He would also like to provide more ambitious programmes such as music documentaries for Planet Rock, which at the moment is largely broadcasting pre-recorded material designed to keep the transmitters warm. Capital has Life, a national digital station that could provide "a brilliant opportunity to match Radio 2".For all his admiration of Abramsky, the GWR chairman is in an almost permanent rage at what he believes is the unfair encroachment of Radio 2 into the audiences of the commercial sector while the corporation neglects its older listeners "The BBC is a brilliant institution. As more and more households get digital radios, and spending on content increases, it may be that traditional hostilities will resume.The GWR executive believes that, with more investment, his national pop digital station, Core, could go head-to-head with Radio 1 for the 15 to 24-year-old market. By 2008, industry forecasts say, a total of 13 million digital radios will have been bought."Anyone who understands radio knows we are in a new phase now which is going to be the third golden age of radio," says Bernard, who has been working closely with Jenny Abramsky, the BBC's director of radio, on the development of digital radio "We, the industry, have built the infrastructure We are now getting the sets in the market The building blocks are in place. And I know you can say this is arse-about-face, but the last thing is content."Until now, the BBC and the commercial sector have needed each other to establish the digital market. His office is stacked with boxes containing digital sets being sent out as Christmas presents. In two years, 4.5 million homes are expected to have digital radios, offering CD quality and interference-free sound as well as additional stations.

All the industry research suggests that, by the end of this year, a total of more than more than a million digital radios will have been sold. A digital radio for just is on sale for just £49 at branches of one of the big supermarkets.Bernard is in the process of adding to the numbers available. "I am executive chairman because I am full time and I take responsibility for the development of the strategy, particularly of the group but also for the development of digital," says Bernard.The GWR chairman is like a dog with two tails over the current speed of development of digital radio. Bernard has agreed that Mansfield's expertise in the commercial and selling areas is greater, and has promised not to interfere.David Mansfield will run the company as chief executive, with Bernard as chairman. He may be greying but the 51-year-old remains impressively slim as a result of regular five-a-side football matches with much younger opponents, and equally regular marathon runs.

He was in the middle of the Great North Run and took conference calls on his mobile when news leaked of the planned merger with Capital.The turmoil in ITV after its merger still looms large, more than a year after it happened. Investors moved against Michael Green, the former chairman of Carlton, who was the prospective chairman of the merged group.To avoid any chance of a similar scenario, the two executives of GWR and Carlton have met many times informally in a London flat with the former Hambros merchant banker Nigel Pantling, now a consultant, to ask the tough questions. We were absolutely, acutely conscious of what happened in ITV and we knew we had to avoid that."The GWR chairman, who has long since lost his Zapata moustache, is not at all large himself. What exactly was Bernard's role in the new company going to be, and where would the line be drawn between that and the responsibilities of David Mansfield, the group chief executive of Capital?Bernard explains "The one thing ... we both agreed on was that unless we sorted out [the division of responsibilities] there was no deal. There is little growth in its businesses - making car accessories such as hands-free mobile kits and selling insurance for the replacement of those items - so it is searching for more profitable and exciting opportunities.Today it makes a start, announcing the acquisition for £1.7m of a 25 per cent stake in 21st Century Crime Prevention, which installs CCTV cameras in buses.

To pay for it, and to fill up a war chest for further deals, Avanti is raising more than £2m at 175p, a discount of 10 per cent to Friday's closing price.Anker debutNew today: Anker, a software company whose systems are used in electronic point-of-sale hardware (that's tills to you) helps retailers such as Harrods collect data on what is selling well and allows them to keep an eye on stock levels, among many other useful bits of information. Anker has raised £31.5m at 150p per share, valuing the company at £62m.Toad mulls optionsToad is in a hole, having warned investors last month that it would miss profit forecasts. Floated in July, the company is about to make its first acquisition, a little business whose customers include shopping centres.Although the two sides are still haggling over price, a deal could be signed this week. Uruguay Mineral Exploration is one such company, which says it ought not to need to return to shareholders for additional cash.In October it began gold mining at one project in the north of Uruguay where the costs of extraction are about $200 per ounce, compared with a gold price currently above $440 and likely to remain high because of the weak dollar. WH Ireland had abortive takeover talks in the autumn, but its shares continue to trade close to a four-year high in anticipation of further strong trading news.Uruguay gainsThe most robust of the recent mining sector listings are those companies which plan to use cash flows from an existing extraction project to fund racier exploration. This should fund work looking for gold, zinc and tin within a portfolio of other mining licenses across the South American country.Uruguay Mineral's progress on the London market (it transferred from Vancouver last week) will be driven by the news from those exploration projects, of which there will be a steady flow next year.Avanti advanceAvanti Screenmedia puts television screens in pubs and shops to entertain and advertise to the customers.