| City of license | Birmingham |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | West Midlands |
| Slogan | Birmingham's No.1 Hit Music Station |
| Frequency | RDS: CAPITAL 102.2 MHz[1] DAB |
| First air date | 1 January 1995 |
| Format | Urban Contemporary, News, Entertainment, Speech, Showbiz |
| Audience share | 8.8% (August 2011, [2]) |
| Owner | Global Radio |
| Sister stations | Capital East Midlands Capital London Capital Manchester Capital North East Capital Scotland Capital South Coast Capital South Wales Capital Yorkshire |
| Website | Capital Birmingham |
Capital Birmingham is an local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the nine-station Capital radio network of contemporary music stations. The station broadcasts from studios on Broad Street in Birmingham City Centre shared with Heart West Midlands and The Arrow - Rock. Capital FM Birmingham's transmitter is located at Metropolitan House on the A456. It is also available on DAB, through the MXR West Midlands multiplex.
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The station began broadcasting as Choice FM on 1 January 1995, after taking over the licence previously owned by Buzz FM. Four years later, Choice was renamed as Galaxy after it was brought out by the Chrysalis. Galaxy was sold off to Global Radio in June 2007 in a £170 million deal which saw the group take over The Arrow, LBC and Heart.
The station was relaunched and re-branded as 102.2 Capital on 3 January 2011 as part of a merger of Global Radio's Galaxy and Hit Music networks to form the nine-station Capital radio network.[3] Local programming now consists of weekday breakfast and drivetime, weekend mornings, and hourly daytime news bulletins. Galaxy presenter Sacha Brooks was redeployed as a presenter on the station and also presents a specialist slot which is networked each Sunday overnight.
Unlike other stations on the Capital network, the 102.2 Capital license was to primarily cater for Urban contemporary black music rather than a 'contemporary/chart music-led service'.[4] The radio station format stated that the service should provide 'a rhythmic-based music and information stations primarily for listeners of African or afro-Caribbean origin, but with cross over appeal to young white fans of urban contemporary black music'.[5][6]
On 1 July 2011, Global Radio requested to change the formats of Capital Birmingham and Capital Scotland which have obligations from previous owners - this is to enable all nine Capital stations to be inline.[7] On 17 November 2011 it was announced Ofcom approved two format change requests.[8]
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