Viva! Disappears From Rajar Scale
The latest Rajar results for Q1 1996 show that Viva!, London’s first radio station aimed at women has recorded too few listeners to appear on Rajar. Viva!, which launched in July last year has been beset with problems, including poor reception in some areas. Last year, Q4 1995, it managed a weekly reach of 1%, or 59,000 listeners, with a total of 171,000 hours. This quarter, listeners are down to 11,000, and total hours is down to just 10,000. In order not to appear, a station has to have a reach of less than 0.5%, and less than 0.1% share. The station was bought two weeks ago by Mohamed Fayed for £3 million.
Premier Radio, London’s Christian radio station lost 84,000 listeners compared to last quarter, with weekly reach dropping from 2% to 1% (109,000 listeners.) Sunrise Radio however, also had a bad quarter, with share of listening dropping from 3.9% to 0.8%. Total listeners fell from 418,000 to 290,000.
The majority of London listening has not shifted much since last quarter; Capital FM has kept its 31% weekly reach, with an extra 27,000 listeners to 3.091 million. Capital Gold has increased its weekly reach from 14% to 15%, up 97,000 listeners. Capital FM’s share of listening has fallen, however to 22.7%.
London News 97.3FM, LBC’s replacement, managed an improvement in performance; weekly reach increased by 10,000 listeners to 417,000, but the AM service did not fare so well, losing 44,000 listeners to 469,000 listeners. London News Total lost 1% point in terms of weekly reach, down to 8%.
Virgin FM London also recorded a drop in listening; from a 9% weekly reach to 8% this quarter. This is a loss of 133,000 listeners to 759,000. Share of listening is also down, from 4.0% to 3.4%.
Melody 105.4 FM, reflecting the latest trends for easy-listening music, has increased its weekly reach to 9% from 8% last quarter, gaining 32,000 listeners to 847,000. Share of listening has grown from 3.9% to 4.4%.
| Weekly Reach % | Share of Listening % | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4’95 | Q1’96 | % Pt Ch | Q4’95 | Q1’96 | % Pt Ch | |
| Capital Total | 39 | 39 | 0 | 22.8 | 22.7 | -0.1 |
| Capital FM | 31 | 31 | 0 | 17.1 | 17.2 | 0.1 |
| Capital Gold | 14 | 15 | 1 | 5.7 | 5.5 | -0.2 |
| Heart 106.2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 2.8 | 2.6 | -0.2 |
| Jazz FM 102.2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1.2 | 1.0 | -0.2 |
| Kiss 100 FM | 9 | 9 | 0 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 0.3 |
| London’s Country 1035 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0 |
| Total London Radio | 9 | 8 | -1 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 0.5 |
| London News 97.3 FM | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| London Newstalk 1152AM | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 0.1 |
| Melody 105.4 FM | 8 | 9 | 1 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 0.8 |
| Premier Radio | 2 | 1 | -1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | -0.1 |
| Spectrum Intnl | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | -0.2 |
| Sunrise Radio | 4 | 3 | -1 | 3.9 | 0.8 | -3.1 |
| Viva! 963 AM | 1 | * | 0.1 | * | ||
| Virgin FM London | 9 | 8 | -1 | 4 | 3.4 | -0.6 |
* Viva’s audience too small to register
NB The ascription process was used for both Q4 1995 and Q1 1996. This means year on year comparisons are unreliable.