Q3 RAJAR – Local Commercial Stations
Commercial radio is claiming to have hit its highest ever hours per listener for the summer period, up to 15.1 in these RAJAR figures. Radio listening as a whole, was also up for this quarter by 4%.
In the local commercial market London’s Capital 95.8 has turned in strong results with its market-leading share of listening up by 2.1% points to 16.6%. Capital Gold London, however, did not fair so well: its listening share fell back by 1.5% points to 4.4% year on year. Capital, however, prefers to look at the picture quarter on quarter where Gold’s weekly reach is up by 160,000 to 1.3 million. Even quarter on quarter, however, the station’s share is down 0.6% points.
Local Commercial Q3 Weekly Reach (000s) YoY Comparisons
| Station | Q3 1997 | Q3 1998 | Actual Change | % Change |
| 963/972 AM Liberty | 63 | 83 | 20 | 31.7 |
| Spectrum Radio on 558 AM | 104 | 129 | 25 | 24 |
| Heart 106.2 FM | 1,014 | 1,227 | 213 | 21 |
| Melody 105.4FM | 943 | 1,126 | 183 | 19.4 |
| Capital Gold London | 1,216 | 1,334 | 118 | 9.7 |
| Capital 95.8 FM | 2,486 | 2,716 | 230 | 9.3 |
| Sunrise Radio (London) | 268 | 287 | 19 | 7.1 |
| Premier Christian Radio | 128 | 136 | 8 | 6.3 |
| Kiss 100 FM | 818 | 852 | 34 | 4.2 |
| Virgin 105.8 FM London | 876 | 911 | 35 | 4 |
| Jazz FM 102.2 | 445 | 427 | -18 | -4 |
| News Direct 97.3FM | 406 | 367 | -39 | -9.6 |
| RTL Country 1035 AM | 208 | 160 | -48 | -23.1 |
| LBC 1152 AM | 499 | 382 | -117 | -23.4 |
News Direct and LBC 1152 AM were amongst the only four stations to report a loss in weekly reach during this period – the latter lost 117,000 listeners during the summer. LBC also dropped 1.2% points in share of listening, taking its share to 2.7%. Melody FM’s audience grew by 183,000 and its share was up by 0.8% points. Heart showed strong growth with weekly reach rising by 213,000 to 1.2 million.
Local Commercial Q3 1998 Share of Listening YoY % Point Change
| Station | Q3 1997 | Q3 1998 | % Point Change |
| 963/972 AM Liberty | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 |
| Capital 95.8 FM | 14.5 | 16.6 | 2.1 |
| Capital Gold London | 5.9 | 4.4 | -1.5 |
| Heart 106.2 FM | 5 | 5.7 | 0.7 |
| Jazz FM 102.2 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.5 |
| Kiss 100 FM | 3.1 | 3 | -0.1 |
| LBC 1152 AM | 3.9 | 2.7 | -1.2 |
| Melody 105.4FM | 4.4 | 5.2 | 0.8 |
| News Direct 97.3FM | 0.9 | 0.6 | -0.3 |
| Premier Christian Radio | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
| RTL Country 1035 AM | 1.1 | 0.5 | -0.6 |
| Spectrum Radio 558 AM | 0.6 | 0.3 | -0.3 |
| Sunrise Radio (London) | 1.8 | 2 | 0.2 |
| Virgin 105.8 FM London | 3.9 | 3.9 | 0 |
| Xfm | n/a | 0.9 | n/a |
Xfm, since being bought by Capital in July, has seen its weekly reach drop back from 329,000 listeners in Q2 to 283,000 this time. Percentage of weekly reach, however, has held steady at 3.0%. The Capital group was recently subjected to a £4,000 fine by the Radio Authority for letting Xfm wander away from its Promise of Performance (see Capital Radio Fined By RA For Xfm Output).
Sally Oldham, managing director at Capital, said of Xfm: “We are encouraged that Xfm has a solid and loyal listener ship on which to build for the future. The station will continue to evolve and we are not anticipating a sudden surge in listening, but rather a steady growth over a period of time. We remain committed to developing Xfm into a station at the forefront of promoting new music and talent across London.”
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