19August
Time for the quarterly RAJAR figures, this time covering the thirteen weeks to 30 June 2007. Of particular reference are the figures for the first quarter of 2007 and the equivalent last year.
In each case, the figures are a weighted average of the most recent quarter's figure, and the middle three of the previous five quarters. This gives a trend figure based on a central one-year sample drawn from the past eighteen months, much more stable than the individual quarters.
Share (in the regional tables) is the percentage of listeners who heard the station.
Hours is the average listening figure per person in the area, whether they listened or not.
Changes are on the last quarter's figures.
It should be noted that RAJAR has introduced a slightly different method of collecting data, and we're treating quarter-on-quarter comparisons with a slightly larger pinch of salt than usual.
National stations
Assumed national audience: 49,822,500.
| BBC national stations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Station | Audience | Hours |
| Radio 1 | 10527 (+145) | 2h07 (+3) |
| Radio 2 | 13145 (-34) | 3h19 (-2) |
| Radio 3 | 1935 (-47) | 0h15 (-1) |
| Radio 4 | 9395 (-2) | 2h26 (-3) |
| Radio 5 | 5911 (+26) | 0h55 |
| 6Music | 403 (+10) | 0h03 |
| BBC7 | 694 (+2) | 0h04 |
| World Service | 1296 (-20) | 0h08 (-1) |
| Asian Network | 458 (+7) | 0h04 |
| Analogue national stations | ||
| Station | Audience | Hours |
| Choice | 609 (-6) | 0h06 |
| Classic FM | 5797 (-81) | 0h53 (-1) |
| Galaxy | 2553 (+9) | 0h23 |
| Kiss | 2745 (+155) | 0h18 (+1) |
| LBC | 749 (+9) | 0h10 |
| Magic | 3166 (+71) | 0h28 (+1) |
| Smooth | 1678 (*) | 0h16 (*) |
| Sunrise | 492 (+29) | 0h04 |
| Talk Sport | 2274 (+30) | 0h23 |
| Virgin 1215 | 1710 (-56) | 0h12 |
| Xfm | 1131 (**) | 0h09 (**) |
| Digital national stations | ||
| Station | Audience | Hours |
| Arrow | 91 (+14) | 0h01 |
| Chill | 170 | 0h01 |
| Core | 120 (+5) | 0h00 |
| Heat | 298 (+48) | 0h01 |
| Hits | 1182 (+93) | 0h05 |
| Life | 83 (+8) | 0h01 (+1) |
| Oneword | 134 (+3) | 0h01 |
| Planet Rock | 459 (+19) | 0h03 |
| Q | 344 (+19) | 0h01 |
| Smash Hits | 787 (+46) | 0h03 |
Chill's figures are from five quarters only. Capital Disney closed in June, and did not report in this quarter.
* Smooth figures are not comparable with previous quarter, following the merger of Smooth London into Saga WM, EM, and Scotland from 07/Q2. Proper comparisons will not be available until 08/Q4, published in early 2009.
** Xfm figures are not comparable with the previous quarter, following the inclusion of Xfm Scotland from 06/Q1. Proper comparisons will be unavailable until 07/Q2 to Q3, published in October 2007.
No tremendous change in most of the the BBC nationals, only Radio 3's figures are particularly bad, the lowest recorded under any RAJAR methodology, down 6% on the last quarter. It should be noted that Classic FM suffered a similar drop in reach, suggesting a problem with the sample. The digital services continue to rise slowly, and Asian Network reverses most of its losses from the previous quarter.
In the commercial sector, Q and Smash Hits have recovered their losses from the end of last year. Life has increased its reach by two-thirds, albeit from a very low base. LBC's national rollout for 06/Q4 has topped out. Kiss is the real success story, reach is up a quarter and share by a third since last year. Virgin 1215 suffered a poor quarter, losing 12% of its reach and almost a tenth of its hours.
| BBC local stations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Station | Coverage | Share | Hours |
| CWR | 644 | 13.3% (-0.3) | 1h10 (-4) |
| Gloucestershire | 473 | 19.5% (+0.2) | 2h21 (-5) |
| Hereford and Worcester | 506 | 26.0% (+0.3) | 2h46 (-5) |
| Leicester | 761 | 21.5% (+0.1) | 2h02 (nc) |
| Oxford | 507 | 18.3% (+1.0) | 1h48 (+3) |
| Shropshire | 373 | 28.6% (-0.3) | 3h33 (-2) |
| WM | 2189 | 14.3% (-0.6) | 1h32 (-6) |
| Regional stations | |||
| Station | Coverage | Share | Hours |
| Heart (WM) | 3486 | 22.8% (-0.4) | 2h08 (-5) |
| Saga (WM) | 3486 | 12.1% (+0.2) | 1h31 (nc) |
| Kerrang | 3483 | 10.7% (+0.1) | 0h44 (-1) |
| Heart (EM) | 2042 | 16.0% (nc) | 1h18 (+1) |
| Saga (EM) | 2035 | 11.5% (-0.1) | 1h08 (-2) |
| Heritage local stations | |||
| Station | Coverage | Share | Hours |
| BRMB | 2028 | 22.7% (-1.3) | 1h40 (-10) |
| Beacon | 1289 | 20.1% (-0.2) | 1h38 (-4) |
| Mercia | 673 | 22.0% (-1.5) | 1h43 (-4) |
| Wyvern | 482 | 19.7% (-0.1) | 1h39 (+6) |
| FOX | 586 | 30.4% (-0.1) | 2h42 (-4) |
| Galaxy (WM) | 2032 | 17.0% (+0.7) | 1h24 (+4) |
| Small-scale local stations | |||
| Station | Coverage | Share | Hours |
| Wolf | 425 | 11.3% (-1.0) | 0h48 (-5) |
| Bear / Kix / Banbury | 623 | 14.4% (-1.1) | 1h20 (-6) |
| Fosseway | 146 | 17.5% (nc) | 1h19 (+2) |
| Centre | 236 | 13.7% (-1.1) | 1h17 (-2) |
| Rugby | 69 | 36.8% (-1.1) | 3h26 (-6) |
| Heritage AM local stations | |||
| Station | Coverage | Share | Hours |
| Xtra-AM | 2028 | 2.7% (-0.2) | 0h15 (-1) |
| Mercia AM | 673 | 3.8% (-0.5) | 0h25 (-2) |
| WABC | 1289 | 2.6% (-0.1) | 0h15 (nc) |
No particularly large movements in the BBC; Oxford's advance completes the recovery from a very poor final quarter, WM suffers as an excellent start to 2006 drops out of the average.
Saga's new owners, Smooth, have kept the stations on an even keel in terms of figures, though programming is less adventurous and the stations less fun to hear. Heart WM continues to lose 100,000 or so listeners per quarter.
It's clear where GWR/Capital put their priorities, and it's not in retaining listeners. The flagship station Capital has dropped to fourth in London, and BRMB has lost nearly half-a-million listeners in three years. Mercia has its second pisspoor quarter in three, without a reversion to the mean betweentimes. Galaxy has profited, and the standstill performances of Wyvern, Beacon, and FOX are worth of note. But if GWR/Capital is bad, CN has managed to turn a golden horse into a lame mare. At the end of 2005, The Bear had 25% share, and Kix 20%. Combined, the stations are now managing less than 15%. It's a similar story for Centre, re-named Touch at the end of last year, and losing listeners hand-over-fist since. The Wolf loses ground for the second quarter running, but this is from a rival city station that doesn't report to RAJAR. The AM stations remain a waste of space, and we may as well re-advertise the licenses now to see if anyone is interested, then switch 'em off.
