Is Charles Allen the man who is going to save British commercial radio? Global’s willingness to spend £371 million on GCap, which is understood to include a sizeable chunk of his own money, indicates that the former ITV chief executive must have a big idea up his sleeve. This is coupled with his determination to get the deal done, with Global investors putting up two thirds of funding with the remainder coming from HBOS.

If Mr Allen is going to increase the value of the combined group to anywhere near the £711 million merger price of Capital Radio and GWR, his plan will need to be grand. We can only assume that Mr Allen and Ashley Tabor, the chief executive, would have won over their private Irish investors with a magical turnaround plan aimed at overcoming difficult advertising conditions and the strength of the BBC.

Aside from any likely merger synergies, a grand plan should focus on talent — after all, this is what has put the BBC a step ahead of its commercial competition. Without significant investment in the best talent — we are talking about the Chris Moyles and Jonathan Ross school of talent — commercial radio will find it difficult to play catch-up.

It is understood that branding is also a focus of Global’s plans, with speculation that the Heart brand could be exploited further with some rebranding across the One Network. However, Global will have to tread carefully. This is not like rebranding across ITV’s network — people have a very different relationship with their favourite radio brands than they do with television. Changing the name of some local or regional radio stations would probably be met with resistance in some cities.

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