GCap Media, the radio consortium formed from the merger of Capital Radio Group and GWR, was rarely out of the headlines in 2005. Unfortunately, it was invariably for the wrong reasons.
The company's woes seem to stem from one source - the consistently poor performance of its flagship London station 95.8 Capital FM. With the station suffering declining audiences amid a depressed radio advertising market, the City took a very poor view of the group's management, and rumours of possible takeover bids swirled around the Square Mile during the summer.
Rajar figures for the July to September period revealed just how far 95.8 Capital FM has fallen. For the first time in its 32-year history, 95.8 Capital FM was no longer the biggest commercial radio station in London - in fact, it had slipped down to the number three position. It was replaced in the number one spot by Chrysalis Radio's Heart, with Emap's Magic at number two.
This prompted GCap, under chairman Ralph Bernard, to come out fighting.
As well as restructuring the company's board, which resulted in the departure of chief executive David Mansfield, Bernard has concocted a recovery plan.
He has promised to dispose of nine of the group's analogue stations in order to tighten its focus on the regions that advertisers are most keen to reach. Five of the stations up for sale are based in the South-West, including Plymouth Sound; the remainder are based in the North-West and Wales, including Coast FM.
But it is how GCap responds in the London market that analysts, and its rival radio groups, are most interested in. Later this month, 95.8 Capital FM is being relaunched as Capital FM and GCap is introducing a new schedule, music policy and branding. It is also making its ad breaks shorter in order to attract advertisers back to the fold.
In an attempt to pre-empt the relaunch, GCap's rival London stations have been busy. Heart 106.2 has moved Emma B to co-host its drivetime show with Greg Burns, while Emap has refocused its attention on its London radio station Kiss after years of supporting the Magic brand.
Marketing asked Graham Bednash, a partner at Michaelides & Bednash, and Rob Jones, chairman of the radio specialist USP Group, for their views on how GCap can restore 95.8 Capital FM to its former pre-eminent position.
DIAGNOSIS 1 - GRAHAM BEDNASH MANAGING PARTNER, MICHAELIDES & BEDNASH
Capital 95.8FM should be one of the hottest media brands in the world.
It broadcasts to the most sexy, innovative, multicultural city in the world, it is owned by a company with very deep pockets and its target market is young, social Londoners. Other brands would kill for a brief like this. So what's going wrong?
Capital FM has experienced the painful lesson of business life that 'nothing fails like success'. It dominated London radio for so many years it got complacent. It didn't adapt fast enough and then tried to be all things to all people while brands such as Heart and Magic came along with a killer focus about what they stood for, and a single-minded approach to execution.
Mass-market brands that try to appeal to everyone end up being bland.
Capital FM has huge inherent strengths, but to move the game on it needs to be prepared to lose in order to win. All successful media brands need a powerful sense of who they are and express it single-mindedly in everything they do.They are happy to polarise opinion and provoke.
REMEDY
- Be provocative: have a strong point of view; have an enemy; get talked about.
- Think and behave like a fashion brand - think Top Shop, not Marks & Spencer.
- Narrow the target audience - it is hard to be a distinctive brand when the core audience is so mass-market.
- Emulate Radio One, which, under former controller Matthew Bannister, sacrificed its old audience and committed itself to being at the cutting edge of new music.
DIAGNOSIS 2 - ROB JONES CHAIRMAN, USP GROUP
In the halcyon days when 95.8 Capital FM was number one in London, it really did what it said on the tin. Chris Tarrant, Pat Sharp, Mick Brown and Foxy were big personalities playing big hits, but ruled with a rod of iron by Richard Park.
Times have changed and the big, optimistic and swaggering character of the brand has given way to a more unpresumptuous sound. That is all except for Johnny Vaughan on the breakfast show, who actually sounds bigger than the station - something that Tarrant never did, even though he is clearly a bigger name.
The newer commercial stations have been encroaching on Capital FM's ground, encouraged by a more relaxed regulator in Ofcom. But remember; Capital's 80s and 90s success forced Radios 1 and 2 to look long and hard at themselves and, in London at least, focus on either half of Capital's audience.
Capital FM should stop worrying about its commercial cousins and start thinking about how to compete with the BBC stations.
REMEDY
- Focus shows from 10pm to 6am on music played by excellent format presenters, and get a girl back in the daytime schedule.
- Serve the 28- to 35-year-old market to get parents listening with their children while in the car.
- Ensure the breakfast presenter represents the brand values of the radio station.
- Get Ant and Dec for breakfast - it would pay back in six months on the profit and loss sheet and even quicker in the City.