Its brief was to entertain, while its opposite number, London Broadcasting (LBC), was licensed to provide news and information.

In search of a larger audience in 1974, Capital Radio rapidly moved from a general and entertainment station with drama, features, documentaries and light music to a more successful pop music-based format.

[1] In October 1972 the Independent Broadcasting Authority invited applications for two local radio licences in London: one for a general and entertainment station, the other for news and information.

Associated Television, run by Lew Grade, was one of them, as was the long-established Isle of Man broadcaster Manx Radio.

Other board members at that time included record producer George Martin, actor and film director Bryan Forbes, theatrical producer Peter Saunders, and a millionaire dentist and long-time commercial radio enthusiast Barclay Barclay-White.

By the time of Capital Radio’s launch in October 1973 some of the competitors for the licence such as Lord Willis and John Whitney had joined the board.

Capital finally moved into office blocks in Euston Tower in September 1973, just a few yards away from Thames Television headquarters.

In 1975, the IBA opened the transmission facilities at Saffron Green which allowed both LBC and Capital Radio to move up the dial.

Previously the aerial wire suspended between the towers of Lots Road site gained Capital and LBC the semi-humorous nickname of "Radio Clothesline"[10] however both stations could be heard as far away as the Midlands.

We've just written a new song called Capital Radio and a line in it goes "listen to the tunes of the Dr Goebbels Show".

In recognition of this, Network Southeast named British Rail Class 47 47710 "Capital Radio's Help a London Child", in August 1991.

[citation needed] 1976 saw the launch of the Flying Eye, a traffic-spotting light aircraft, which could see traffic congestion below on the streets of Central London.

Although it would only broadcast for three years, the Mike Allen hip hop show was influential during this time to bring the new music culture to the UK.

[13] In 1987, a new programme controller Richard Park, oversaw an overhaul of Capital's output from a full-service station to a music-intensive CHR format, which proved highly successful.

In December 2005, Chris Brooks moved from weekend breakfast to host 1–4 in the afternoon and Richard Bacon presenting The Go Home Show between 4–7.

On 9 January 2006, the station was relaunched under its original name Capital Radio, with a modified line-up of presenters and a slightly tweaked music format.

[16] RAJAR figures for Q2 2007 showed Capital 95.8 slipping to fourth place in the London local radio market ratings, recording the lowest-ever share of the London audience and for the first time falling behind Emap-owned station Magic and Heart, now owned by Global.

[19][20] On 12 May 2011 it was announced that 95.8 Capital remained the most-listened-to commercial radio station in London, on both share and reach, beating rival Magic 105.4.

[22] As of April 2019, only one programme - weekday drivetime - remains local, with all other programming coming from the national Capital network.