GCap Media, Britain’s biggest commercial radio group, is poised to announce the appointment of Richard Eyre as its next chairman, returning him to the Capital Radio business that he ran a decade ago.

The Times has learnt that Mr Eyre, who led Capital from 1991 to 1997, was due to be appointed on Thursday, replacing the long-serving Peter Cawdron — although the announcement may be brought forward.

Mr Eyre will be non-executive, leaving the running of the business to the chief executive, Ralph Bernard, who is fighting to show that the GWR-Capital Radio merger that created GCap is delivering value.

After leaving Capital, Mr Eyre, 52, spent three years as chief executive of ITV’s network centre, followed by a brief spell as director of strategy and content at Pearson.

He sits on the board of Guardian Media Group, but is almost certain to step down because of a possible conflict of interest. GMG owns Smooth FM and this radio interest means that sitting on the board of both GMG and GCap Media would be impossible.

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