Commercial radio has at last achieved over 50% share of listening; the Q2 1995 Rajar figures show a 50.1% share. Commercial radio’s share has been steadily growing; two years ago its share was 38.9%; last year’s Q2 figure was 47.4%, and Q1 1995’s figure was 48.4%.
Commercial radio has increased its weekly reach to 28.6m listeners, or 61%; this is an additional 895,000 listeners over the last three months. Q4 1994 achieved a 60% reach, but this period is the first time commercial radio has achieved a reach of over 60% of the population.
The national commercial stations as a whole achieved a reach this quarter of 27%, or 12.5m listeners. This is an extra 1.7 million listeners on last year. National stations’ share of listening was 11.3%, up from 9.6% last year.
Classic FM added an extra 164,000 listeners compared to last year, up to 4.75m. This is an increase year on year of 3.6%, but in percentage terms this represents a 10% reach of the population – Classic has had a consistent 10% reach since Q1 1993. Virgin’s FM London-based station launched on 10 April, two weeks into this Rajar quarter; however, despite this Virgin 1215, the AM national station achieved an increase in weekly reach of 125,000 listeners on the same quarter last year to 3,532,000 (7%). Its share of listening has remained static, at 3.2%.
Talk Radio, the speech-based station which launched on 14 February this year has reported its first full Rajar period. It achieved an audience of 2,077,000 or 4%; this is an improvement on last quarter’s initial results which gave it a 3% share of audience and 0.9% share of listening. This time its share of listening has increased to 1.4%.
Atlantic 252 has also recorded an increase in audience, up to 4,634,000 (10% – level with Classic FM, as the two highest reaching commercial stations.) This is up by 420,000 listeners last year, or 9%. Atlantic’s share of listening has increased to 3.8% from 3.7% for the same period last year.
Weekly Reach
| Weekly Reach |
Q2’95 |
Q2’94 |
Q2’95 |
Q2’94 |
|
000s |
000s |
% |
% |
| All National Commercial |
12,529 |
10,825 |
27 |
23 |
| Atlantic 252 |
4,634 |
4,213 |
10 |
9 |
| Classic FM |
4,751 |
4,587 |
10 |
10 |
| Talk Radio UK |
2,077 |
– |
4 |
– |
| Virgin 1215 (AM Only) |
3,532 |
3,407 |
7 |
7 |
Share of Listening %
|
Q2’95 |
Q2’94 |
| All National Commercial |
11.3 |
9.6 |
| Atlantic 252 |
3.8 |
3.7 |
| Classic FM |
2.9 |
2.8 |
| Talk Radio UK |
1.4 |
– |
| Virgin 1215 (AM Only) |
3.2 |
3.2 |
