Capital Dance
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 and Capital Xtra. The station predominantly plays contemporary and current electronic dance music.
 | |
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Frequency | DAB: Digital One |
| Slogan | The UK's Official Dance Station |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Format | Electronic dance music |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Global |
| History | |
First air date | 1 October 2020 |
| Links | |
| Website | https://capitaldance.com |
The station launched on 1 October 2020 with only four hours notice. The station broadcasts its own presented programmes on Monday to Friday afternoons and Monday to Thursday evening; the on-air lineup is headed by DJ MistaJam, who had stepped down from his BBC Radio 1Xtra and BBC Radio 1 shows in September.[1] In addition to hosting on Capital Dance on weekdays, Mistajam also gained a weekend evening show on the main Capital network, which is simulcast on the Dance station. The other presenters on Capital Dance at launch were drawn from the network's Ministry of Sound-backed weekend late evening strand The Capital Weekender, with these shows also now being simulcast on Capital Dance.
The launch of Capital Dance follows the establishment in 2019 of Global's Heart Dance as an older-skewing classic and contemporary dance and rhythmic music station broadcast, like Capital Dance, on national DAB+ and online, and of Bauer Radio-owned internet-only Kiss subsidiary stream Kiss Dance, a similar contemporary dance format to that now also used by Capital Dance. Exactly one week (and two hours) after the launch of Capital Dance, BBC Radio 1 launched a BBC Radio 1 Dance stream on BBC Sounds - the BBC's plans for this had been announced prior to Capital Dance being revealed.
The establishment of Capital Dance as a discrete station follows the decision to reorientate Capital Xtra back towards predominantly playing Black and urban music genres: in the period following its national relaunch, Xtra had played a broad mix of electronic and rhythmic music (with the tagline Dance. Urban. UK.) but has since shifted back to a style more similar to its predecessor, Choice FM.
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.
Presenters
- MistaJam (Capital Dance Drivetime, Tue-Sat afternoons; The Capital Weekender: Friday & Saturday evening, simulcast with Capital)
- Coco Cole (Evenings, Monday-Thursday evening; The Capital Weekender: Friday & Saturday nights, simulcast with Capital)
- Rio Fredrika (Capital Dance Breakfast, Monday-Friday)
- Charlie Powell (Capital Dance Drivetime, Mon afternoons; The Capital Weekender: Friday & Saturday late nights, simulcast with Capital)