The recent Rajar data for Q4 1995 shows that among the ILR stations, the North East regional licence Century Radio is doing particularly well; the station’s total hours have increased by 87.8%, from 1,447,000 in Q4 1994 to 2,718,000 in Q4 1995 and its weekly reach has increased by 3% points from 11% (241,000) to 14% (299,000). Dundee-based Radio Tay-FM however is losing listeners; weekly reach in Q4 1994 was 44% (190,000) but in the last quarter it was 28% (123,000). Its total hours have also dropped from 2,058,000 to 1,535,000, a loss of 25%.
Another station which did not do so well was Mercury Extra AM: its weekly reach in Q4 1994 was 8% (73,000) compared to 3% (11,000) in the last quarter and its share of listening dropped from 1.9% to 0.2%. Plymouth Sound AM lost 4% of its listeners, dropping from a weekly reach of 16% (52,000) to 12% (40,000) and experienced an 18.5% slide in total hours from 389,000 to 317,000.
Preston-based Red Rose Rock radio did well in the last quarter, showing an increase of 5% pts in weekly reach, up from 28% (298,000) to 33% (356,000). The station’s share of listening increased by 3.4% points from 17.4% to 20.8%. Reading based 2-Ten FM/Classic Gold showed a very similar pattern of growth, with its weekly reach rising by 6% points from 29% (229,000) to 35% (224,000) and its share of listening increasing by 2.2% points from 18.2% to 20.4%.
Stations reporting for the first time include County Sound radio broadcasting in Guildford with a 21% weekly reach (122,000); Slough-based Star FM reaching 12% (47,000); and Sun City with a weekly reach of 29% (70,000) in Sunderland.
