Capital is coming and you can’t stop it – By John Isherwood.
So Xmas is nearly here and the goose is getting hairy, someone fed it hair restorer, I think her name was Mary. (That’s an old Beano joke, you can have that one.) Xmas is upon us and as usual radio goes into crazy mode with PD’s wetting themselves over sorting the schedules out. Presenters getting annoyed because they have to work Xmas Day on breakfast and freelancers saying “wayhey! Shed loads of work for us!!” I’m on 2BR breakfast Xmas week including the 25th, should be a good crack, really looking forward to it to be honest. But away from all that, there is one event which is going to happen on the 3rd of January 2011 which has got the industry and some others really talking… CAPITAL IS COMING!!! (just in case you hadn’t heard)
So on the first Monday of 2011 a brand that I have worked for, respected, invested 3 and half years in and dare I say it, loved will finally disappear. RIP Galaxy FM. She loved music and had a passion for life, but is now morphing into the T-1000 version of a radio station. Come on, you’ve all geeked out at the spaceship studio pics (cheers Seacrest for the inspiration.) But come that day, despite all the flashiness and excitement, it’s all going to be a bit strange. Galaxy and Capital are very different beasts. The presentation style is slightly different and Capital has a different vibe to it. Capital is ‘playing the hits in the sunshine’ smashing out the songs, saying very little. Brash, cocky, fast. Galaxy was more like listening to your mate play some songs and have a laugh and share their opinions.
Now I’m not saying either one is wrong, both are fine styles. But the casual Galaxy listener may be in for a tiny shock come January. Despite the morphing from Galaxy to Capital (Galapital) and the soft transformation into a hit music station, I’m still not sure if Katie from Hull will ‘get’ Roberto in the daytime like his current London audience do. We shall see though.
Sadly I’ve seen friends messed about and lose their jobs through this. Not good! Ashley Tabor’s quote about 33 mid morning and afternoon presenters still does not sit well with me. The talent is there Ash, you just have to pay for it mate! As a really great person said to me recently, “cream rises to the top” the really good jocks won’t be out of gigs too long.
I’ve seen more redundancies recently than I’d ever like to see. The industry is still in a strange state and has been for a while. Will the Capital rebrand work? Who knows. We’ll just have to wait and see. As I’ve said in the past though, it’s time for UKRD, Bauer, Orion, UTV and GMG to ‘step up’. Keep faith in what works and keep faith in your talent. Let them be creative, let them express and support what the LISTENER wants. In the end its their loyalty that pays. The Capital deserters are there to be caught and as a jock, I have my net ready to catch them with my shows (come on you know you want to listen).
Let’s all enjoy the ride together