Refurbishment.

Thanks for the info. I take it that the back up studio is next on the refurbishment list? (the one Chris Moyles records his podcasts in?) It was fit for XFM during their refurb, but not for Capital?

I'm surprised about the upgrade. The studio still looks new!

Judging by the Facebook and Twiiter pages for Capital London, Dave Berry will be doing breakfast on his own without a replacement for Lisa

Different note, one for the anoraks/those in the know:

I'm up in Manchester today listening to Capital and I'm surprised by the number of local links going out during Bassman's show.

In the last hour and a bit many (most?) of his links have at least name checked Capital Manchester, and often had a bit of additional localness to it ("this band are from/playing Manchester" etc). Usually when I listen to Capital I listen to the London feed, so I was unaware just how much the regional feeds differ.

So a couple of questions:

1) I find it hard to believe he records a dozen versions of every link, so do some regions (e.g. Manchester) get special treatment? If so, which ones?

2) How does the smart networking actually work? Are the non-London stations essentially in automation during network hours, playing out the recorded links in between the songs?

Ta.

Capital Liverpool did too when it first started but I don't know about now, haven't noticed it this week so far.

Whole show is live from London, but with some pre-recorded split links.

Typically at any junction, presenter has options. One live link across the network, or some level of split links. At the extreme, that is up to a dozen or so individual links recorded and all play at the same time. Or, and I think this more common - one link for London and another for the rest; another combo could be one for London, one for Manchester and one for the rest. I would say any permutation is possible. In the event of urgent traffic info, then one link could be done for one specific area then another link for the rest of the network.

The same method work for Heart, but I've heard very little of it outside London.

When they launch or relaunch somewhere new then expect a certain amount of attention - eg. Scotland, Manchester etc when Heart launched, Capital in North Wales and most recently Capital in Liverpool especially last Monday.

Smart networking they call it - when done properly it can achieve a lot; some presenters aren't that bothered enough to do it as much. Bassman seems to do more of it than Pandora.

I don't necessarily advocate it, but if done well can sound good. If your
average listener in Manchester is hearing Bassman talking about Manchester then the system is working well. And by average listener, that is nobody reading this forum! Again, not advocating, just sayin'.

Unlike Heart and Smooth, Capital London seems different to the rest of the network during the weekday daytime networking. Often, London can be a few minutes ahead of the other Capitals and have completely different presenter links (not just the usual split links). Sometimes when Capital London is running adverts, the other stations are still playing the previous track.

I believe London is live and the rest of the network is near-live, with links recorded a few minutes before broadcast.

Interesting. The bits I've heard certainly sound slick enough - nothing really to give away the fact that it's not entirely live.

Have capital got a new studio to do interviews in?
I've noticed in videos lately that they have a different studio

https://www.facebook.com/CapitalFM/v...5629831162008/

I know they're havin a refurb of their studios anyway but I've never seen this one before

Did anybody noticed the slight technical problem 10 mins into the BT40 show yesterday the feed got cut off for a few minutes, did this effect the Capital Network or was it just my local capital station?

I also noticed someone posted on another site about capital Liverpool broadcasting the Capital London ID on top of the Capital Liverpool ID on the BT40 yesterday .

Capital Liverpool gets quite a lot of individual links when Bassman is on. But Pandora does none.

Someone earlier intimated that it was Bassman's choice to do this. Shouldn't Global be making sure this is consistent?! Seems a bit unfair that Pandora is basically putting in less effort than others!

I never heard smart networking on Capital Wirral. So I'm assuming it's only done on the big city versions of Capital.

Interesting..http://radiotoday.co.uk/2016/02/ashl...at-capital-fm/

Also, one of the daytime presenters is leaving next month. James Bassam?

I wonder which day time presenter is leaving Capital then is it Pandora, or the Bassman, hmm very interesting about time too the day time line up need a refresh

Did anyone notice the hiccup on the BT40 yesterday?

I'd say Bassam is probably being moved over to Smooth or Heart. He's much too old for Capital now. Sticks out like a sore thumb.

At least he makes some kind of effort though. As I mentioned above.

Pandora is useless. She's basically a robot.

I think James Bassam is going, because Radio 1 will be dumping off Scot Mills very soon.

Article says a rival brand though, I would say anything within Global isn't a rival:

"Appointments in key positions are expected to be made shortly, as at least one daytime presenter is understood to be leaving the network for a rival brand next month.".

What has Scott Mills got to do with Bassman?

radio today have stated rival station .i would think virgin is his next destination

Perfect fit for a crappy Global station then.

Could be one of the Magic stations?

Does anyone know what's happening with the London breakfast show?
It seems all seems a bit unlike Global. Lisa leaves, they quietly usher in two co-presenters (one from Union J, I swear there was a 3rd a few weeks ago), but the social media imagery / website gives you the impression it's just the Dave Berry show.
No press release to announce a new line-up, as far as I'm aware. To say it's their flagship breakfast show, and the ratings are so important for it, it just all seems a bit underwhelming.

I think Ferne McCann was kicking about at one point as well.