The most popular radio stations in the UK

"Typically, this shows local radio stations in remote parts of the UK." In fact the top three are outside of the UK!!!

Pedant.

Not at all. Describing stations in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man as being "in the UK" is quite simply wrong. And it's relevant, because these are not "remote" parts of the UK. (Remote from what or whom? London is a pretty remote place from many places on mainland Great Britain!) What they in fact are, are radio stations in self-governing places where UK media is less relevant. Hence their success.

I've rewritten the intro for that section, removing the use of 'UK'. I've retained 'remote', since its definition is 'situated far from the main centres of population', which is the point of these numbers: these stations do well because they're unserved by the large broadcasters.

That said, this article isn't a legal definition of 'UK'; and the stations themselves are rather pleased at being featured on it.

There's nothing remote about the area that Yorkshire Coast Radio serves. More than 50 stations can be received, so plenty of choice!

Nobody's got anything to say on this forum and we're arguing about this?

What happened?!

There's nothing remote about the area that Yorkshire Coast Radio serves

There bloody is, Chris! Many years stuck on the A64 teaches me that... ;)

Congratulations on the figures, though.

I now live on the Yorkshire coast and my local radio station is Yorkshire Coast Radio. The station appears to be on in shops & garages wherever I go so what they are doing is appealing to the local audience. Here in Brid they have another 50 stations to compete against but they are the only local station that reports events and news happening in the area as other local stations are broadcasting from Hull (Viking) or Leeds (Capital Yorkshire).

Thank you for pulling all this data together.

I would be interested to know the relationship between the radio stations and the way the listeners access the station

For example, do most R2 listeners listen via FM/DAB whilst Kiss listen via IP. Also, do the listeners of local stations tend to listen via a certain medium regardless of location.

is this data readily avilable?

Kwad.

Kwad - thanks. Platform data is available but isn't public, so I can't use it here.

Young stations like Kiss, CapitalXtra and others do well on IP and on TV (probably because younger people are unlikely to have a radio receiver in their bedroom, but will have a TV).

However, internet still is a small percentage of total listening, and - having seen the figures - I am unaware of a single radio station where internet is the majority of time spent listening.

Nice argueing. (image) By that far, even the article's title is wrong then. (image)
Should we call it this country then, or will there be other objections? (image)

The opening statement is incorrect "media.info publishes all the RAJAR audience figures for every radio station" - community radio in the UK ISN'T inclulded in the RAJAR research, so therefor ALL stations aren't included. It reports on Commercial and BBC Radio only.

Hi David - in fact, that sentence is correct. We publish all the RAJAR audience figures for every radio station. If a station isn't in RAJAR, we can't publish their RAJAR audience figures, because they don't have any. But if they are in RAJAR, we publish them.

Contrary to popular belief, community radio is measured by RAJAR, but under the line "other radio" in the research. RAJAR reports on any station that pays the fees to be included. There's nothing stopping community radio doing so if they can afford it.

Using that "Other Radio" figure, I've attempted to calculate community radio's listening figures in an article here.

The RAJAR figures are like GFK ratings in Australia, Community Radio is measured but not put out publicly unless they pay for it. Community Radio cannot afford the cost of surveys on top of the other costs in most areas. Maybe the Government should pay or the Commercial and BBC /ABC should publish the ratings of Community radio to give a true picture to the public, or do they just not want to acknowledge that some Community radio has an appreciable appreciative audience that prefers them to the commercial and public broadcasters.

Community Radio is measured but not put out publicly unless they pay for it

This isn't true: RAJAR has a box for 'other radio', where respondents are instructed to place all radio without a specific sticker. There are no hidden figures for community radio. I looked, separately, at the likely audience for community radio in the UK, and concluded it's around half a million.

In Australia, where community radio is very different, the CBAA produces some nice research showing the extent of community radio's audience.

Thanks James for that information about RAJAR. I am aware of the CBAA surveys and how they reflect how much Community Radio is enjoyed. In Australia there is not even an other category publicly available so a true picture is never seen in the GFK ratings , at least by the Public.

Interestingly Community radio "The Voice" in North Devon entered Rajar this quarter with a reach of 11,000 in a TSA of 154,000. I believe many other Community radio stations would have similar reach figures in the UK if they were to be measured. We believe our reach to between 8 and 10,000 in our area. Granted not all Community radio stations are as big but given that there is 285 of them in the UK even an average reach of 4,000 per station would give a figure of over a million listeners.