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Rajar Results Q4 - Talk radio the talking point
Feb 3, 2011
The focal point of most Rajar coverage is normally the same: how did the commercial sector fair against the BBC and who won breakfast?
But Rajar Q4 is quite different – talk radio is making all the noise. Global Radio stablemates LBC UK and LBC 97.3 reached a record high in listeners - almost a million each week - while Radio 5 Live recorded an audience of 7.1m listeners, up 16.2% on the same quarter in 2009. In addition, BBC London 94.9 also rose, up 13.3% to 502,000 listeners a week.
Nick Ferrari’s LBC Breakfast show saw an increase of 24,000 listeners year-on-year
TalkSport also passed the 3 million mark for the first time. Indeed, I remember when I was first handed the radio beat by Broadcast – I met Talk Sport programme director Moz Dee for breakfast.
Moz was new to the job himself, having up sticks from the BBC; but even then I recall him saying with real conviction that talk radio was at the start of something massive. “As time goes on, people will realise communicators are the ones who draw the audiences,” he opined. “Most hit music stations play the same music and so there is no differentiator – what does divide people is which DJ is speaking in between the tracks.”
I am inclined to believe that Moz was right. We have indeed drifted into an era where lots of the older faces like Tarrant and Evans have returned to radio. People stations can bank on because they have a following.
However, you could argue that although talk radio is going through a renaissance, it may never have it so good again. After all, an unexpected combination of Ashes coverage, debates on government cuts and a more than healthy dose of Premier League football do not often play out at the same time.
On a more general note, Global Radio did well across the board - with Classic FM recording a three-year high with 5.7 million listeners each week and Capital FM held onto to the number one breakfast show in London.
Gold also saw its audience rocket up 20% year-on-year.
Elsewhere, this morning’s cuts will prove painful reading for Absolute Radio execs. On a personal level, I hope the brand succeeds. I admire the fact it is different and has the biggest names on the station. Hopefully, it’s just a matter of time……
The focal point of most Rajar coverage is normally the same: how did the commercial sector fair against the BBC and who won breakfast?
But Rajar Q4 is quite different – talk radio is making all the noise. Global Radio stablemates LBC UK and LBC 97.3 reached a record high in listeners - almost a million each week - while Radio 5 Live recorded an audience of 7.1m listeners, up 16.2% on the same quarter in 2009. In addition, BBC London 94.9 also rose, up 13.3% to 502,000 listeners a week.">Share Back to News
