Capital Liverpool is an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

station serving

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England. It is owned and operated by

Global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

Global cleared to purchase Juice FM from UTV
Radio Today, 5 October 2015 as part of the Capital network.Global confirms Capital to launch in Liverpool
Radio Today, 5 October 2015

History

Crash FM

The station was launched by

Janice Long Janice Berry ( Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. In a career that spanned five decades, ...

and Bernie Connor as Liverpool's answer to XFM, with the idea for an alternative music radio station being thought up by the pair at Keith’s Wine Bar on Lark Lane in 1994. Crash FM acquired a

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL), is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofc ...

(RSL) to broadcast for a month from 5 November 1995, with the studios at Mabel Fletcher College on Greenbank, seeing presenters such as Inspiral Carpets member Clint Boon take to the airwaves. After a few more RSL broadcasts, the station relaunched on 107.6FM as a full time service, from studios at 27 Fleet Street, on 27 March 1998. Now known as 107 Crash FM, the station had backing from

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

, Primal Scream,

Urban Splash Urban Splash was founded in 1993 by Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE and Creative Director Jonathan Falkingham MBE; the company has spent more than two decades working with architects and designers to restore old buildings and create new, sustainable c ...

Kiss 102 Kiss 102 was a dance music radio station based in Manchester, England. History The frequency was originally issued to Sunset 102 Radio - The Kickin FM but that suffered some financial problems. In May 1993, the Radio Authority made a decisio ...

's Mike Gray and

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singer ...

. In its application for a full-time licence, Crash FM said it would provide an alternative rock and dance station, aimed at 15- to 34-year-olds, with a target audience of over 80,000 tuning in for around eight hours per week in the first year. The original shareholders also included CLT, although they withdrew before launch with their 25% stake taken by Channel Radio.

Juice 107.6

Crash was bought out by

Forever Broadcasting Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...

in late 1999 and relaunched as Juice 107.6 on 26 March 2000. By September of that year, the station's

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was calle ...

had increased significantly, after its format had been altered to include more mainstream pop and dance music. In September 2003, Juice was sold to Absolute Radio (UK) Limited (AR-UK), a consortium made up of

UTV Media Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...

and Eurocast, for £3.1m. AR-UK were, at the time, making moves in the FM radio licence world, notably in the West Midlands and Glasgow. The new owners aimed to develop more local programming, news and marketing but sold the station to UTV less than two years later. On 12 January 2012, Juice switched from its Fleet Street studios to a new £1.1m facility at One Park West in

Liverpool One Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by the department store ...

, overlooking the Albert Dock.

Capital Liverpool

On 5 June 2015, Juice FM was sold again to

for £10 million. The sale was given regulatory approval from the Competition and Markets Authority exactly three months later, following a consultation. On the same day as the sale was cleared, Global announced it would rebrand and relaunch Juice FM as part of the Capital network of

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

stations. The relaunched station carries programming from Capital's London headquarters alongside the rest of the Capital Network with local news, travel and weather information broadcast from the Liverpool studios. Alongside a show exclusively for Liverpool at weekday Drivetime 4-7pm. The Juice FM brand was phased out at 4pm on 10 January 2016, with the station entering a transition period ahead of the full relaunch as Capital, which took place at 6am on 18 January 2016. According to RAJAR ratings, Capital Liverpool dipped as low as 167,000 listeners per week a year after the rebrand and shed market share points in the turmoil. But as of RAJAR Q2 2019, after significant changes to the initial lineup, the numbers had recovered to 212,000 reach, with vast improvements in market share and listening hours to the two years after the rebranding. On 26 February 2019, Global confirmed the station's local breakfast and weekend shows would be replaced with networked programming from April 2019. The weekday drivetime show was retained alongside news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. Three of Capital Liverpool's presenters left the station.

Digital radio

Juice FM, was not present on the Bauer-operated central Liverpool DAB multiplex, but did subsequently procure a slot on

MuxCo MuxCo is an operator of digital radio in the United Kingdom. It is, in joint ventures, the licensee for local DAB ensembles in various parts of England and Wales. The company is owned by Arqiva, Bauer Radio and Folder Media. (owners of Fun K ...

's more recent multiplex serving Cheshire, the Wirral and northeast Wales. Following the relaunch as Capital Liverpool, the station took the place of Capital's 97.1 FM Wirral service on the Bauer Liverpool multiplex. Capital Liverpool remained on MuxCo's multiplex until August 2016, when the slot was transferred to the 103.4 FM Wrexham/Chester version of Capital.

Programming

All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including ''

Capital Breakfast ''Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp'' is a British national breakfast radio show on Capital. The show is broadcast from 6am to 10am each weekday.

'' with Roman Kemp. Local programming is produced and broadcast from Global's Liverpool studios from 4-7pm on weekdays. The station's local presenters are

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held t ...

and Dylan Evans. Global's Newsroom broadcasts hourly localised news updates from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12pm at weekends with headlines on the half-hour during ''Capital Breakfast'' on weekdays. The Liverpool newsroom also produces Wirral news bulletins for

Capital North West and Wales Capital North West and Wales is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cheshire, the Wirral Peninsula & North Wales. The station broadcasts from its studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexha ...

Previous presenters

Christian O'Connell Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British radio disc jockey, television host, writer, and comedian living in Australia. He presents ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in ...

* Vic McGlynn *

References

External links

* {{Liverpool and Merseyside radio Radio stations in Liverpool Radio stations established in 1998