MacKenzie Admits Interest In LBC Radio

According to a report in this morning’s MediaGuardian, MacKenzie said that he was “very interested in radio, and very, very interested in speech radio, ” adding: “LBC is not for sale, but if it were I would be jostling, fighting and knifing my way to the sale document.”

McKenzie has assets of £7 million from the £6.1 million proceeds of his 6.4% stake in the Wireless Group and a £800,000 payoff, however he has not yet made any approaches to Chrysalis or any company whose assets he might be interested in.

Ulster TV has had its bid for the Wireless Group (TWG) approved, after MacKenzie’s failed management buyout attempt. UTV made a bid for TWG group in April, offering £98.2 million for the group, equating to 91 pence in cash for each Wireless share (see UTV Offers £98.2 Million For Wireless).

LBC has seen it’s weekly reach fall by 23% over the past year, down from 697,000 to 537,000, with share falling from 3.4% to 2.0%. However, recent research from Chrysalis shows that speech radio listeners recall more advertising than music listeners do.

Speech radio was found to be more attention grabbing, with listeners 19% more likely to pay attention to advertising than on music stations (see Speech Radio Listeners Recall More Advertising Than Music).

Speech radio makes up 5.6% of UK commercial radio listening and, according to Chrysalis, suffers from a lack of understanding compared to the larger music radio sector.