Q2 RAJAR Summary – Local Commercial Stations
RAJAR results for Q2 show that overall, radio listening has dropped by 0.2%, and there have been some notable movements in the weekly reach of local commercial stations.
Q2 RAJAR Local Commercial Stations Showing Greatest % Change YoY In Weekly Reach (000s)
| Station | Q2 1997 | Q2 1998 | % Change |
| Wyvern FM | 76 | 123 | 61.8 |
| 96.3 Q.FM | 78 | 118 | 51.3 |
| 1458 Lite AM | 87 | 122 | 40.2 |
| Classic Gold 774 | 67 | 92 | 37.3 |
| Galaxy 105 | 384 | 524 | 36.5 |
| Valleys Radio | 62 | 84 | 35.5 |
| 96.6 Oasis FM | 24 | 32 | 33.3 |
| Spectrum Radio on 558 AM | 83 | 110 | 32.5 |
| Classic Gold 954/1530 | 28 | 37 | 32.1 |
| Northants 96 | 125 | 163 | 30.4 |
| Classic Gold 828 | 108 | 78 | -27.8 |
| Pirate FM102 (East) | 75 | 54 | -28 |
| Classic Gold 1557 AM | 65 | 46 | -29.2 |
| Sunrise Radio (Yorkshire) | 56 | 39 | -30.4 |
| Classic Gold 1530/1278 | 141 | 98 | -30.5 |
| Signal Two | 108 | 75 | -30.6 |
| Fame 1521 AM | 16 | 11 | -31.3 |
| Classic Gold 792 (Bedford) | 64 | 42 | -34.4 |
| Belfast City Beat | 103 | 65 | -36.9 |
| RTL Country 1035 AM | 222 | 131 | -41 |
Wyvern FM tore ahead of all the other stations with its increase in its weekly reach of 61.8%, taking it up to 123,000 from 76,000 weekly listeners. 96.3 Q.FM also displayed a rather spectacular increase in weekly reach, growing by 51.3% to secure 118,000. As can be seen in the graph below, the increases are comparatively equal after the two leaders, with the smallest increase in the top ten by Northants 96, up 30.4% to 163,000. Contenders can be seen in the chart below.
The most impressive fall in weekly reach was suffered by RTL Country, which lost 41%, taking it down to 131,000. Belfast City Beat and Classic Gold also kissed goodbye to a substantial share of weekly reach, falling 36.9% and 34.4% respectively. The station to suffer the smallest loss in the bottom ten was Classic Gold, which fell 30.5% to 98,000.
Suffolk-based dance station, Vibe FM, is claiming to be the most successful regional radio station to launch under the Radio Authority’s direction over the last four years.
The station has achieved a 13% weekly reach in its first RAJAR, for Q2 1998; this represents an average weekly audience of 228,000.
Liverpool’s indie/dance station, Crash FM, also reported its first RAJAR figure yesterday. It managed an average weekly audience of 19,000, and a very low share of listening at only 0.2%. Kent-based TLR 107.2, which launched in January, returns its first weekly reach at 27,000 and share at 11.4%.
106 CTFM, 107.9 Dune FM, Huddersfield FM, and Surf 107 all reported their first RAJAR figures in this quarter.
The Radio database can be accessed by selecting “Radio” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.