Wireless Group Sees H1 Revenues Rise 1.4%
Radio airtime revenues at the Wireless Group (TWG) rose by 1.4% in the six months to June, despite the fact that last year enjoyed a boost to spend during the World Cup competition.
TWG acquired the station – then Talk Radio – in November 1998 when it was losing £11 million a year, MacKenzie noted. In the first half of this year it moved into operating profit, after reporting an operating loss of £550,000 for the same period last year.
MacKenzie also flagged up the success of the station in an electronic audience measurement survey carried out on behalf of TWG by GfK Media. In this survey TalkSport was found to be the country’s most popular national commercial station, with a weekly reach of 8 million adult listeners.
However, under the official RAJAR survey TalkSport only reaches around 2.3 million people per week. After testing two electronic measurement surveys itself, RAJAR has this week decided not to pursue an electronic system for the time being.
Looking ahead, MacKenzie believes that TalkSport’s success could be a precursor to the growing popularity of speech radio in the UK.
“It is clear in terms of both profitability and audience that the station has turned the corner and that is a significant milestone for the radio industry as a whole, marking the first time that commercial speech as a format has been profitable in this country, bringing it into line for the first time with the radio industry in the US and Australia,” he said.
TWG has applied for the FM licence in the West Midlands with plans for a similar speech-based format there. “This could be the start of a long-overdue expansion of populist, commercial speech radio stations that will successfully challenge the monopoly of the BBC,” enthused MacKenzie.
Shares in TWG were unchanged at 60.5p by midday today.
