Q4 RAJAR – London Stations
The heat of battle in London, intensified by the launch of XFM and the Chris Evans owned Virgin FM, saw Heart FM and Kiss 100 take the honours. In terms of increasing weekly reach (up 23.1% and 16.4% year on year respectively), but more especially share of listening, these two stations excelled amidst the growing competition. Heart’s market share is now 5.1% up from 3.7%, whilst Kiss gets a 1% point change, up to 3.5% from this time last year. News and chat biased stations obviously benefitted in the most unfortunate of circumstances, following the demise of Princess Diana. News Direct FM, LBC and Liberty all saw significantly improved results.
London Stations RAJAR Q4 Share of Listening Comparisons
| Station | Q4 1996 | Q4 1997 | % Point Change |
| 963 Liberty | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Capital 95.8 FM | 15.7 | 16.4 | 0.7 |
| Capital Gold 1548 AM | 5.1 | 4.8 | -0.3 |
| Choice FM (London) | 3.2 | 2 | -1.2 |
| Heart 106.2 FM | 3.7 | 5.1 | 1.4 |
| Jazz FM 102.2 | 1.2 | 0.7 | -0.5 |
| Kiss 100 FM | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1 |
| LBC 1152 AM | 2.9 | 3 | 0.1 |
| Melody 105.4FM | 4.9 | 4.8 | -0.1 |
| News Direct 97.3FM | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.3 |
| Premier Christian Radio | 1 | ||
| RTL Country 1035 AM | 1.4 | 0.8 | -0.6 |
| Spectrum Radio on 558 AM | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| Sunrise Radio (London) | 2.5 | 2.2 | -0.3 |
| Virgin 105.8 FM London | 3.5 | 3.2 | -0.3 |
| XFM | 0.7 |
Capital Radio FM confirmed its position as London’s dominant force with a 0.7% increase in its share from Q4 1996, although it suffered a slight decrease in weekly reach. The more specialist stations, meanwhile, saw losses in their listenership with Jazz FM, Choice FM and RTL Country 1035 AM suffering. Spectrum Radio AM had encouraging results – up in both share and weekly reach.
London Stations RAJAR Q4 Weekly Reach Comparisons (000s)
| Station | Q4 1996 | Q4 1997 |
| 963 Liberty | 98 | 140 |
| Capital 95.8 FM | 2,839 | 2,810 |
| Capital Gold 1548 AM | 1,273 | 1,247 |
| Choice FM (London) | 242 | 204 |
| Heart 106.2 FM | 948 | 1,167 |
| Jazz FM 102.2 | 510 | 437 |
| Kiss 100 FM | 817 | 951 |
| LBC 1152 AM | 465 | 504 |
| Melody 105.4FM | 914 | 956 |
| News Direct 97.3FM | 297 | 441 |
| Premier Christian Radio | 192 | |
| RTL Country 1035 AM | 264 | 184 |
| Spectrum Radio on 558 AM | 78 | 100 |
| Sunrise Radio (London) | 346 | 315 |
| Virgin 105.8 FM London | 846 | 876 |
| XFM | 234 |
XFM made a respectable debut considering its launch was hampered by the fact it coincided with Princess Di’s death and the resultant media frenzy, meaning it gained little exposure during this period. Despite the lack of awareness about the station’s existence it gained a reach of 234,000. Virgin FM had mixed results with the station recording a slight decrease in share of listening but a more significant increase of 3.5% to take it’s weekly reach to 876,000.
The Radio database can be accessed by selecting “Radio” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.