[James2001]

When I was in Somerset in 2022 and could only get the Welsh version of the station where we were (presumably the Quantock hills were blocking the DAB signal from the South West version), switching to the Welsh programming at 10PM did seem awfully out of place with the rest of the station- not least because the jingles were still in English (and the presenter did still drop some English bits in, like announcing what year the top 10 at 10 was), and there was what sounded like some strange Welsh folk music thrown into to the mix which was really odd amongst the rest of the music they played. I imagine it didn't get a big audience and they only kept it after dropping other programming from Wales as a token gesture and were always going to quickly get rid.

[lookoutwales]

South Wales kept the Welsh language show to keep the Senedd happy, but they have no legal obligation to provide it since they closed 1170 in Swansea and is now a digital only station which doesn't have rules on locality, although they've kept local news and advertising.

Yes, it appears to have disappeared altogether - it was cut back to Sundays only but that appears to have gone now. Usually carried an English-only playlist at the end.

One schedule oddity remains - instead of Debbie Mac's non-regional afternoon show from Manchester, they carry Tony Wright's show for the South West stations from Bristol (presume he occasionally does the odd split link for South Wales?)

Wright also does Saturday breakfast on Pirate - wouldn't be surprised if Pirate's FM frequencies end up carrying his weekday GHR show (Sunday mornings on Pirate have also been produced from outside the TSA, so to speak)

[Stooky Bill]

Not sure where this best fit but it looks as though Bauer’s big move from One Golden Square to Euston is underway.

Magic’s Dan Morrissey has done his last evening show from the old place tonight.

x.com 

Find it amazing they managed to fit so many station's studios into One Golden Square considering it was originally just home to Virgin/Absolute. It never looked that big from the outside unlike the Global building which always seemed too big to just have Capital in it originally

[Toby brown]

Yes, it appears to have disappeared altogether - it was cut back to Sundays only but that appears to have gone now. Usually carried an English-only playlist at the end.

One schedule oddity remains - instead of Debbie Mac's non-regional afternoon show from Manchester, they carry Tony Wright's show for the South West stations from Bristol (presume he occasionally does the odd split link for South Wales?)

Wright also does Saturday breakfast on Pirate - wouldn't be surprised if Pirate's FM frequencies end up carrying his weekday GHR show (Sunday mornings on Pirate have also been produced from outside the TSA, so to speak)

Ghr in Cornwall is going to have its own afternoon show

[Spencer]

One thing they won’t be taking forward, it seems, is the touchscreen faders if this is anything to go by.

x.com 

Touchscreen faders strike me as a terrible idea. When you’ve got several screens to look at, scripts to read, clocks to keep an eye on, etc., etc., you need to be able to feel your way around a desk and not have to look down every time you need to move a fader. (I’d also argue the same about cars with touchscreen controls, but that’s another matter.)

I’m not surprised they’ve not kept them.

[Stooky Bill]

Find it amazing they managed to fit so many station's studios into One Golden Square considering it was originally just home to Virgin/Absolute. It never looked that big from the outside unlike the Global building which always seemed too big to just have Capital in it originally

Sorry to reply to my own post, I just remembered that when Capital moved into Leicester Square the idea was that the plan was to house Virgin Radio into the building too. They were in the process of trying to buy the station, but Chris Evans scuppered that and Branson sold it to him instead. The space and the money had put aside for Virgin were used to buy XFM

[VMPhil]

Sorry to reply to my own post, I just remembered that when Capital moved into Leicester Square the idea was that the plan was to house Virgin Radio into the building too. They were in the process of trying to buy the station, but Chris Evans scuppered that and Branson sold it to him instead. The space and the money had put aside for Virgin were used to buy XFM

From what I remember reading Evans' first autobiography, the Capital/Virgin deal was going through protracted regulatory approval which allowed Evans to swoop in and do a deal himself with Branson. The Monopolies and Mergers Commission still published their report afterwards which said had the Capital deal had gone through, they would have had to sell off the Virgin FM licence.

[lookoutwales]

Relatively muted fanfare for Magic's first day from The Lantern in Euston - think they're the first to make the move with the other networks / brands to follow.

That said, Harriet Scott was pretty emotional about it, what with her links to the original Virgin / Absolute.

[Stooky Bill]

From what I remember reading Evans' first autobiography, the Capital/Virgin deal was going through protracted regulatory approval which allowed Evans to swoop in and do a deal himself with Branson. The Monopolies and Mergers Commission still published their report afterwards which said had the Capital deal had gone through, they would have had to sell off the Virgin FM licence.

That sort of regulatory thing seems so archaic nowadays. Selling off Virgin on FM when they've now got 5 FM London licenses and Classic FM

[SpacewardAsh]

Yes, it appears to have disappeared altogether - it was cut back to Sundays only but that appears to have gone now. Usually carried an English-only playlist at the end.

One schedule oddity remains - instead of Debbie Mac's non-regional afternoon show from Manchester, they carry Tony Wright's show for the South West stations from Bristol (presume he occasionally does the odd split link for South Wales?)

Wright also does Saturday breakfast on Pirate - wouldn't be surprised if Pirate's FM frequencies end up carrying his weekday GHR show (Sunday mornings on Pirate have also been produced from outside the TSA, so to speak)

I gather the weekday afternoon slot on GHR is supposed to be regional, presumably loosely based on the ITV regions and what the regulations will allow.

As for Pirate, I wouldn't be surprised if weekday evenings, weekend early breakfast and weekend mornings didn't come from elsewhere in the UK and I believe Bauer changed the license to allow this when they took over the station in 2020. For example, Stuart McGinley works on Wave 105 and may well live in West Sussex, presumably Gary Parker (also from Wave 105) lives somewhere on the south coast as well. Tony presumably lives near Bristol and Jamie Pritchard is based in South Wales. That'll be one heck of a commute for a couple of live shows a week or to pre-record some shows for broadcast!