Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysalis Radio, GCap Media, and GMG Radio. Global owns and operates seven core radio brands, all employing a national network strategy, including Capital, Heart, Smooth, Radio X, Gold, Classic FM, and LBC.
Global is also one of the leading out-of-home advertising (OOH) companies in the UK.
History Global was founded by Ashley Tabor-King in 2007, with financial backing from his father Michael Tabor, and purchased Chrysalis Radio, taking control of the radio brands Heart, Galaxy, LBC, and The Arrow. A year later, on 31 October 2008, Global Radio officially took control of GCap Media and its brands. The GCap Media name was dropped at this time. The GCap purchase gave Global the network of FM stations which GCap had operated as The One Network (many of which are now part of the Heart or Capital networks), plus Classic FM, XFM (now Radio X), Choice FM, Gold, and Chill.
Following the acquisition of GCap Media, Global was required to sell off a number of stations in the Midlands. The stations were bought by Orion Media, headed by Phil Riley, former Chief Executive of Chrysalis Radio.
Heritage local radio stations in areas not already served by Heart FM were gradually rebranded and incorporated into a larger Heart Network that covers most of southern England and parts of North Wales – the stations which would become Heart in the North were acquired later. The remaining stations briefly formed The Hit Music Network before being merged with the Galaxy network and Capital London into the Capital network.
On 25 June 2012, Global acquired GMG Radio for a sum thought to be between £50 and £70 million; it continued to be run separately while a regulatory review was conducted. In May 2013, the Competition Commission ruled that Global would be required to sell seven stations across the network.
The company initially offered to dispose of three stations, Real XS in Manchester and Scotland, and Gold in the East Midlands, to try to prevent the sale of the seven stations mentioned in the ruling. When this failed, Global Radio launched an appeal against the decision.
The appeal was based on three grounds: (a) Real and Smooth as alternatives to the Greater Manchester stations, (b) reliance on "significant adverse effects" in the North-West (c) Global's remedy proposal (see above). The appeal was rejected on all grounds, requiring the company to sell the seven stations it was ordered to in the original judgement. Global said it was disappointed with the decision and was considering it further.
On 6 February 2014, it was announced that a number of stations would be sold to the Irish broadcaster Communicorp, with programming to be supplied by Global under contract. The deal involved control of Smooth Radio in the North East, the North West and the West Midlands, of Capital in South Wales and Scotland, of Real Radio in North Wales and Yorkshire, and of Real XS in Manchester. Most stayed under their previous brands, though the Real stations were renamed Heart and carried the Heart network off-peak programming as provided by Global. Global retained control of all other stations, relaunching the existing Heart North West and Wales as Capital to allow Real North Wales (under Communicorp) to take on the Heart affiliation. Real XS in Paisley was retained by Global and joined the XFM network; Real XS in Manchester is still a separate station owned by Communicorp as XS Manchester. Most of the Gold AM stations switched to taking the Smooth London/Network output; all but one no longer broadcasts on that platform.
It was announced in June 2015 that Darren Singer would be appointed as Global's chief financial officer.
In February 2017, Global changed its company name from 'This is Global Limited' to 'Global Media & Entertainment Limited'. It also changed all its social media handles from 'thisisglobal' to 'global' and its web domain to global.com. Global also combined the three sub-companies, Global Radio, Global Entertainment and Global Television into just 'Global'.
On 1 March 2018, Global launched a brand new awards show called The Global Awards celebrating the stars of music, news & entertainment across genres in the UK and from around the world. It took place at London's Eventim Apollo.
In September 2018, Global announced the acquisition of two outdoor advertising companies, Primesight and Outdoor Plus, creating Global's Outdoor Division. The acquisitions were reported to be worth £200 million.
On 19 September 2018, rival commercial radio group Bauer announced that they were pulling out of the biggest networked commercial radio chart show, The Official Vodafone Big Top 40, produced by Global's Capital. The move led to Global discontinuing the Sunday evening show for all stations outside of their own Heart and Capital networks, on which the show continues to air.
On 26 February 2019, Global Radio announced plans to replace the regional breakfast shows on Capital and Heart with a single national breakfast show for each network, whilst Smooth kept its regional breakfast shows, instead turning its drive time show national. Capital's new breakfast show launched in April with Roman Kemp, Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden launched in June, and Smooth Drivetime with Angie Grieves launched in September.
