Capital Birmingham is a local

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

owned and operated by

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrys ...

as part of the

Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

radio network. It broadcasts to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

from studios at

Brindleyplace Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...

City Centre. In April 2019, Capital Birmingham was merged with a sister station in the East Midlands to form

Capital Midlands Capital Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Birmingham, parts of the Black Country and the East Midlands from studios at Brindleyplace in Birmingham City Centre. ...

History

The station began broadcasting as

Choice FM Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on DAB Digital Radio, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and Global Player. It specialises in ...

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 LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

and

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as ca ...

. 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 A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

and

Hit Music ''Hit Music'' was a weekly British chart newsletter; sister publication to ''Music Week''. ''Hit Music'' existed for almost nine years, supplying the official UK music charts (as compiled by Gallup and later OCC/CIN). The founding editors were ...

networks to form the nine-station

radio network. In April 2013, the station along with

Heart West Midlands Heart West Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands from studios in Birmingham. History Heart began broadcasting to the West Midlands on Tuesday 6 Septe ...

moved to new studios at Eleven

in central Birmingham.

Station merger

On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed the station would be merged with Capital East Midlands. As of Monday 8 April 2019, the regional output consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. Local breakfast and weekend shows were replaced with networked programming from London.

Format

Unlike other stations on the Capital network, the 102.2 Capital licence was to cater primarily for

Urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

black music rather than a 'contemporary/chart music-led service'. The radio station format stated that the service should provide 'a rhythmic-based music and information stations primarily for listeners of African or afro-Caribbean origin, but with cross over appeal to young white fans of urban contemporary black music'. On 1 July 2011,

requested to change the formats of Capital Birmingham and Capital Scotland which have obligations from previous owners - this is to enable all nine Capital stations to be inline. On 17 November 2011 it was announced

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

approved two format change requests.Ofcom approves Capital format change
Radio Today, 17 November 2011 In February 2014, the station resumed opting out of networked programming for two hours each week, broadcasting an overnight specialist show featuring Afro-Caribbean music. Capital Birmingham's transmitter is located at Metropolitan House on the

A456 Known as the Hagley Road in Birmingham, the A456 is a main road in England running between Central Birmingham and Woofferton, Shropshire, south of Ludlow. Some sections of the route, for example Edgbaston near Bearwood, are also the route ...

. It is also available on

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * '' Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dą ...

via the Birmingham, Coventry, and Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford multiplexes.

Notable former presenters

Edith Bowman Edith Eleanor Smith (born January 1974) is a Scottish radio DJ and television presenter. She hosted '' Colin and Edith'', weekday afternoons, weekend breakfast, and ''The Radio 1 Review'' on BBC Radio 1 until 2014 and has presented a variety of ...

* Sacha Brooks * Rich Clarke * David Dunne * Andi Durrant * Stephanie Hirst *Dave Kelly * Adele Roberts * Steve Sutherland *

Margherita Taylor Margherita Taylor (born 26 April 1972) is an English TV and radio presenter. She is a freelancer with Global Group and currently presents on stations Smooth Radio and Classic FM. Taylor studied media and communications at the University o ...

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...

References

External links

Capital Birmingham

Metropolitan House transmitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capital Birmingham

Radio stations in Birmingham, West Midlands Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 1995 1995 establishments in England