Capital London is regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network.
Following the 1964–68 offshore radio boom, the Conservative Party, under Edward Heath promised in its 1970 General Election Manifesto that should it win, it would introduce local commercial radio in addition to the commercial television that had started in 1955. This was a result of lobbying from pressure groups including the Local Radio Association, who felt that commercial radio should be introduced following the launch of ITV over a decade before. The Tories won and swiftly introduced the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972, which allowed for the introduction of Independent Local Radio and created the newly renamed Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) from the Independent Television Authority.
The Independent Broadcasting Authority advertised local radio licences in certain locations in the United Kingdom under the umbrella term of Independent Local Radio (ILR). London was due to receive two ILR licences: one for news and another for general entertainment. Radio Capital, later to become Capital Radio, was formed in early 1970 by David Maule-ffinch with the intent to apply for the general entertainment licence. In late 1970, Maule-ffinch's future father-in-law, Barclay Barclay-White became involved. The Radio Capital team that was finally in place at the time of application to the IBA included Sir Richard Attenborough, Sir George Martin, Bryan Forbes, Sir Peter Saunders, David Maule-ffinch and Barclay Barclay-White. David Maule-Ffinch was a member of the board of Capital Radio and its largest stockholder until 1994, when he sold his controlling interest to Information et Publicite, a subsidiary of Havas, the French media conglomerate.
Capital South Coast is a regional radio station owned by operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. It broadcasts to South Hampshire from studios in Segensworth, Fareham.
Radio Victory launched as the first local commercial radio service in the South of England in 1975, transmitting to a small area around Portsmouth. The licence was re-advertised by the Independent Broadcasting Authority The extended license, now to include Southampton and Winchester, was won by Ocean Sound Ltd. Radio Victory ceased operations in June 1986, a couple of weeks earlier than the expiry date of its franchise, with a test transmission informing listeners of the closure.
Ocean Sound launched on 12 October 1986 from a new purpose-built broadcast unit, built in just a year, in a business park in Segensworth West, outside Fareham, Hampshire and near the M27 motorway, a strategic location to prevent bias towards the two major cities of Southampton and Portsmouth, as well as removing association with Radio Victory, who were Portsmouth biased, however, some staff were hired from Radio Victory, such as sales managers and a Head of News.
Capital Birmingham is a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands from studios at Brindleyplace in Birmingham City Centre. Capital Birmingham's transmitter is located at Metropolitan House on the A456. It is also available on DAB via the Birmingham, Coventry, and Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford multiplexes.
The station began broadcasting as Choice FM on 1 January 1995, after taking over the licence previously operated by Buzz FM. Four years later, Choice was renamed as Galaxy after it was bought out by Chrysalis. Galaxy was sold off to Global Radio in June 2007 in a £170 million deal which saw the group take over The Arrow, LBC and Heart.
The station was relaunched and re-branded as 102.2 Capital on 3 January 2011 as part of a merger of Global Radio's Galaxy and Hit Music networks to form the nine-station Capital radio network. In April 2013, the station along with Heart West Midlands moved to new studios at Eleven Brindleyplace in central Birmingham.
Capital Manchester is a local radio station owned and operated by the Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. The station broadcasts from studios at Exchange Quay, Salford.
The transmitter is on top of the City Tower (the former Sunley Building) in Piccadilly in Manchester, the same place as 106.1 Real Radio XS and Radio X's transmitter and all 3 services share the same broadcast antenna system which is located on the centre tower and is illuminated with red Aircraft warning lights at night.
The 102 MHz frequency in Manchester has a chequered background, initially it was occupied by Sunset 102 which included regular shows from house music innovators 808 State and a Saturday evening rave show from Sammy B; both were cited by Dave Haslam in City Life to have been instrumental in reflecting and developing the early rave culture in the city. However, due to occasional threats of violence on air and other breaches of the licence the station was closed.