Ralph Mitchell Bernard CBE (born 11 February 1953) [1] is a British journalist, and a former chief executive of commercial radio group GCap Media.
He attended Caterham High School in north-east London.
He started his career as a journalist at Sheffield's Radio Hallam in 1975, [2] before moving to Hereward Radio in Peterborough.
In 1982 he moved south to launch Wiltshire Radio as programme director, becoming managing director in 1983. [2] From here, he helped develop the GWR radio group which later merged with Capital Radio to form the biggest commercial radio company in the UK, GCap Media. He was chief executive of GWR Group PLC between 1987 and 2001, when he was appointed Executive Chairman. [2] GCap Media's portfolio includes Classic FM and London's Capital Radio.
He was appointed a Fellow of The Radio Academy in 1998. [3] He won the Sony Gold Award in 2000 for his contribution to the radio industry, [4] and was appointed a CBE for his services to broadcasting in 2002. [2] He left GCap in March 2008 to be replaced by Fru Hazlitt.
He is chair of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC), a partnership between the major broadcasters, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and academics who teach broadcast and multimedia journalism. [5]
He is married with four children and lives in Wiltshire. [4] He was awarded the CBE in the 2002 Birthday Honours.
Richard Sambrook is a British journalist, academic and a former BBC executive. He is Emeritus Professor in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. For 30 years, until February 2010, he was a BBC journalist and later, a news executive.
Ten-17 was an Independent Local Radio station, broadcast from studios at the Latton Bush Centre in Harlow. The station launched in May 1993 and served Harlow, East Herts and West Essex until its closure on 25 July 2010.
Heart 96.3 was an Independent Local Radio station serving Bristol and surrounding areas and broadcasting on 96.3 MHz in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. Launched in 1981 as Radio West, it was merged with neighbouring Wiltshire Radio and relaunched under the name GWR in 1985, retaining the name through several changes of ownership until rebranding in March 2009. Heart Bristol merged with sister stations in Somerset and Bath to form Heart West Country.
Heart Wiltshire was an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to north and west Wiltshire. The station was rebranded to Heart in March 2009 in line with Global Radio's rebranding of most of the One Network, which the station was part of. Its local competitors were Sam FM, BBC Wiltshire and community radio station, Swindon 105.5.
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group.
John Myers was a British radio executive, consultant and presenter. He was Chairman of the UK Radio Academy Awards, The Commercial Radio Awards and owner of Myers Media. Myers developed the Century Radio brand for Border Radio Holdings in the early 1990s, launching two more stations later in the decade. He presented programmes under the pseudonym "John Morgan". He then became Chief executive of GMG Radio, developing the Real Radio, Smooth Radio and Rock Radio brands and overseeing GMG Radio's acquisition of the Century network from GCap Media. He served as Chief executive of The Radio Academy from April 2011 until June 2012 and the founding Chairman of TeamRock, retiring in May 2016.
Smooth Chill is a British digital radio station dedicated to chill out, ambient and trip hop music. On 3 September 2019, Chill was rebranded as Smooth Chill to align it with the Smooth Radio brand. It is owned and operated by Global.
Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands on Monday 3 January 2011.
Stewart Peter Purvis CBE is a British broadcaster, broadcasting executive, author and academic.
Gold North Wales and Cheshire was a British Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Wrexham, Chester, Flintshire and some of the Wirral, and was part of the Gold radio network. It is the "sister" station to local FM station, Marcher Sound, launched by Marcher Radio Group in 1989. After a period of sales and takeovers which led to Gold being operated by a separate company to its FM sister station, both are now owned by Global Radio. It is broadcast from Mold Road, Gwersyllt, Wrexham, although most programming comes from London. Gold North Wales and Cheshire was replaced by Smooth Radio in March 2014.
The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting and threatened to remove one of their frequencies if simulcasting continued. The original DJs on the early incarnation of Capital Gold included Tony Blackburn, Kenny Everett and David Hamilton. The hiring of radio personalities to host networked shows continued to be a feature of the Capital Gold network as it grew.
Capital Life, also known as Life, was a digital radio station broadcasting across the UK on the Digital One network and streamed online. Capital Life was due to be available on DTV but never launched due to the closure of the station.
UBC Media Group was a production and content creation company which began as the Unique Broadcasting Company in 1989. In June 2014 the company merged with 7digital to form a global digital music and radio platform. The new company was called 7digital Group Plc.
Heart West Country was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network, broadcasting to Bristol and Somerset.
The Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) is an industry-led body offering accreditation to courses for aspiring journalists.
Ashley Daniel Tabor-King is a British businessman who is the founder and executive president of Global Media & Entertainment, the largest commercial radio group in Europe and one of the leading outdoor (OOH) advertising companies in the UK.
Allied Radio plc was a publicly listed radio company that operated, or held an interest in, several Independent Local Radio contractors in the UK during the 1990s.
John Norton Braithwaite Whitney, CBE was a British writer and producer who was involved in the introduction and development of commercial radio and television in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s. He held various posts such as Managing Director of Capital Radio, Director General of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), and Chairman of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). In addition he was involved with numerous charities such as Artsline, Stage One, and the Shakespeare Globe Trust, and in 2008 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to broadcasting and charity.
Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts in South West England from studios in Bristol.
Samir Shah, CBE, is a British television and radio executive. He has worked for London Weekend Television, the BBC, and is the chief executive of Juniper TV a British company. In 2021, he co-authored the UK government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report.