THE radio station, Clyde 2, has enjoyed a reversal in recent fortunes, according to the latest radio listening figures.
Says auditing body, RAJAR, which has just issued listening figures for the third quarter of this year, Clyde 2 enjoyed an increase in its year-on-year ‘reach’ figure of 12.7 per cent. ‘Reach’ is defined as an adult listening for at least five minutes per week.
In other words, the average reach between the months of July-September this year was 230,000 compared to an average 204,000 12 months previously.
But – perhaps typical of how radio listening figures can be perplexing to interpret – the station earlier this year didn’t fair at all well, suffering a year-on-year percentage drop in its average reach from Q1 2011 to Q1 2012 of 28.1 per cent; in other words, from 256,000 listeners to 184,000.
Clyde 2 is part of the Bauer Media network of radio stations in Scotland, and two of its Scots operations, Northsound 2 and Tay AM, each happened to enjoy a Q3 2011-Q3 2012 average reach increase of 20.9 per cent.
In other words, for Northsound 2, an average reach of 43,000 between July-September last year increasing to 52,000 during the third quarter of this year; and for Tay AM, an average reach of 67,000 between July-September last year increasing to 81,000 during the third quarter of this year.
But not all of Bauer’s Scots stations registered year-on-year average reach increases. Forth 2, for instance, is down 27 per cent, from 100,000 to 73,000. Radio Borders saw its year-on-year average reach figure down 16.4 per cent, from 61,000 to 51,000.
Tay AM, Forth 2, Clyde 2 and Northsound 2 are among Bauer’s AM stations in Scotland, and large parts of their schedules comprise common programming.
Among other fallers among the RAJARs are Real Radio Scotland (12.9 per cent, year-on-year, between Q3 2011 and Q3 2012, from 626,000 to 545,000), Radio Borders (16.4 per cent, from 61,000 to 51,000), Moray Firth Radio (10.2 per cent, 128,000 to 115,000), Wave 102 (7.1 per cent, from 28,000 to 26,000) and Original 106 (13.7 per cent, from 51,000 to 44,000).
While, earlier this year, Clyde 2 was down, Original 106 was up: 11.1 per cent – to illustrate how numbers can fluctuate.
For instance, BBC Radio Scotland’s average reach at the beginning of the year was in excess of a million. The average for Q3 this year was, however, 928,000, down 2.6 per cent on 12 months previously.
Among the RAJARs, as well as reach figures, there are also share ones, and during Q3 of this year, BBC Radio Scotland enjoyed a 7.6 per cent share of its available audience.
The full list of Q3 2011-Q3 2012 figures read as follows:
Radio Borders down 16.4 per cent
Capital Scotland down 4.8 per cent
Central FM zero per cent
Clyde 1 down 1.5 per cent
Clyde 2 up 12.7 per cent
Forth One zero per cent
Forth 2 down 27 per cent
Kingdom FM up 5.1 per cent
Moray Firth down 10.2 per cent
Northsound 1 down 7.4 per cent
Northsound 2 up 20.9 per cent
Original 106 down 13.7 per cent
Real Radio Scotland down 12.9 per cent
96.3 Real XS Glasgow up five per cent
Smooth Radio Glasgow up 3.9 per cent
Tay AM up 20.9 per cent
Tay FM down 6.8 per cent
Wave 102 down 7.1 per cent
West Sound up five per cent
