Feature: Commercial Radio Declines In Latest RAJAR Report

The latest radio audience figures, for the period to September 2000, show the BBC clawing back some share of listening after losing ground to the commercial sector in the previous survey in June. All BBC radio saw share rise 0.3% points to 51.4%. Commercial radio, meanwhile, dropped back by 0.5% points to 46.7%. This is against a backdrop of total radio’s weekly audience growing by 2.0% to 43.4 million and is the commercial sector’s lowest share and the BBC’s highest since the new RAJAR research methodology came into play in March 1999.

Most radio operators do not report a group-wide RAJAR figure so the best way to see how a group as a whole is performing is to look at how many of its stations improved or declined across the period. At first glance this analysis does not paint a more cheery picture for commercial, with all the major operators bar the Wireless Group showing more falling weekly reaches than improving. Two thirds of Emap Radio’s stations had a declining weekly reach period on period. The Magic network in the North had a poor quarter with Magic North West showing a 14.0% decline and North East dropping 5.3%. The average weekly audience for all Emap Radio was down 2.4% at 6.8 million.

GWR, the UK’s largest commercial radio operator with 40 stations on this RAJAR survey, saw 19 of them report falling reach. Its flagship station, the national Classic FM, saw weekly audiences down 2.4% to 6.1 million and share down 0.2% points to 4.2%. Year on year, however, Classic FM performed better, with share up 0.1% and reach up 7.7%.

Capital Radio saw 11 of its 21 stations turn in declining reach. Nevertheless, the gains must have been larger than the losses as the complete Capital group reported reach up 4.6% to 7.9 million and total hours up 6.1% to just fewer than 84,000. Capital acquired Border Radio in May, taking on its Century Network of stations, which saw reach decline by 2.4% period on period.

Kelvin MacKenzie’s Wireless Group is looking strong in this survey with 10 of its 16 stations reporting growing audiences. The group’s national Talk Sport held share steady at 1.4% and Swansea-based 96.4 The Wave did particularly well with weekly reach growing 19.2%. Big 1458 AM, on the other hand, had a very poor quarter with reach down 42.5% from 80,000 to 46,000. Big was only launched in March this year, replacing Lite AM on the 1458 frequency.