01/02/2007

BBC Radio Scotland is today celebrating an eight-year high in its listening figures, as measured by its reach into Scotland.

It follows the publication today of the latest radio listening figures. And, according to RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd), during the final quarter-year of last year, the station reached 1,096,000 or 25.8 per cent of the population.

‘Reach’ is measured by the average number of people tuning in at least once during the course of an average week.
 
BBC Radio Scotland’s weekly reach was up 157,000 from the previous quarter's figure of 939,000 (22.1 per cent), strengthening the station’s position as the No.1 for reach in Scotland.

BBC Radio Scotland figures are part of an impressive overall
performance for the BBC in Scotland. The combined weekly reach of all BBC stations listened to in Scotland was 2,525,000 (59.4 per cent) - also the highest overall total since 1999.

Said Jeff Zycinski, head of Radio at BBC Scotland: "A success story like this doesn't happen by accident...it's all down to the creative enthusiasm of everyone at BBC Radio Scotland. We've asked our listeners what they want from the station and our programme teams have responded to that with so many new ideas and programme formats. We've had new voices on air and familiar voices doing new things. That spirit of innovation and imagination will continue throughout 2007.”

Meanwhile, Real Radio (Scotland) was also enjoying high reach figures, to allow it to remain Scotland’s top commercial radio station.

It achieved its highest-ever recorded reach - of 762,000 adult listeners per week - a nine per cent increase, year on year.

The figures show that the increase comes from new listeners tuning in to the day-time schedule.

Total hours have also increased to over 9.5 million per week, resulting from strong listener loyalty - 12.5 hours per listener each week.

Said Billy Anderson, Real Radio’s managing director: "The latest figures further strengthen Real Radio's position in the Scottish market. It’s a testament to the team who have worked hard to move the station forward and it shows in the great results”.

Elsewhere, Clyde 1 and Clyde 2 combined to create a 2.2 per cent drop in reach, year on year, but a 2.9 per cent increase between the last quarter and the one before. The combined Clyde stations enjoyed a 23.6 per cent share of their available audience - up 0.1 per cent on the previous quarter.

Both Forth stations suffered a drop in audience share, compared to the previous quarter: Forth One was down from 14.1 per cent to 12.8, while Forth 2 was down from 4.5 per cent to 3.3 per cent. These figures were reflected in falls in reach, both quarter on quarter and year on year.

Newly taken-over Saga 105.2 FM - to be re-branded as Smooth, as reported on Spike the other day - saw its audience share drop from 7.1 per cent to six per cent, from one quarter to the next.

Otherwise, there were no other dramatic changes, it was pretty much ‘as you were’,  save to say that talk107 - the all-speech station for Edinburgh, Lothians and Fife, about to celebrate its first birthday in a fortnight’s time - enjoyed almost a doubling of its audience share, from 0.4 per cent to 0.7.

For more, visit www.rajar.co.uk