RAJAR Results for Q1 2006

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RAJAR results for Quarter 1, 2006 has been released. The headlines today includes the percentage of people tuning in to their radios in Quarter 1, 2006 remains stable at 90% of the UK population (15 years plus), with 44.3 million listeners tuning each week, up 251,000 year on year.

Ownership of DAB sets continues to grow with 13.6% of adults now living in households with one or more sets. This figure has increased by 22.5% quarter on quarter and a staggering 68% year on year.

Visit rajar.radiotoday.co.uk for our full coverage.
In London, Magic 105.4 is number one with a higher Reach and Audience Share than nearest rivals Capital Radio and Heart 106.2.

GCap Media reports more listeners for the Xfm Network, Choice FM and Planet Rock. GMG Radio publish good results year-on-year but remain similar to last quarter. Chrysalis report the Heart Brand is doing well, including a 12.3% increase for the former Century station in the East Midlands.

TLRC stay mostly static, UBC lose listeners on medium wave but enjoy success with Oneword. Virgin Radio are impressed with Christian O’Connell, adding 46,000 new listeners to the station's breakfast show.

The share of hours of radio listening via a digital platform has increased to 11.4%, up from 11% in Quarter 4, 2005** and 6.3% in Quarter 1, 2005.

Likewise, listening to the radio via DTV continues to build steadily. 36.5% of adults now claim to have listened to the radio via DTV, a growth of 15% year on year (Q1, 2006 - 36.5% vs. Q1, 2005 - 31.7%).

Internet radio listening is also steadily increasing. It now stands at 20.8% of adults, a growth of 20% year on year (Q1, 2006 - 20.8% vs. Q1, 2005 - 17.3%).

Mobile phones are proving increasingly popular as a means of listening to radio, especially for young adults. 3.2 million adults (8.8% of mobile phone owners) now claim to listen to the radio via their mobile phones and this percentage increases to 21.2% for the age group 15-24 (1.3 million).

Detailed data and individual radio station data, for both BBC and Commercial Radio stations, is available on the RAJAR web site at www.rajar.co.uk and reports from the industry are published on rajar.radiotoday.co.uk.

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As part of our RAJAR Q1 2006 coverage, we bring you the stations with the biggest jumps in figures.

=== Q1/06 v Q4/05 ===

The Biggest Winners in terms of Reach:
- Up 8%:
Fen Radio 107.5
- Up 4%:
BBC Radio Wiltshire/Swindon
97.2 Stray FM
Dream 100
BBC Radio Norfolk
The Pulse of West Yorkshire

The Biggest Losers in terms of Reach:

- Down 5%:
BBC Radio Ulster
Orchard FM
BBC Radio Cumbria
96.9 Chiltern FM (Bedford)
- Down 4%:
Ocean FM
Northsound One
96.2 Touch FM (formerly KIX96.2fm)
99.8FM 2BR
Mercia FM

The Biggest Winners in terms of Share:

Radio Broadland (Up 4%)
KL.FM 96.7 (Up 3.5%)
102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire (Up 3.4%)
SGR Colchester (Up 3.2%)

The Biggest Losers in terms of Share:

97FM Plymouth Sound (Down 3.6%)
BBC Hereford & Worcester (Down 3.6%)
103.2 Power FM (Down 3.4%)
102.4 Wish FM (Down 3.3%)
Kingdom FM (Down 3.1%)

=== Q1/06 v Q1/05 ===

The Biggest Winners in terms of Reach:

- Up 14%
Fen Radio 107.5

The Biggest Losers in terms of Reach:

- Down 11%
Mercia FM
- Down 10%
99.8 FM 2BR
Channel 103 FM
- Down 9%
Mix 96
- Down 8%
SGR FM (Ipswich & Bury)
Wyvern FM

The Biggest Winners in terms of Share:

102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire (Up 10.2%)
BBC Radio Jersey (Up 7.7%)
BBC Radio Ulster (inc. Foyle) (Up 6.6%)
SGR Colchester (Up 6.5%)

The Biggest Losers in terms of Share:

Kingdom FM (Down 10.0%)
Oak 107 FM (Down 7.1%)
99.8FM 2BR (Down 5.9%)
107.1 Rugby FM (Down 5.8%)
Manx Radio (Down 5.8%)
Q102.9/Q97.2 (Down 5.7%)
102 Spire FM (Down 5.6%)
102.7 Hereward FM (Down 5.2%)
Wyvern FM (Down 5.2%)

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The RAJARS for the EMAP stations like London's Magic 105.4 seems to come out best.

