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Capital Dance (styled Capital DANCE) is a national digital radio station in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Global and run as a spin-off from Capital. The station broadcasts from studios at Leicester Square in London alongside its siblings Capital, Capital Xtra and Capital Chill. The station predominantly plays contemporary and current electronic dance music. Capital Dance broadcasts nationally, transmitted on Digital One in the DAB+ format, and online. To enable the addition of the station to Digital One, several other Global stations on the platform, including Capital UK, Heart UK, Capital XTRA Reloaded, Gold and Heart 70s, saw a reduction in their broadcast bandwidth.
 | |
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Frequency | DAB: 11D |
| Branding | The UK's Official Dance Station |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Format | Electronic dance music |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Global |
| Capital Chill | |
| History | |
First air date | 1 October 2020 |
| Links | |
| Website | https://capitaldance.com |
As of September 2024, the station broadcast to a weekly audience of 1 million, according to RAJAR.[1]
History
editThe station's launch at 4 pm on 1 October 2020[2] followed both the establishment in 2019 of Global's Heart Dance as an older-skewing classic and contemporary dance and rhythmic music station, and the decision to reorientate Capital Xtra back towards predominantly playing Black and urban music genres. One week after the launch of Capital Dance, the BBC Radio 1 Dance stream was launched on BBC Sounds; the BBC's plans for this had been announced before Capital Dance was revealed.
Following the successful launch of the station, a breakfast show hosted by Rio Fredrika was added to the station schedule from 4 January 2021,[3] with former KISS presenter Charlie Powell joining the station as well.[4] Later, in July 2021, shows hosted by Karen Nyame (known on-air as KG) and Jess Bays were added to the schedule.[5]
As part of schedule changes across the whole of the Capital network in October 2022,[6] Matty Chiabi, Meg McHugh, and Zofia all joined the station as presenters. At the same time, Rio Fredrika left Capital Dance to present a weekday show on Capital UK, with Charlie Powell taking over the breakfast show slot.[6]
On 31 October 2023, Capital Dance announced that a new show would launch on Friday and Saturday nights called Club Capital Dance, hosted by two new presenters - Sam Lavery and Sarah Devine.[7] This replaced the Capital Weekender, which still airs on Capital UK.
References
edit- ^ "RAJAR". www.rajar.co.uk.
- ^ "Jammy move as Global poach MistaJam for Capital Dance". 1 Oct 2020. Retrieved 2 Oct 2020.
- ^ "Capital Dance introduces breakfast show with Rio Fredrika". December 3, 2020.
- ^ "Radio presenter Charlie Powell swaps KISS for Capital". January 1, 2021.
- ^ "Karen Nyame and Jess Bays join Capital Dance schedule". July 6, 2021.
- ^ a b "Big changes to Capital's schedule as Chris Stark joins Breakfast". October 6, 2022.
- ^ "Capital Dance Launches New Friday & Saturday Night Show 'Club Capital Dance'". October 31, 2023.