Poll Launches On The Future Of Commercial Radio

People say they listen to the radio more often than they did two years ago, according to the early findings of the biggest ever poll on the future of the industry.

The Big Listen survey is being carried out by YouGov on behalf of RadioCentre, the body which represents UK Commercial Radio.

Special programming is encouraging listeners to take part at www.thebiglisten.com and on Sunday 17 June listeners will have the chance to tune in and add their voice to a live debate on 60 Commercial Radio stations across the country.

Produced by LBC, the two hour show on Sunday night will be hosted by Toby Anstis and will look at the development of Commercial Radio over the last 33 years and analyse how it will develop in the digital world of the future.

There will be debate with guests including Tony Blackburn, Richard Park, Scott Mills, Simon Bates and Nick Ferrari. The Big Debate will air from 10pm to midnight and James Whale will host a similar show at the same time on Talk Sport and Talk 107 (in Edinburgh).

Andrew Harrison, RadioCentre chief executive, said: “We’ve had a fantastic response so far in our nationwide poll of listeners, which goes to show how important radio is in our society. This is a critical time for the future of radio and it’s great to see so many people getting involved in the debate.

“The first stage survey gives a good indication of how much people value radio – we look forward to seeing the results of the online poll, which will tell us just how the listeners feel about the changes that are happening in the industry today.”

At the last RAJARs, all commercial radio saw its share of listening decrease by 0.5 percentage points year on year to leave it with a 42.1% share of listening in Q1 2007 (see BBC Overall Extends Share Of Listening And Reach).

Its weekly reach was up 2.5% year on year to around 31,200, whilst its average hours per listener declined by around 4.7% year on year to just over 14 hours.

RadioCentre: www.radiocentre.org