Emap's Magic 105.4, the ‘more music, less talk’ radio station, is London’s number one commercial radio station for the first time. Magic 105.4 is number one across all measures of reach, hours and share: making it the undisputed commercial radio market leader with significantly more people listening and for longer than to any other commercial radio station in London.

Andria Vidler, MD of Magic 105.4, said: “Last year, we said we wanted to take Magic 105.4 to number one – and that is what we have achieved. We have a clear proposition based on ‘more music, less talk’; we have a great new breakfast presenter in Neil Fox and we have a Sony gold winning programmer of the year in Richard Park.

“Consistent market leadership remains our long-term goal, and this amazing result shows that Magic is right up there. In London - one of the world’s most competitive radio markets – there will be fluctuations in market leadership, but this is another great achievement in Magic’s long-term plans.�

Each week 1,865,000 people tune in to Magic 105.4 – a highest ever record figure representing a 12 per cent increase on the quarter
Listeners are tuning in for longer than ever with Magic 105.4 accounting for 14.99 million hours a week – a 38 per cent rise on the quarter and another highest ever figure
Magic 105.4 has a 7per cent share of listening
Neil Fox continues to be the brighter way to wake-up in the morning. Each weekday morning 804,000 listeners choose the Neil Fox More Music Breakfast Show – this is an 18 per cent rise on the quarter – and is the third biggest breakfast show in London.
The popularity of Magic stretches across the country. Across the UK Magic now attracts 3.1 million listeners via a network of analogue, DAB, satellite, cable, online and Freeview. This is the first time Magic has broken through the 3 million listeners landmark.

Elsewhere in the Emap portfolio, 1.29 million listeners a week choose to listen to Kiss 100 – again cementing its position as London’s number one station for London’s 15-34s.

Magic 105.4 and Kiss 100 deliver a 10.7 per cent share of listening in the London market.

Across the UK more than 4.8 million adults tune in to Emap’s Big City Network of heritage local radio stations every week. Big City, which represents the true voice of local radio, grew its reach by 1per cent on the year and also recorded increases on the quarter for Clyde 1, Forth One, Hallam FM, Metro and TFM.

Following hot on the heels of an amazing four Sony Golds – Kerrang! 105.2 celebrates again with highest ever listening. Each week 366,000 music fans tune in to hear the best in guitar-based music and general rock mayhem. This is up 13 per cent on the year. And they love what they hear, listening to the station for 2.77 million hours – a 32 per cent rise on the year.

Nationally 1.2 million people a week tune in to Kerrang! Radio which is a rise of 26.8 per cent on the year.

Among Emap’s leading portfolio of national stations, The Hits is the UK’s biggest digital-only station with a weekly reach of 970,000 listeners which is a 16 per cent rise on the year. Every week 11.4 million people tune in to an Emap radio station for a total of 104,496,000 hours.

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The RAJAR stayed mostly static for The Local Radio Company, but good news as 103.4 Sun FM is still the Most Listened too station in Sunderland.

The Local Radio Company (TLRC) announces that, according to Q1 2006 RAJAR figures published today, it now has 849,000 listeners per week (compared with 862,000 listeners in Q4 2005) with total listening hours of 7.45 million (compared with 7.44 million in Q4 2005). While TLRC’s reach percentage has remained the same at 21%, market share has increased to 8.3% (compared with 8.2% in Q4 2005).

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there is some good and bad news for the Scottish stations after yesterdays RAJAR results. Q96 did well after recruiting Scottie McClue in their schedual.

Good news for Q96 and Clyde 1 while bad news for Kingdom FM and Northsound 1. Q96, the local radio station covering Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Glasgow, is officially Scotland's fastest growing radio station - according to the latest RAJAR audience figures released today.

The station, which broadcasts on 96.3FM, DAB Digital Radio and online at www.q96.net, has posted an impressive 64% increase in listenership on its position three months ago, with 46,000 listeners now tuning in every week and listening longer than before.

These figures do not take into account the arrival of legendary phone-in host Scottie McClue in March as well as other recent programming changes, and Q96 - which is owned by the UTV Radio Group - is expected to its increase its audience reach and market share even further in future RAJAR surveys.

Elsewhere in Scotland, GMG's Real Radio continues to grow with further annual increases in audience reach and over 700,000 listeners per week. Relatively new arrival Saga 105.2fm saw their reach up 1% to 11% year on year, while EMAP mainstay Clyde 1 adds 46,000 listeners over the last three month. The only other station to show any significant improvement on last year's results is Dundee's Wave 102, who have consistently increased their listenership over the past 12 months.

Not so good news for Aberdeen's Northsound 1, Tay FM or Fife's Kingdom FM however, with the latter station losing 12,000 listeners since this time last year, a decrease of over 13% in audience reach - with market share down from 22% to 12%.