This coming week will probably be the last for GCap Media as Global Radio agrees the final terms to acquire the “belegaured radio group” (copyright every newspaper).

Whilst traditionally it’s the acquiree that feels the brunt of any changes or cuts, the unique nature of the takeover creates some interesting questions. First and foremost, GCap is a much larger entity than Global and not only in audience ad revenue terms but in numbers of staff and broadcast locations.

Global Radio is quite a compact radio group, two main analogue brands – Galaxy and Heart – with some key operations co-located like Heart and the LBCs in London and Galaxy and Heart in the West Midlands. GCap on the other hand is spread across over 40 different locations with large group functions based in London, Bristol, Reading and Nottingham. Indeed, whilst some of GCap’s systems are a little confused, they are at least geared up to operate across multiple stations and radio brands and will probably find it easier to add the Global stations onto, rather than try and shoe-horn 50 stations into the ex-Chrysalis systems.

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