In September 2019, it was announced that Quidem, the owners of Banbury Sound, Rugby FM and Touch FM, had entered into a brand-licensing agreement with Global Radio. This change saw the Quidem stations rebrand under the Global brands.Radio Today - Quidem enters brand licensing agreement with Global, 02 September 2019 At the beginning of October, Ofcom opened a consultation following Quidem's request for its six stations to make significant changes to their formats.OfCom - Banbury Sound, Rugby FM and Touch FM Requests to change Format, 02 October 2019
On 20 December 2021, it was announced that Global has acquired the UK podcast hosting, distribution and monetisation startup, Captivate. Founders Mark Asquith and Kieran McKeefery subsequently joined the Global team in order to continue to grow Global's presence in the digital audio and podcasting space.Global acquires podcast hosting and monetization platform Captivate, 20 December 2021
On 22 February 2022, Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel announced they were joining Global to launch a new podcast., 22 February 2022 On 30 August 2022, The News Agents launched as a daily podcast presented by Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and Lewis Goodall. Episodes are released every weekday afternoon. On 26 May 2023, it was announced that a weekly US version of the podcast would launch on 20 June. The News Agents USA is hosted by Maitlis and Sopel. On 29 September 2023, Global announced a further spin-off podcast, The News Agents Investigates, would launch on 1 October and be presented by Goodall.
In March 2024, Simon Pitts was appointed Group Chief Executive of Global Media. He started the role in early 2025.
In the first week of September 2024, Global announced that they would introduce an additional twelve radio stations, via a week long advertisement campaign on their social media pages. Additional spin-off stations of Heart, Capital, Radio X and Classic FM were introduced on the 12 September 2024. This brings the total number of stations operated by Global up to 33.
In October 2025, it was announced that Global had acquired The Fellas Studios, whilst simultaneously launching Global Studios.
In January 2026, it was announced that Global had acquired a majority stake in The Overlap, a sports media group founded by Gary Neville. The acquisition formed part of a partnership to develop a multi-format sports media network, with Global providing distribution, commercial, and operational support. In May, Global was announced as a sponsor of McLaren's Formula 1 and Hypercar teams.
Radio stations
Capital
The Capital network consists of eleven contemporary hit stations which are broadcast in numerous areas of England, Wales and central Scotland, alongside a digital UK-wide version. On 3 January 2011, Capital London, The Hit Music Network, and the Galaxy network joined the Capital radio network; two former Heart stations became Capital in May 2014. Local news hours were extended as part of the agreement to increase programme-sharing, and advertising remains locally sold. Programming outside local hours is broadcast from Capital's network studios in Leicester Square, London. Unlike its competitor BBC Radio 1, Capital primarily plays dance-pop music and rarely plays rock or alternative music.
Capital runs two major multi-artist events each year, Capital's Summertime Ball and Capital's Jingle Bell Ball.
Capital Dance
Capital Dance is a national digital radio station, operating as a spin-off from the main Capital station. Like its sister stations, the station broadcasts from Leicester Square in London. The station predominantly plays contemporary electronic dance music.
Capital XTRA
Capital XTRA is an urban music station. Originally named Choice FM, it was acquired by Global in 2010; it was marketed as part of the Galaxy network, but retained its own separate branding and programming. On 7 October 2013, Choice FM was rebranded as Capital XTRA and made available nationally via DAB radio.
Capital Xtra Reloaded
Capital Xtra Reloaded is a digital radio station broadcasting from Birmingham. Its output consists primarily of hip-hop, dance, garage, R&B, and grime music from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.
Heart
Heart is a contemporary radio station which currently broadcasts in numerous areas of England, Wales and central Scotland, alongside a digital UK-wide version. The network began with a single regional station in the West Midlands, followed by a second station in London. The third station, Heart 106 in the East Midlands (previously Century 106) was sold to Orion Media and run as a franchise; it retained the Heart name until the start of 2011, when it was rebranded as Gem 106. Heart stations in Hertfordshire, North Wales, and Yorkshire are owned by Communicorp and uses the Heart name and format under licence from Global. Heart South Devon was partly owned by UKRD Group; all other Heart stations are wholly Global-owned.
In 2009, many of the heritage CHR stations which had formed part of the One Network were renamed Heart, as were Ocean and South Hams Radio (which were not part of the One Network). Real Radio stations were rebranded as Heart on 6 May 2014.
Heart has eight sister stations: Heart 70s, Heart 80s, Heart 90s, Heart 00s, Heart 10s, Heart Dance, Heart Love, and Heart Musicals.
On 11 April 2023, it was announced that Heart Scotland would reintroduce local breakfast, daytime and weekend shows as part of an expansion of Global's Scottish radio operations. This saw drive time presenters Des Clarke and Jennifer Reoch move to the breakfast time slot. Sister station Capital Scotland (owned and operated under a brand licence by Communicorp) has also reintroduced local programming.
Classic FM
Classic FM is a classical music station broadcast nationally on FM and DAB, as well as on Freesat, Sky, Freeview and Virgin Media. It is one of three Independent National Radio franchises, and the only one to broadcast on FM.
On 3 January 2024, it was announced that Dan Walker was joining Classic FM to host its breakfast show.
Smooth