For all its sins, I'm not sure that what Capital Radio needs to do is adopt the one-size-fits-all model used by all those dreadful (but, of course, commercially successful) GWR local stations. But with the former GWR management now well and truly in control at the merged GCap, that may well happen.
To be fair, former GWR and now GCap operations chief Steve Orchard is right when he says that Capital bosses failed to respond quick enough in reinventing their flagship station as rivals like Heart, Kiss and Magic competed for some of their traditional audience, instead continuing with a format that was still too "cheesy" and promotion filled. And perhaps Capital bosses were wrong when, having finally decided to take some action, they decided to launch new programmes aimed more at the "blokey" audience rather than the female demographic, though, arguably, by that point Heart and Magic had already won over that audience, and a strategy concentrating on the male listener had its merits. Either way, the former GWR top guard, now in control of London's former number one, have some ambitious plans for the station. Which might be good news, if they weren't behind some of the most mediocre programming out there in regional radio land.
Quite what the January relaunch of Capital will bring remains to be seen, but that nineties mantra of 'less-talk-more-music' seems to be back in fashion. Johnny Vaughan's breakfast show is probably safe, even though his show is very much part of the "bloke-radio" strategy that the GWR directors are dismissing. However, because of his contract, kicking out Vaughan would cost the station millions, and GCap are unlikely to want to foot that bill when the whole point of the revamp is to keep share holders happy. That said, some expect the station to control the breakfast show more tightly, cutting short Vaughan's longer rants on the microphone.
Richard Bacon's recently launched drive time show might be a victim of the revamp, however - if only because when the Guardian spoke to Bacon's agent she was very non-committal stressing that her client was busy "considering a number of career options" at the moment. The Guardian also reckon daytime hosts Neil Bentley and James Cannon might also be out as part of the revamp.
Music wise, the kind of tracks played are likely to stay the same, though there will be more of them in each hour of output. Orchard has said that DJs will be given a number of freeplay tracks in order to increase "risk and passion", which is nice to hear, but we'll withhold judgment on what the future holds for Capital until we can hear it for ourselves. The GWR top team know the radio business inside out and if they can't turn round the station's commercial fortunes no one can. But whether they'll create a decent radio station in doing so remains to be seen.