Q4 RAJAR – National Stations
The weekly reach of All BBC stations dropped by 1.9% to 26.58 million while All Commercial’s reach increased by 1.9% to 28.408 million. Meanwhile, BBC’s Network Radio’s reach fell by 3.5% to 22.949 million.
Q4 1997 Weekly Reach (000’s) Comparisons
| Station | Q4 1996 | Q4 1997 | % Change |
| All BBC | 27,103 | 26,580 | -1.9 |
| All BBC Network Radio | 23,773 | 22,949 | -3.5 |
| All Commercial | 27,885 | 28,408 | 1.9 |
| All Local Commercial | 23,099 | 23,441 | 1.5 |
| All Radio | 40,197 | 40,228 | 0.1 |
| Atlantic 252 | 3,621 | 3,309 | -8.6 |
| BBC Local/Regional | 8,653 | 8,588 | -0.8 |
| BBC Radio 1 | 10,648 | 9,484 | -10.9 |
| BBC Radio 2 | 8,819 | 8,810 | -0.1 |
| BBC Radio 3 | 2,581 | 2,546 | -1.4 |
| BBC Radio 4 | 8,333 | 8,068 | -3.2 |
| BBC Radio 5 | 4,953 | 5,042 | 1.8 |
| Classic FM | 4,712 | 4,906 | 4.1 |
| Talk Radio | 2,338 | 2,351 | 0.6 |
| Virgin Radio AM (UK) | 2,924 | 3,310 | 13.2 |
Radio 1 experienced the greatest year on year fall in weekly reach, down 10.9% from 10.648 million to 9.484 million and its share of listening dropped 2.5% to 9.9%. All of the other BBC national stations (except BBC Radio 5) saw falls in reach of between 0.1% and 3.2% though Radio 2 and 3 managed small increases in listening to 13% and 1.3% respectively. Radio 5 posted a welcome rise in reach of 1.8% to 5 million.
Q4 1997 Weekly Reach (%) Comparisons
| Station | Q4 1996 | Q4 1997 | % Point Change |
| All BBC | 57 | 56 | -1 |
| All BBC Network Radio | 50 | 48 | -2 |
| All Commercial | 59 | 60 | 1 |
| All Local Commercial | 49 | 49 | 0 |
| All Radio | 85 | 85 | 0 |
| Atlantic 252 | 8 | 7 | -1 |
| BBC Local/Regional | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| BBC Radio 1 | 23 | 20 | -3 |
| BBC Radio 2 | 19 | 19 | 0 |
| BBC Radio 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| BBC Radio 4 | 18 | 17 | -1 |
| BBC Radio 5 | 10 | 11 | 1 |
| Classic FM | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Talk Radio | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Virgin Radio AM (UK) | 6 | 7 | 1 |
Atlantic 252 was the only national commercial station to see its reach fall, with a drop of 8.6% to 3.3 million, though Classic FM and Talk Radio experienced increases of 4.1% and 0.6% respectively.
Q4 1997 Share of Listening Comparisons
| Station | Q4 1996 | Q4 1997 | % Point Change |
| All BBC | 49.6 | 47.92 | -1.7 |
| All BBC Network Radio | 40.3 | 38.36 | -1.9 |
| All Commercial | 48.3 | 49.52 | 1.2 |
| All Local Commercial | 38.2 | 39.48 | 1.3 |
| Atlantic 252 | 2.7 | 2.06 | -0.6 |
| BBC Local/Regional | 9.3 | 9.56 | 0.3 |
| BBC Radio 1 | 12.4 | 9.93 | -2.5 |
| BBC Radio 2 | 12.8 | 13.01 | 0.2 |
| BBC Radio 3 | 1.2 | 1.38 | 0.2 |
| BBC Radio 4 | 10.7 | 10.43 | -0.3 |
| BBC Radio 5 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 0.5 |
| Classic FM | 3.2 | 3.43 | 0.2 |
| Talk Radio | 1.9 | 1.91 | 0 |
| Virgin Radio AM (UK) | 2.4 | 2.6 | 0.2 |
It was Virgin Radio AM however which was the real star of the bunch, with an increase in weekly reach of 13.2% to 3.31 million and a small increase in share of listening to 2.6%, no doubt at least in part due to the influence of Chris Evans.
The Radio database can be accessed by selecting “Radio” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.