GCap buys website to mix with radio

GCap has bought social network site welovelocal.com in a move to develop its online services.

The radio group paid £450,000 for the service which lists businesses and encourages readers to write reviews. GCap will pay a further £150,000 in stages as the deal is completed.

GCap said it would use the site to support its radio network and vice versa. The move comes after chief executive Fru Hazlitt prioritised online development in her strategy to improve the company's performance.

She said of the deal: "We will integrate its listings and reviews into our Capital 95.8 and One Network sites, enhance and support the on-air experience across these stations and develop welovelocal.com into the leading user generated reviews site in the UK.

"This will allow us to build commercially attractive online communities of interest, to exploit our local presence and access new classified revenue streams."

Welovelocal.com co-founder Duncan Jennings said: "This is the first deal of its kind to really leverage an established media company's audience in order to grow a market leading user-generated community website."