1. Commercial Radio
Commercial radio licenses are awarded by Ofcom, a government body which advertises a licenses
for an area and holds a so-called beauty contest to determine which station will be granted
permission to broadcast in that area. Stations submit detailed application documents containing
their proposed format and the outcome of research to determine the demand for their particular
style of broadcast. Original 106 (Aberdeen) was the last radio station to be granted a license by
Ofcom.
Most local commercial stations in the United Kingdom broadcast to a city or group of towns within a
radius of 20-50 miles, with a second tier of regional stations covering larger areas such as North
West England. The predominant format is pop music, but many other tastes are also catered for,
particularly in London and the larger cities, and on digital radio.
Rather than operating as independent entities, many local radio stations are owned by large radio
groups which broadcast a similar format to many areas. The largest operator of radio is global radio
which bought the former media group, Geap Media. It owns Classic FM and London’s most popular
commercial radio station, 95.8 Capital FM.
Capital Radio - Capital London formed part of the nine station Capital radio network on 3 January
2011 as part of a merger of the Global Radio owned Hit Music and Galaxy networks.[8] Weekday
breakfast and drive time plus weekend mornings are localised with other output networked from
the 95.8 Capital studios in London. Other owners are Bauer radio and UTV radio, which mainly own
stations that are broadcast in highly populated city areas.
Commercial radios maintain their audience in a plethora of ways. One being bringing celebrity
quests on to the show, obviously ones that relate to the music played on the station so that they
have relevance. This helps to keep listeners interested. Another way they keep their audience is by
having cash prizes on the show. By playing quizzes and games the audience can compete for various
gifts and money. This makes the station more entertaining and enjoyable to listen to.
Furthermore the audience can call the station to talk and request songs, making them feel more
involved in the show. It’s an easy way to maintain a certain audience and keep ratings high.
The first radio station that I listened to was BBC radio with my dad in the car. As I got older I started
to listen to capital FM, and now I listen to Rock radio. I feel my choice of radio station is defiantly
affected by my music choice. As I feel is the case with everyone. A couple of years ago it was the car
that people usually listen to the radio in and obviously a “radio”. Although now you can listen to it
anywhere, even on your phones, which I would imply that because a wider range of audience is
more available to the stations that the world of commercial radio stations has evolved significantly
and is a lot different to a few years ago. One change that is clear is that there is a lot more
advertisements with in the stations and now more music playing were as back then there was mostly
talking about various things and news. Also another change that is obvious is that back then people
listen to the radio for the news now people listen to is for music, I know I do.

2. Capital FM (95.8)
An example of a major commercial radio is Capital FM (95.8). Capital plays mostly mainstream
music. They also do requests and lots of games for prizes. They also have a twitter feed so people
can chat to them while they are in the studio. They have a live coverage of road accidents covering
the area you’re in. They have quests on the show to talk to the public as well which would attract
more listeners. This is also good for the station as people will pay them to advertise their business’s
generating a massive amount of income.
Capital Radio - Capital London formed part of the nine station Capital radio network on 3 January
2011 as part of a merger of the Global Radio owned Hit Music and Galaxy networks. Weekday
breakfast and drive time plus weekend mornings are localised with other output networked from
the 95.8 Capital studios in London. Other owners are Bauer radio and UTV radio, which mainly own
stations that are broadcast in highly populated city areas.
Capital London localised presenters are responsible for play listing music which is syndicated across
the nine station Capital radio network, during Capital Breakfast, weekday drive time and weekend
mornings. On 12 May 2011 it was announced 95.8 Capital remained the most listened to commercial
radio station in London, on both share and reach, beating rival Magic 105.4.However, on 4 August
2011 it was announced rival Magic 105.4 had overtaken the position.
I would say that the audience for this station is mostly young people. As it plays mainstream music
and is very entertaining and funny (my opinion ).
Heat (106.1)
Heat 106.2 - In addition to FM, the station is available on DAB digital radio in Lon1don and
across the UK on Free sat, Sky, Freeview, TalkTalk TV and Virgin Media. The station is also
available on MXR regional DAB multiplexes in the North West, North East, the Severn
Estuary and Yorkshire, as well as on Switch Digital in central Scotland, having replaced Heart
Digital. Until April 2006, the station could also be listened to worldwide through its Internet
stream. However, according to the website, the station has withdrawn this facility outside
the UK due to licencing laws.
Heart 106.2 is an Independent Local Radio station based in London and is owned by Global
Radio as part of the Heart network. On 25 June 2007 it was announced that Heart along
with its sister stations The Arrow, Sky News Radio, LBC and Galaxy were to be sold for £170
million to Global Radio from Chrysalis Radio. The station broadcasts from studios at
Leicester Square in London.
First launched in the West Midlands in 1994, Heart arrived in London in 1995. The Heart
sound has become the most popular in commercial radio and now extends to 33 stations
across the UK, reaching more than 7.4 million* people every week.
I would suggest that the audience for Heat would be aged between 25-44. I feel this due to
the music that is played and the style that the news is presented.