GWR Group was a British radio company, until its merger with Capital Radio Group in May 2005 to form the new company GCap Media. Major assets included the nationwide station Classic FM and an extensive network of independent local radio stations - both of which are now operated by the new company. The Capital Radio Group is a British company that controls a number of United Kingdom. ... This article is about the month of May. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar and is the current year. ... GCap Media plc is a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. ... Classic FM is the United Kingdoms first national commercial radio station, broadcasting classical music in a popular and accessible style. ...

Between 1996 and 1999 GWR was a major shareholder in London News Radio, which owned and operated London's LBC and News Direct radio stations. These stations were sold to Chrysalis Radio in 2002. LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is Britains first commercial independent local radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

GWR was owned by Daily Mail and General Trust plc (majority share), various asset management firms, Sir Peter Michael and other small shareholders. Until the merger, the group was chaired by Ralph Bernard and its head office was in Passage Street, Bristol. Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT) is one of the UKs largest media companies and has interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio. ... Bristol is an English city and county and one of the two administrative centres of South West England (the other being Plymouth). ...

GWR attempted to revolutionise local radio with its policy of branding its stations with similar phrases, initially "today's best mix" or "the best mix of the 80s, 90s and today." This allowed it to syndicate a number of programmes across its network of radio stations. It currently has four main syndicated programmes: Music Control (previously Core Control, weekdays 7pm to 10pm (and 7-9 on Fridays)), Late Night Love (Sunday to Thursday 10pm to 1am) presented by Graham Torrington, Ministry of Sound (previously Vibe Nation) presented by Howard Ritchie (Friday and Saturday nights) and Sunday Revival (Sunday mornings). The stations are usually the commercial market leader in the areas in which they operate, and GWR enjoyed much financial success as a result. Ministry of Sound is one of the most famous nightclubs in the world of electronic music. ...

GWR (and its successor) has been a strong proponent of DAB Digital Radio, and is the major shareholder in the national commercial digital radio multiplex, Digital One. It also operates 14 local digital multiplexes (under the NOWdigital banner and is the largest shareholder in the Digital Radio Group (London) Ltd. Digital Audio Broadcast or DAB is a standard for digital radio broadcast developed by EUREKA as a research project for the European Union. ... Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by GCap Media and transmitted on frequency block 11D. It broadcasts the following channels receivable on any digital-equipped radio: Classic FM - national commercial classical music station, also on FM Core - semi-automated pop music station...

External links

• GWR's local radio network
• NOWdigital - GWR's local multiplex division