City Gateshead Branding 105–106 Capital | Broadcast area North East England First air date 1 June 1999 | |
Slogan The North East's No.1 Hit Music Station Frequency FM:
105.3 MHz (Newcastle upon Tyne)
105.6 MHz (Fenham)
105.8 MHz (Hexham)
106.4 MHz (Teesside)
DAB:
11B (Teesside)
11C (Tyne and Wear)
RDS: Capital | ||
Capital North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle.
Contents
The station launched on 1 June 1999 as Galaxy 105–106, renamed in 2006 as Galaxy North East and rebranded on 3 January 2011 as 105–106 Capital.
Galaxy North East
Originally called Galaxy 105–106, presenter Steve Furnell launched the station on Tuesday 1 June 1999, with "What You Need" by Powerhouse feating Duane Harden being the first record played.
The station was based in Wallsend, North Tyneside at the Silverlink Business Park, near the junction of the A1058 and the A19, 6 miles east of Newcastle City Centre.
The name was changed to Galaxy North East in 2006, in line with other Galaxy stations. This year also saw a change in demographic from 15–29 to 15–34 and a new strapline of "passion for music, passion for life". In 2008, their strapline was changed from "passion for music, passion for life" to "Love Music". In 2008, they also changed their output format to include a more mainstream playlist. It broadcasts on 105.3 at a power of 10KW from the Burnhope Transmitter, on 105.6 at a power of 0.5 kW from the Fenham Transmitter for West Newcastle, 105.8 at 0.1 kW from the Newton Transmitter for the Hexham area and on 106.4 at 8.9 kW from the Bilsdale Transmitter for Teesside although coverage unintentionally extends much further. During late 2010, the strapline changed to The North East's No.1 Hit Music Station.
Networked programming was broadcast from Galaxy Yorkshire in Leeds.
Capital North East
The station was rebranded as 105–106 Capital on 3 January 2011 as part of a merger of Global Radio's Galaxy and Hit Music networks to form the nine-stations of Capital. Steve Furnell and Karen Wight remained on breakfast Roger 'Bodg' Howard on drive time.
Kim Miljus was appointed managing director of Capital North East, replacing Matt Bashford, she was the former station director of Metro Radio. Giles Eyre-Tanner became the station's programme controller on 5 October 2011, replacing Stuart Barrie.
Long-serving weekday breakfast presenters Steve Furnell and Karen Wight left Capital North East to join rival station Metro Radio. Weekday drivetime presenter Roger 'Bodg' Howard, producer Matt Bailey and Take Me Out contestant JoJo Hatfield took over from the duo on 3 January 2012. Lee Sevenoaks was brought in as Breakfast Producer for the show. 2010 Student Radio Awards winner Rob Howard joined the station and presented weekday drivetime for three years.
In May 2015, Capital North East moved to new studios at new studios at Wellbar Central in Newcastle city centre, shared with sister station Heart North East and Communicorp-owned Smooth North East.
Programming
Local programming is produced and broadcast from Capital's Newcastle studios from 6-10am and 4-7pm on weekdays and 12-4pm at weekends. All networked programming originates from Global Radio's London headquarters, including the syndicated Vodafone Big Top 40 on Sunday afternoons.
The station's local presenters are Roger 'Bodg' Howard and Matt Bailey (Capital Breakfast), Martin Lowes (weekday drivetime, Saturday afternoons) and Thomas Hannett (Sunday afternoons).
News
Capital North East broadcasts hourly regional news updates from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12pm at weekends with headlines on the hour during Capital Breakfast on weekdays. The Newcastle newsroom also produces regional news bulletins for Heart North East and Smooth North East.