits appealing to a younger audience which wouldn't be a good fit for XFM's genre or audience. If Global wanted a single brand then we'd have Capital 1 (Capital), Capital 2 (Heart), Capital 3 (Classic), Capital 4 (LBC), Capital 5 (Smooth), Capital 6 (XFM), Capital 7 (Xtra) and Capital 8 (Gold). That'd lack any brand awareness for disparate genres. Whether the XFM brand gets changed or not, aligning it with a completely different brand would be nuts, just because they play music.
I would hazard a guess a Capital name is under consideration particularly because stations are listed A-Z on DAB and it brings XFM much further down the dial. This was one reason Absolute was the chosen replacement name for Virgin Radio.
Comments
I think global have learned from the Choice rebrand.
Capital Xtra dumped Reloaded, majority of its output was dance and they axed two of its longest serving DJs.
This "Capital Rocks" brand should keep the former XFM alternative playlist to evenings/overnights (until early breakfast). They'd be bonkers to get rid of John Kennedy - He could easily rival Annie Mac on the 7pm slot.
They did sort Capital Xtra though. The majority of its output is hip hop and R&B. Who did they axe?
They axed many of the more specialist shows. I remember hearing Choice FM on DAB a few years ago and at weekend there'd be shows covering Caribbean calypso/soca and other kinds of specialist music. The playlist also changed a lot to include dance music.
Capital Xtra is doing really well nationally and has just pulled ahead of BBC 1Xtra, which is a great achievement. But in stark contrast the ex-Choice FM service in London has just recorded its worst RAJAR yet and lost another 100,000 listeners. The Choice audience have pretty much deserted the new station.
In seriousness though I'm following this story closely for various reasons but mainly as Xfm is my station of choice and I've been a fan of Jon Holmes for years - it made my day when he joined Xfm and has never let me down apart from his little travel holidays when I have to wonder off to Absolute as I can't stand Ian Camfields obsession with the 80's.
The positive part of this is that it feels like the first time Global have put money into X in years, the odd advertising campaign here and there but look at the studios of the other stations! Then look at the Xfm studio. An Xfm flag on the wall and a few branded mics...it has been coming for a while!
The only difference of a major rebrand this time round and the take over in 1998 is that instead of a mass demo outside Capital towers in Leicester Square but a very angry hashtag....
What would be a real twist is that if Chris Moyles has brought the station to be this generations Chris Evans....which teenage pop star could he marry?
Since when were Moyles and Evans different generations they're both in their 40s! And they were made famous as being big Radio 1 DJs in the 1990s. Chris became the big name at Radio 1 in 98 whilst Evans was the big name in 96 just 2 years earlier.
Ah ha! But I meant in context of when Evens brought Virgin in 1998 nearly 20 years ago and I was talking of a world where Moyles brought Xfm
It was all pie in the sky stuff mocking the thread/rumour which is akin to those "Fantasy Schedule" threads that knock around from time to time.
However out of context I will take your comments on board
Back when Capital Life and Capital Disney were going concerns, I did consider that GCap (as it was then) were planning to ultimately brand all their stations under the Capital banner - so Capital Chill, Capital Choice, Capital Century and so on; this was before Global came along and stitched Heart and Galaxy into the network, of course. Back then I too alighted on 'Capital X' to be a potential digital (DAB and post-FM) name for Xfm - I even came up with a tagline, "Excellent music starts with a Capital X"! Although, as noted above, today I'm leaning my personal preference more towards something along the lines of 'X Music'...
These days, the name could be driven by what names Global can get hold of online and on social media. According to my browser http://www.capitalrock.com is taken by a financial analysis thing, whilst http://capitalrocks.com and http://www.capitalx.com have 'parker' pages in the 'this domain may be available for sale' form...
xfm.com is currently a parking page. According to Google translate it says (in Chinese)
Your domain is for sale
Good domain name only to have the economic strength and strategic vision of the business or individual reservations!
Indeed, 6 Music could be in for a windfall here. I suspect it won't hurt the BBC in general either.
It strikes me that the difference between the last time Capital caused a rumpus by trying to make XFM more commercial and this time round - assuming that is the plan - is 6 Music. I got the problem last time round, as there wasn't really anything like XFM on air then. Nowadays if you want that sort of sound, with challenging new music, then surely you're listening to 6 Music anyway. It's come in and essentially taken that crowd away.
