Radio Station Research - Capital FM Radio Station

Capital FM is a radio station very aware that they may have many different ages in their audience; Therefore they try to keep the content of their show as child-friendly as possible. No rude words are used, if they are they are always bleeped out, and the content is not crude or over-rated. One criticism many people have of capital FM is that they only play a certain type of music, Pop music, which can get very repetitive. the show is a very happy show with a positive energy, which some people find extremely irritating. There is lots of chatting included in the broadcasting, and presenters involve little games, which means often you find yourself thinking, "just play the music!!!" The audience varies from working class to middle class, and the presenters try to act in a very informal way.


Capital is broad casted from their studios in Leicester square, at all hours of the day. More toward Christmas they play lots of seasonal songs as well as their usual songs. There is a whole range of presenters, most of whom are now house-hold names across London, For example, Johnny Vaughan, or Lisa Snowdon.


Mainly the audience comes from a very young age, (children in the car with their parents on the way to school) all the way up to around middle age. Older audiences aren't being targeted as much, with the assumption that they don't appreciate modern music. in my opinion this is a stereotype which lowers Capital's audience numbers. Most listeners have very celebrity-based interests. Capital's Breakfast show has recently been voted Number 1 in the country, and a large audience is often attracted more by "freebies", such as show tickets or a chance to meet celebrities, rather than actual show content.


Capital's advertising and PR methods are very intelligent, for example, if they advertise a competition, you have to listen every single hour to hear your chance to win, which immediately raises the shows audience numbers. Also if you win, you don't get a phone call, You have to phone in, which costs you a lot of money, which all goes into capital's pocket. The show is not just studio based, they now host the infamous "Jingle Bell ball" and "summer time ball". Some of the tickets for these events are competition based, while the rest are highly priced and sell out in minutes after release.


Actually on the capital FM website, there are several links to other media, and as soon as you are on the website you understand the website is not fully Music based but more celebrity based. The show is very listener friendly, with links to prizes, applications, videos, ("Video Fun", Backstage Videos), Pictures, "Celebrity Snaps", And music news. another very clever technique is right at the top of the website page is shouted at us, "Give the Gift of Giving this Christmas", then information about capital's help a London child appeal. this gives the impression that capital is a very loving station, and tugs at the viewer's heartstrings. Capital's parent company is Global Radio.