Capital Radio, the flagship of 1980s music on the airwaves, will stop operating on April 1 and it's no April Fool's joke.

The board of directors of Mediacoop Ltd, which owned Capital Radio, said yesterday it was transferring the licence to new operators.

Mediacoop managing director John Mallia would not give any details about the new owners.

"I cannot comment because of contractual obligations but the new owners will be issuing a statement in the coming days," Mr Mallia said when contacted.

However, sources said the new owners were a group of individuals already involved on a personal basis in the media business. It is unclear whether the station will retain its present identity.

Capital Radio had been on air for the past 11 years, crafting its own niche in the cluttered radio market by positioning itself as the radio station for the generation of the 1980s. It was also the only radio station to be run by a cooperative.

"It was a difficult decision to make because the radio was a labour of love for all of us at Mediacoop. It was one of those decisions where your heart is telling you one thing and your head another. But at the end of the day we had to make a commercial decision," Mr Mallia said.

He insisted the station was doing well but the offer was a "good one".

"In the best interest of the cooperative we felt that we should not decline the offer," he said.

Most of the full-timers at the station were members of the cooperative and will continue working with it. Mediacoop is expected to focus on its work in marketing and other media productions.

This will be the second time that Capital Radio had its licence transferred to new owners. Originally, the licence was awarded to Alternattiva Demokratika, which subsequently transferred it to Mediacoop.