Last time I listened to XFM Scotland version 2 it seemed to me like it was a tribute act to the first time round. A lot of older tracks were on the go. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does feel like it's moved a bit towards an older, more mainstream audience already before we even consider the implications of this switch.
I don't know the respective audiences from both eras, but frankly it strikes me that, while XFM is still a good listen, it's no longer distinctive. Would the protests be quite as intense, or would people just bugger off to 6 Music after having a bit of a moan?
So 6 Music would benefit there, but I also wonder whether this will help Radio 1 out a little as well. The station is still struggling to cast off the likes of me, people who want to hear a bit of personality and some new music amid the stuff we know. Commercial radio almost everywhere in the country exists to provide an alternative, but no-one seems to be directly targeting that 30-45 audience which wants something a little different. If - a huge if as it's all rumours right now - Global went with a big personality station playing accessible new indie music and stuff from the TFI Friday era there's an audience to be had. It may also finally drag some of the older audience away from Radio 1. Even if it's only Moyles, and played straight for the rest of the day.
The move obviously has knock-on effects elsewhere in the country, but most of the people involved in XFM in Scotland have history on the likes of Beat 106 (a dance/indie hybrid). I suspect they won't be freaked out by the change. It would just be weird to have another brand switch so soon, but we're used to it up here now.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/nick-grimshaws-boss-takes-swipe-6040727
"Ben went on to say Moyles is the most successful breakfast host EVER and he's pleased he's back in work after a break."
Producer Ben not being a complete a-hole then.
He really needs to keep his trap shut. Failing to attract and in fact losing existing younger listeners to the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, as the show has consistently done over the past three years, is not something to be proud of - however many older listeners you succeed to lose from the BBC. I see it as a failure of the Trust not to criticise him for this.
The Sun ran a similar story yesterday, they confirmed rumours about the Capital Rocks rebrand. They quote Cooper as saying 'Chris can take all of our older listeners, he's going for a much older audience. He can just play some Shed Seven and he'll be fine'
Sounds like the words of a man who knows he's already beaten.
I'd not lose Geoff and Annabel, they have one of the best shows on radio IMO. Can't stand O'Connell, tried in the early days but he's just too Partridge, it's like listening to North Norfolk Digital.
A follow-up announcement would be nice. No pressure, Chris/XFM/Global.
XFM, Absolute and Virgin (UTV) can now plan how to get the older 25 plus listeners and probably haveconsultants working on it.
Like Choice XFM may lose a few listeners with a change, but gain many more.
Global are probably muling new names and if they merge the Capital and XFM heritage names as Capital XFM or Capital X may need to rebrand Capital xtra to save confussion? Whereas Capital Rock(s) may clash with the existing Bauer station.
You do know they announced the new line-up several weeks ago?
Will I be able to listen to Moyles at Breakfast? What will happen to Tim at breakfast in Manchester?
Are we thinking Moyles will be the national breakfast show host? Will I have a choice of 2 versions of XFM?? One on DAB and one on FM?
I'm a bit confused?!
I too am confused by it all but by picking through some of the posts it appears that XFM must include a local Breakfast show as part of its remit.
So, assuming Chris does join and host the Breakfast show it'll be London only plus DAB/online until of course Global can persuade OFCOM to allow them to ditch local programming from XFM manchester and Scotland.
It's not a success when R1's Breakfast show is failing to attract 15-29 year olds, and in fact losing 15-29 year olds it already has.
That it's losing 30+ even faster is neither here nor there. The trust says it should target all 15-29 year olds, not just the small percentage of 15-29 year olds who like bad radio.
It's just a bad show, badly presented. The last couple of weeks with Scott and Chris have been a huge improvement. It's time for a change.
The Trust should challenge Ben Cooper on these statements.
I couldn't care less what the Radio Centre thinks, and neither should the BBC. A trade body fighting for commercial radio could be a very good thing - but the Radio Centre is full of jumped up salesmen talking out of their bottoms.
As things stand XFM Manchester must do 7 hours local (including 6-9am) even if XFM London is on national DAB, as it isn't a regional station. However, they could apply for full networking:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/formats-content/changes/
XFM Scotland will not be able to apply for full networking because of the requirement to do 7 hours from the nation where it's based.
I would hazard a guess a Capital name is under consideration particularly because stations are listed A-Z on DAB and it brings XFM much further down the dial. This was one reason Absolute was the chosen replacement name for Virgin Radio.