The latest radio listening figures – the RAJARs – were released yesterday based on audience sizes for the last quarter of 2002. And they delivered more good news for Radio 2 and Classic FM, more bad news for Capital, and ammunition for BBC London against the Londumb Campaign.
But first, whatever the performance of individual stations, there was good news for the commercial radio sector with the BBC’s lead in overall audience share continuing to slip – from 7.3 in the second quarter of 2002, to 7.1% in the third, to 7% in the last quarter. Paul Brown, chief executive of the Commercial Radio Companies Association, told Media Guardian: "Today's RAJAR results prove unquestionably that Commercial Radio knows its local markets and knows it has to serve them. The locally relevant programming provided by our smaller stations has been rewarded with record audience levels, which have led to an increase in share overall for commercial radio this quarter." Of course the fact the commercial sector is getting bigger in terms of number of stations, and especially number of niche stations, probably makes the slow rise inevitable.
And anyway there was lots of good news for the Beeb. BBC Radio 2 maintains hold of its status as most popular radio station in the UK – the likes of Terry Wogan, Steve Wright and Jonathan Ross still pulling in the listeners. And fears that the departure of the legendary Jimmy Young might halt Radio 2’s rise seemed to be overcome. Although the latest figures do not cover the new show by Young’s full time replacement, Jeremy Vine, they did include a time when DJ Brian Hayes filled in for Young last Autumn – he actually added a quarter of a million listeners! On hearing the latest figures breakfast show host Wogan, whose show has an average of 7.8 million listeners each week, commented: "Don't dis' us man - it's a big-up from the coffin dodgers. Grey is the new black."
Also good news for Classic FM who not only saw their overall audience rise again, but are winning an increasingly big listenership among the 15-24 youth market – listening figures in that bracket were up 24%. Station bosses reckon their new schedule and new signings Katie Derham and 22 year-old Lisa Duncombe help the station appeal to younger listeners. "We are witnessing the birth of a new young generation of classical music fans," MD Roger Lewis told Media Guardian. "We have changed the schedule by 40% and are now reaching 6.7 million people with a 62.3% share of national commercial radio." The station hopes it can convert that young audience in particular into viewers of the brand’s new TV station – something of a classical MTV.
Mixed fortunes elsewhere in the BBC. BBC Radio 1’s overall audience figures fell once again (a decline at Radio 1, growth at Radio 2 now a regular trend), down 300,000 in the last quarter of 2002. However Radio 1 bosses will be stressing that they remain strong in their target 15-24 age group, and that the audience for Sara Cox’s breakfast show is growing again after a decline in the first half of 2002 – up 100,000 in the last quarter. Radio 1 bigwigs will be pointing out they were right to renew Cox’s contract even as listening figures fell.
BBC Radio 4 lost 114,000 listeners for the period but still holds the title of London's most listened to station. BBC Radio 5 Live were up again, with 437,000 listeners added in the last three months of the year.
Also good news for BBC London bosses who saw 124,000 new listeners tuning in – with a growth of audience share up to 3%. Needless to say station boss David Robey used the news to justify the station’s decision to go for talk shows over music: "These brilliant figures show the changes we have made to our schedule are now making a significant impact." The news will provide ammunition for BBC London bosses over the continued Londumb campaign which is lobbying the station to reinstate the quality specialist shows they axed last Autumn. Then again in such a competitive radio arena, where Chrysalis are investing heavily in its talk channels, and with Radio 4 and Radio 5 so London centric editorially, can BBC London justify itself on audience figures alone?
Most stations were able to find some positive spin to come from their listening figures – although Capital FM, already in the news because of its continued decline (see the article on www.cmuonline.co.uk), had to go on the defensive when it was revealed its breakfast show lost half a million listeners. But Capital MD David Mansfield seemed unfazed telling Media Guardian the latest figures were expected after "a year of significant disruption. All the disruption with Chris - would he stay or would he go? - unsettled the team here as well as the listeners.” To be fair, the fact that Capital was struggling was no secret – the real sign as to whether the station can turn its fortunes round will come in April’s RAJARS which will include audience figures for its new look breakfast show and its increasingly less pop-centric music policy. "We stand a very good chance of increasing our number of listeners in London. I hope to see some indication of this in the next Rajar figures," Mansfield says.
Other interesting result from latest RAJARS is that radio stations are increasingly being heard via TV, the internet and on digital radio sets, rather than by traditional analogue signals. A total of 16% of people have listened to the radio through their TV in the last three months and 12% have listened via the internet - up from 9.3% a year ago.
This is important news for digital only stations, and for local specialist stations who have a national reach via Sky and the web. This can be seen at Jazz FM who now have 300,000 listeners outside its actual broadcasting areas of London and Manchester.