Capital Radio, born 32 years ago as one of the UK's first commercial radio franchises, finally threw the towel in and joined West Country rival GWR to form Britain's largest radio group - GCap - a name according to Marketing's media commentator Ray Snoddy " perfect for any future diversification from commercial radio into contraceptives" (05/05).

The new company's shares shrank on the first day's trading due to a lack of consumer confidence and falling advertising revenue caused, according to new Chairman Ralph Bernard, by the top ten advertisers deserting the radio medium, yet the new 'superchannel' was floated as a rival to BBC dominance, especially in the digital channels.

Despite being overtaken by Heart FM (for the second time) as London's most popular station, there was a ray of sunshine in the fact that the breakfast show, hosted by Johnnie Vaughan, was putting on listeners. Adrian Young, head of the media team at Barclays, saw the week's events as merely a staging post: " I don't think this is likely to be a decisive moment in the battle for the London market when one competitor breaks away from the pack" (FT, 06/05). With a potential 17 million listeners, or almost a network of its own, the new company is likely to make the airwaves sing.