Tip for the future, if you are going to work for a merging company, make sure your boss stays on as boss of the merged organisation, otherwise you'll need to do some work updating your CV. After several senior Capital Group execs were axed within weeks of the departure of former Capital boss David Mansfield at the top of the merged GCap, now 15 jobs are to go at Capital FM, the first of the post-merger job cuts at the radio conglom. According to the Guardian, Annie O'Neill, producer of the old Chris Tarrant breakfast show and more recently Deputy Prodution Controller, is among the fifteen staff to go at the radio group's flagship London station. Marketing, PR, interactive and events staff are also believed to be leaving.
With the brunt of the post-merger cuts so far coming from the Capital side of the GCap partnership, there's a growing consensus that GWR has become very much the senior player in the new company. Writing in his media column in yesterday's Evening Standard, Nick Ferrari went as far as to say GWR had staged a clever takeover of the once mighty Capital Radio, pursuing an acquisition under the guise of a merger.
Former GWR and now GCap boss Ralph Bernard has been keen to stress that is not the case. Asked if former GWR divisions were getting better treatment post merger, he told reporters: "No, absolutely not. We have been GCap since May". Well, that's me convinced.