GWR was owned by Daily Mail and General Trust plc (majority share), various asset management firms, Sir Peter Michael, and other small shareholders.

[5] By 2008, it had four main syndicated programmes: a weekday mid-morning programme which started in 2008 hosted by Phillippa Collins (this show was only carried on a few stations, when taken over by Global radio, the show was rolled out to all stations), a week-nightly music and showbiz based programme, (formerly called 'Core Control' and then 'Music Control') (weekdays 7 pm to 10 pm) presented by Kam and Sally,[6] (Kam was replaced by Kevin Hughes), 'Late Night Love' (Sunday to Thursday 10pm to 1am) presented by Graham Torrington (later the show was replaced by 'the wind down' presented by Cat James), and Music On Demand (1am till Breakfast, 7 days a week) presented by Tony Wright (Now Celador Radio), then James Clayton and latterly Dan Wood (now Gem) and at weekends Andy Henly.

The two groups officially "tied the knot" on 9 May 2005, with GCap employees being given branded 'GCap' digital radios to commemorate the launch[citation needed].

Many market commentators felt that the savings brought about by cost cutting and elimination of duplicated departments across the company were far outweighed by large drops in the audience and advertising revenue across the newly formed group.

Over the following months, amid rumours of a GWR putsch, and continuing dissatisfaction from the City, a stream of executives from the former Capital Radio Group side of the business left the company, including David Mansfield himself.

In October 2005, GCap Media announced around 100 job losses and the sale of nine non-core radio stations, as part of a restructuring initiative.

By this time, over £300m had been wiped off the market capitalisation of GCap Media, and the group was frequently touted as a take-over target by City commentators.

Cost-cutting lay at the heart of Hazlitt's statement, including divesting GCap of its costly involvement in DAB – directly turning her back on the 'digital future' policy of her predecessor.

It was announced that GCap had sold its interest in Digital One to Arqiva, and that "non-core" DAB stations, Planet Rock and theJazz, would be closing by the end of March 2008.

The station theJazz ceased broadcasting as announced, but Planet Rock remained on air while negotiations took place with potential buyers, which were successfully concluded in June 2008.

[9] An improved offer from Global was finally accepted by GCap shareholders, resulting in the departure of the group's senior management.