Could be wrong but that is what I think capital want.
They want more people for less hours so the chance of someone hearing their fav song is higher in the short time they listen to the station.
I had capital on last week for 90 mins. Bassman.
2pm - Pink Raise Your Glass
3pm - Pink Perfect.

Pink is a good safe artist and its likely that the audience would be different an hour later or the listeners love pink.
I actually [although I will get slated for this] think this idea works. Best songs played more often to get to hear a great song quicker. That's why some stations play 99 songs. You will always hear a good one. [I am very aware there are more than 99 good songs].

That was the idea behind Atlantic 252 and for Z100, etc. Kiss does the same although it isn't quite as small a playlist - but it does work for certain audiences such as the age-range Capital is targeting. Many listen in the car and turn on the radio for their journey to hear the latest good tracks and with a smaller playlist of the most popular/requested songs then people are more likely to hear their favourite tune.

It's an idea that has been around for ages, and is proven to work. However, it doesn't work with every age group. The older the demographic, generally the more music they will be aware of and as such they aren't as narrow in their music selection and appreciate more variety (hence the larger playlists of Heart and Magic who have to cover more years of music).

I used to carry more tracks around on cassette to go in my brick-sized Walkman!

I don't understand how they think that's a good idea, with such a limited playlist you might as well use an MP3 player and have tracks you actually like.

The reasons it's a good idea are detailed above. It obviously works, as let's not forget Atlantic 252 had this format in the 90s and even though they were on LW and couldn't even be picked up in some parts of the South East they were beating Radio 1 in the ratings at the height of their success. Certainly when I was at school everybody used to listen to 252.

Capital is a modern equivalent to Atlantic 252, although I think 252 had an even smaller playlist in the mid 90s (and a bit more personality squeezed into 15 second links, i.e. more than just "Pictures of Lady Gaga's latest outfit online now at CapitalFM.com").

Ofcom's radio licencing committee meets next Monday, and presumably they'll make a decision on whether Capital can drop the rock (Scotland) and urban (Birmingham) requirements. I expect they'll be allowed to, even though the majority of responses are against the proposals.

CHR has been doing this ever since it was invented, in the US in the 50s. It's nothing new and it works.

It works because every time they tune in they hear the big hits. That's CHR for you. The larger your playlist the slower your rotations. In this day and age who wants to wait 5 hours for the new LMFAO tune to come around again. THAT'S when listeners might turn to the MP3 player because their favourite station isn't playing their favourite song enough!

Fair enough, but it explains why I no longer listen to Heart, Capital, or any of their clones. Each to their own I guess.

Yeah, but the point is Atlantic 252 as a product sounded bloody good.

Capital doesn't.

Rose-tinted ears/getting old Mr Martin. The products are actually very similar.

I'd be quite happy to wait five years for the new LMFAO tune to come around again.

Probably the charts were much more competitive/varied when A252 was at its peak. Capital pretty much ignores any chart music that isn't dance/rnb - that lack of variety and the removal of local content are the reasons I don't listen to my local station any longer. They should listen to a station like Radio City which is still great..

Radio City is how Capital should sound - slick, fast-paced, decent music rotation without it being ridiculously repetitive. It sounds so, well, BIG CITY! Just like Capital should be doing.

Capital having to abide by all of the Galaxy formats means it will never truly be the number 1 hit music station in all of its markets whilst the rules are in place.

One day they will crack ofcom and they will let them be true CHR again.

Spot on!

Even better now with mr k on board!

At least there wasn't too much treble on A252...

......and they played more than one genre of music!

Why can't stations keep the narrow playlist at peak times when people just dip in for a quick fix of the hits, but broaden it during daytime and evening so those who are able to listen longer can do so without falling into a coma?

I seem to recall in A252's latter days it went more niche with a commercial dance format as with R1's FM coverage getting more expansive during the 90s and ILR stations were also playlisting chart music on FM, it left them in the wilderness on LW.

But you have to remember what the 90's represents. We had grunge (Nirvana, Green Day), Britpop (Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Cast), Euro trash (Captain Hollywood, Whigfield, 2Unlimited, Corona). The 90's was so fragmented it was unbelievable.

At least Capital doesn't have LW quality that fades in and out at night making it unlistenable.

Because the main appeal of CHR stations is that they deliver one of the most widely popular tunes of the moment within minutes, regardless of what time of day you tune in. It's that dependability and predictability that listeners keep coming back for, so if you diluted the output with broader rotations at certain times of day you'd remove the main appeal of the product.

Indeed during the dark days of the David Dunne era (1998/9) A252 did broaden their playlist substantially, playing everything from Nirvana to Basement Jaxx to B*Witched with much lighter rotations and guess what? It bombed!

So if Ofcom allow said changes to the Capital Network, what will be the noticable differences be on air?

The Wanted will be on higher rotation

On a serious note though, there will be an increase in bands being played (i.e. The Script, Scouting For Girls, Coldplay) because they're not restricted by the formats on the former Galaxys and you can bet that the specialist stuff at weekends will be cut too!

I didn't mean change the list "substatially" or play off-format songs, just widen the bottom half of the list during the workday when repitition is a bigger handicap.

Tight playlists absolutely work (the strong ratings for Heart and Capital prove it) but there's an optimum number of songs, and that optimum isn't necassarily the same during daytime as it is at rush hour.

I maintain that this is an anorak-manufactured myth. Capital plays mostly RnB (and other rhythmic genres) because it's the mainstream pop music of the day and it's massively popular with young women.

They already can playlist current singles by more female-friendly guitar-led bands like The Script and Scouting For Girls (and indeed they have in the last 18 months), and if recurrents by either band were testing strongly enough they could easily be accommodated without upsetting Ofcom. However, the chances of them playing more dad-rock by the likes of Coldplay are slim to none.

I've just found Capital's most-played from October 2009 - when it's music was completely separate from Galaxy's - and there are only two bona fide rock songs in the entire list: "Sex On Fire" and "Use Somebody, both by Kings of Leon.