Commercial radio sees mixed Q4 fortunes

Commercial radio stations experienced mixed fortunes over the last quarter of 2009, with Classic FM suffering a drop in listeners but Heart and TalkSport performing well.

According to data released today by RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research), all commercial stations accounted for 31.374 million of listeners in the three months to December 20, representing a 42.6% audience share, slightly up from 42.4% the previous quarter.

However, the most popular national commercial station Classic FM suffered a 10% year-on-year decline in its weekly reach to 5.13m listeners, down 5.7% quarter-on-quarter.

Absolute Radio, formerly Virgin Radio, had an average weekly reach of 1.49m over the three months, down from 1.59m on the previous quarter.

However, Global Radio's Heart 106.2 and 95.8 Capital FM posted strong listening figures to surpass Bauer Radio's Magic 105.4 as the leading stations in London.

Magic, which has dominated the London commercial radio figures for three years, saw its audience share decline to 1.82m over the quarter, down 9.4% on the previous three months and 8.8% year-on-year.

In comparison, 95.8 Capital FM pulled in 1.83m listeners, up 12.5% year-on-year, and Heart 106.2 attracted 1.88m listeners, up 4.8% year-on-year.

Capital's Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon remained the most popular breakfast team, with 1.23m listeners for their 6-10am show, up from 1.03m on the previous quarter and 981,000 a year ago.

UTV-owned station TalkSport's weekly reach held steady at an average of 2.5 million listeners, down 0.8% on the same period in 2008 but up 0.9% quarter-on-quarter.

Launched in October 2008, digital-only station Jazz FM had an average of 446,000 listeners over last quarter, up 7.2% quarter-on-quarter.

Planet Rock pulled in an average of 698,000 listeners, up 2.6% year-on-year but down 1.4% quarter-on-quarter. NME Radio had an average of 177,000 listeners, up 16.4% year-on-year but down 18.8% on the previous quarter's results.