Rajar Q2 1995 – ILR
This quarter, Q2 1995 is the second Rajar release which sees the five regional stations which launched last September report at the same time. Century FM, the regional station which covers the North East has the highest weekly reach of any of the five, at 14% this quarter. It also has the highest share of listening, 6.9%.
Galaxy, the South Western regional station fares next best in terms of weekly reach, 13%, with a 4.4% share of listening. Scot FM and Heart FM, based in the Midlands, come next, with a 12% and 11% weekly reach respectively. JFM, which transmits in the Granada area fares worst of all the regionals, with a weekly reach of 4%, and share of listening at 1.3%.
Among the new local stations reporting for the first time on Rajar, faring particularly well was Wessex FM, based in Weymouth which recorded an average weekly reach of 42%, and 25% share of listening; Stray FM, based in Harrogate had an average weekly reach of 30%, and 13.4% share of listening; Lantern Radio based in Barnstaple had an average weekly reach of 26% and a 16.8% share of listening. The Birmingham area has seen Choice FM launch in January, as well as the regional Heart FM. Choice FM has recorded an average weekly reach of 6%, with a 2.7% share of listening; Birmingham’s existing FM station BRMB recorded a rise in weekly reach compared to last year’s Q2 data, up from 26% to 30%; share of listening is up from 16.4% to 20.3%.
Manchester has seen the launch of Kiss 102 and Fortune Radio, as well as the regional JFM North West to rival its existing Piccadilly stations; Kiss 102 has recorded a weekly reach of 8% and a share of listening of 2.5%; Fortune has managed a weekly reach of 3% and a listening share of 1.2%. The Piccadilly stations as a total maintained a 42% weekly reach compared to last year. Piccadilly Gold increased reach from 18% to 20%; Piccadilly Key 103 FM, although its reach remained static compared to last year at 33%, has lost share of listening on last year, down from 23.3% to 22.7% share.
The Metro group of stations, just taken over by Emap, on the whole recorded gains in terms of reach and share on last year, with Metro Tyne Tees FM up to a 43% average weekly reach from 41% last year; TFM increased reach from 32% to 38%. Metro’s Yorkshire stations fared just as well, with Hallam FM increasing reach from 24% last year to 36% this year; its share of listening went up from 18.3% to 24%. The Pulse, based in Bradford and due to be sold by Emap because of ownership restrictions looks a good buy, with its weekly reach up to 26% this quarter compared to last year’s 18%; share of listening is up from 9.3% to 15.3% this year.
Chiltern, the other big group recently subject to a take-over battle, by GWR, has not had so much success with its stations; The Chiltern East stations have all recorded a decrease in weekly reach, the total being down from 30% reach last year to 26% this year. Among these is the newly launched Oasis, with an average weekly reach of 9%. Chiltern West Total reported a decrease in weekly reach to 17% from 35%, although its two Severn Sound stations did fare better than last year, both recording increases in weekly reach and share of listening.
GWR’s stations fared well, with GWR East FM Total up 14% points in terms of reach to 42%; Q103 FM, the Cambridge based station increased reach by 16% points to 35% and KLFM, based in Kings Lynn increased its reach by 17% points year on year to 37%.
Among those stations who fared worse compared to last year include the 2CR stations; the FM based Bournemouth station lost 6% points in reach to 24%, and the AM station lost 4% points; share of listening for both stations was also down. West Sound, based in Ayr, reported a decrease of 6% points in reach, to 34%, and Orchard FM, based in Taunton reported a weekly reach of 34%, down 5% points on last year.
Those stations who have a weekly reach of less than 10% include Scottish Q96, at 6% reach; the Bexleyheath based RTM decreased from 6% to 2% reach and Belfast’s 96.7 BCR dropped from 8% reach to 7%. Most of those below 10% are newly launched stations, plus the smaller London stations, which face greater competition.