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Capital launches new 24/7 dance music radio station
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 2 October 2020
If you wondered why the UK commercial radio sector’s lobbyists so quickly hit out at the BBC’s plans to launch a new 24/7 dance music service within BBC Sounds, well, who knows? In unrelated news, commercial radio giant Global has announced the launch of a new 24/7 dance music service.
New radio station Capital Dance will air on the DAB digital radio network and online, “playing the biggest dance anthems and club mixes”. It is being fronted by DJ MistaJam, who quit the BBC earlier this month after fifteen years presenting shows for 1Xtra and Radio 1.
MistaJam will host a drive time show from Tuesday to Saturday, plus an evening show on Fridays and Saturdays that will also go out on the main Capital network. Existing Capital DJ Coco Cole also joins the new station presenting an evening show throughout the week and a late night show at the weekend.
Confirming all this, Global’s Director Of Broadcasting James Rea said: “Capital Dance is a brilliant addition to the Capital brand, opening it up to a whole new set of music and dance genres, fronted by one of the biggest personalities and most esteemed figures in dance music. We’re delighted to welcome MistaJam to the Global family both on Capital Dance and on the Capital network for the all new Capital Weekender show on Friday and Saturday nights”.
Last month the BBC announced the launch of Radio 1 Dance, a new service within its BBC Sounds app that aggregates the broadcaster’s existing dance music specialist shows and guest mixes from the archives.
The move was criticised by commercial radio trade group RadioCentre, which said that the licence-fee-funded BBC was meant to offer services that were “distinct” from what was already available in the wider market, and that when it comes to dance music programming “commercial radio has a rich catalogue in this area”.
One of the commercial radio sector’s champions in Parliament, Andy Carter MP, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group For Commercial Radio, then said that Radio 1 Dance was another example of the BBC unfairly competing with its commercial rivals and called on media regulator OfCom to investigate.
But OfCom said that because Radio 1 Dance just repurposes existing content the new channel didn’t need to be reviewed to confirm its public service remit. However, the regulator said that it would look into the Corporation’s wider plans for the evolution of the BBC Sounds app.
Meanwhile, back at Global HQ, former BBC and now Capital dance guy MistaJam said: “I’m really excited, honoured and privileged to start a brand new chapter in my career with the Global family, launching the UK’s first ever official 24 hour dance music radio station, Capital Dance, and taking the reins of the all new Capital Weekender show to make it the biggest dance music show in the UK”.
