Hazlitt and Eyre stepping down

Architects of GCap's recent past, Fru Hazlitt and Richard Eyre, are to step down as part of the preparations for merger with Global.

In a complex piece of horse-trading - designed to placate the Office of Fair Trading who want time to properly investigate the effects of the union - the two companies are going to continue as "separate entities", with different people in charge - until the OFT rolls over and gives its approval. Not to prejudge, of course. Even with all these required management heads (way to cut costs, guys), there's no room for Eyre or Hazlitt. They're left feeling a bit like XFM daytimes.

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet

James Cridland went to the Guardian's Radio Reborn conference earlier this week, and took notes:

Paul Brown, DRDB: is fed up of the radio industry ’staring up our own fundements’. I do like Paul. Points out listener figures, and set sales, are high. Says commercial radio isn’t very good at selling ads on digital radio, interestingly. Very bullish about radio in the future. Says that radio has been hampered by ‘indecisiveness’ because of being owned by shareholders. Says that commercial radio doesn’t crosspromote enough. Mentions that PlanetRock had more Sony Radio Academy Award nominations than any other national station (not entirely sure that’s right, but it did get quite a few).

The comments are great, too:

I like how Fru had to say that GCap were bigger than last.fm.

A few years ago it would be obvious that a commercial radio group would be bigger than an internet station. Now it’s become notable. How the internet changes things…

Capital brings back the ads

Besides dumping DAB and axing XFM outside London, there's another u-turn tucked away in the official GCap statement this morning. Capital is ditching its policy of fewer adverts. Listed as a 'key initiative':

Increasing inventory at Capital 95.8 to meet demand from advertisers

Interesting. When they dropped the number of ads, GCap made much ballyhoo about how it was responding to listener needs; now, presumably, with listeners not listening much their wishes are unimportant.

Mind you, the policy of fewer adverts lasted longer than the simultaneous rebranding of the main London franchise as Capital Radio (again) - somewhere in the last couple of years it seems to have mutated again into Capital 98.5. If they can't decide what to call the bloody thing, what chance do they have of making any other ideas stick?

It's hard to believe there's much demand from advertisers for more inventory on Capital. At the end of Janaury GCap described the advertising market as "stable".

GCap prepare to drop the pilot

Ralph Bernard, who's been running GCap since the merger between Capital and GWR, is believed to be stepping down from the Chief Executive position.

He's known as the father of the UK commercial radio industry, but remember, it's really unfair to blame parents for the sins of their children.

Fru Hazlitt is likely to take over, riding high on the - uh - success of dumping presenters from daytime XFM and taking Capital to the number four slot in the London commercial market. Admittedly from number one, but still...

GCap can stations

Yesterday, we had the exciting world of Fru Hazlitt, GCap Radio boss, part one, as she extolled the virtues of advertising online being "less regulated". Except, of course, for it being regulated by the ASA like radio advertising is.

Today, as GCap announces closure plans for three of its stations, she's offering another interesting perspective:

“In 2001, people were saying the internet is dead. In fact, all that it needed was to be revitalised. Radio is going through a similar experience and has the platform of massive audiences on which to achieve it.”

Who said the internet was dead in 2001? Stupid internet companies driven by people with more money than sense might have been crashing (although in the UK, that was really 2000) but nobody suggested seriously that that was the end of the net. But in what way is radio having a dotcom bubble explosion, if that's what she meant - nine out of ten people listening to radio, over a million hours of listening every quarter in the UK.

On the other hand, if what she means is that Capital and its sister stations are being run like ClickMango or Boo.com, then she'd probably be in a better position than us to judge.

GCap is closing down Capital Disney, its bizarre ABC co-operative station which failed to enchant children of all ages on a few digital transmitters; presumably the appearance of Disney Radio as part of Channel 4 Radio's digital proposals hastened the end there; the company is also "ceasing to invest" in Core and Life, although neither station really has the air of having received any sort of investment at all.

Ms Hazlitt said that the group would focus on the music to attract advertisers. She said: “Contemporary hit music has always been the biggest pond to fish in.”

A big pond. But an overfished pond. And one where the fish are developing legs and leaving the pond looking for niches in which they can frolic.

Capital Radio: Hazlitt outlines action

Capital Radio has been put at the heart of trying to turn around GCap's disappointing-though-not-disaterous figures for the year, and Fru Hazlitt, the company's London managing director, has some ideas:

"In London, commercial radio is driven by three things - its music, its breakfast show and its London information," she said.

"What we're seeing is that Capital performs very well in two of those - it has always done well with its London-ness.

"The breakfast show we know we have to keep progressing but it has been performing very well.

"We are still working on it but are very confident.

"And in the past with music, we tried to move genre but should have stayed with contemporary pop music because we know we don't have commercial competition in that genre."

This is interesting - firstly, because GCap's XFM has just abandoned daytime djs, which would seem to raise a question on how they intend to stress their 'London-ness' when there's nothing but the music, a text number and a few inserts of "anyone else who knows me" audience participation.

Secondly, it demonstrates again that radio executives don't understand that average listeners can't tell the difference between a myriad of different formats that play fairly recent stuff from the charts. Sure, Capital might focus on "contemporary pop", but most listeners don't think "ooh, I fancy some contemporary pop right now..."; they might have a vague idea about what's chart and what isn't, but there are very few tracks produced that would exclusively fit on just Capital's playlist and no other commercial service in the capital, and to try and make that your distinctive selling point is, frankly, as ridiculous as promising a network where "every singer has a beard" or "all tracks last precisely 2 minutes 18 seconds." Are Scissor Sisters contemporary pop? What about The Gossip? Or do you mean Scooch followed by McFly, but only when McFly aren't doing an Ugly Kid Joe cover or whatever?

And why only worry about not facing competition from commercial rivals? If I was a shareholder in GCap, I'd be a little confused as to why the company I've invested my money is is only trying to compete with half the radio market. Shouldn't they be trying to win back the million or so who prefer Moyles to Vaughan instead of focusing on the shifting of a few thousand between Heart, Magic and Capital every month?

Hazlitt is also interesting on the idea of using the web as an income stream:

[S]he said that web ads complemented on-air advertising and gave powerful brands a huge advantage in a new space relatively free of regulation.

"Radio now operates in a multiplatform environment.

"In the past it has operated on one platform that has been tightly regulated, but now it can operate in a space that is more like a free market and that's a huge advantage for powerful brands like Capital and Classic."

Oh, yes, somebody please free Capital from the beastly constraints of regulation. Leaving aside the question of how unregulated the industry is anyway - ooh, I got a limp rebuke from the Advertising Standards Authority and told to try not to do it again, again - is Hazlitt actually suggesting that Capital is itching to break free of the bonds of regulation which is there to protect the consumer? What are these tiresome regulations she is seeking to loosen? Is she promising that boilerroom financial opportunities and direct-to-consumer medication ads will soon be smothering GCap radio sites? And does she not realise that internet adverts are regulated by the ASA under the same basic terms of conduct that radio adverts are?