Matt Deegan

People are Quite Happy with the Radio Services They Already Have

I was disappointed to read this article in The Guardian today. I was disappointed not because of their argument and position - which is one they're perfectly within their right to argue.

What was a shame is that they're choosing to skew the debate by making assumptions on behalf of "their" listeners. In the piece Scott Taunton says as part of the justification to not have a radio switchover says: "The bulk of people are quite happy with the radio services they already have."

I, personally, as someone who's created a new radio station, find that particularly disappointing. Having talked to other digital-only operators on multiplexes up and down the country, I know that I'm not the only one. I also think it underestimates listeners. If there's one thing that's surely arguable over the last twenty years it's that consumers are after more choice!

So rather than emotion or assumption, I thought it would be useful to look at some data.

In the article, it states the coalition of the unwilling have the 6m listeners of UKRD, TLRC, CN Radio, Anglian Radio, Quidem, Celador, UTV stations (I think there's Media Sound and Q alongside them too).

All radio stations are guilty of thinking because people listen to them that they are 'their listeners'. Actually these 6.4m people tend to listen to quite a few radio stations. I therefore thought it was useful to look at these people's broader listening habits.

Firstly, these 6.4m people listen to 152m hour of radio - 50.2m of which they spend with one or more of the 'Unwilling' stations - which is quite a lot - a third share is impressive.

However, they also give a little more - 51.9m of their total hours - to digital radio listening too.

Indeed, 3.9m of them (60.9%) listen to some form of digital radio each week - higher than the national average which is 56.7%.

1.3m of them also listen to one of the main digital-only stations - the Absolute 80s/Kisstory-esque ones (this even excludes listening to big stations like Capital, Kiss, Heart etc out of their analogue area).

That's 1.3m who I would wager aren't 100% happy with the analogue stations that they get.

Digital radio switchover is definitely going to be difficult, just as digital television was. Here are some choice cuts from the Daily Mail on that process: "Digital TV No Way Says One in Five" and "More than half of TV's Can't Get A Digital Signal".

I do believe that there should be a digital route for the vast majority of analogue radio stations, not however at any cost. However, an in-depth analysis of the pros and cons of switchover is for a much longer blog post.

What I would say is that these 1.3m people I talk about above (and the 8.7m in that category across the UK) have already decided that analogue-only stations are not the only choice for them.

3 comments

Comments were left when this post was originally published; commenting is now closed.

  1. Andy ·

    So you speak for consensus do you? You may be happy but I am not. All our 'local' radio stations are based about 40 miles away and hardly mention my area. The BBC ' local ' station has a county name and doesnt cover the local area much although we are in its remit!

    So you see not everyone is happy, are they!

  2. Martin Davies ·

    Let's start with speech radio. Radio Four has a left of centre political slant, poor interviewing techniques throughout. OK it can present a good play occasionally but treats it's documentaries treat science subjects very lightly, shying away fro anything challenging enough to be interesting. An independent competitor would be marvellous.
    BBC music radio, particularly Radio Two during the day consists of whatever promotional CDs find their way into the in tray, interspersed with a good amount of mindless chatter. Their specialist programmes, rather than keeping up to date with hot new releases, prefers to feature copyist British acts appearing locally. We are not kept up to date with the latest country , blues or jazz music from the States.
    Commercial radio aimed at my age group (over 60s) is really aimed at people stuck in a seventies time warp, who are content to listen to Abba, Van Morrison and the Nolans over and over. Whatever appeals to the biggest number of people in order to maximise profits. t wasn't like this when ILR first started.
    Compare this to what is available in the states, where they employ trained and experienced music presenters, not people famous for doing something completely different on TV.
    Perhaps some people are happy with radio as it is in the UK, but I for one certainly am not.

  3. J Peter Wilson ·

    As far as I understand it there is NO PLAN to switch-off FM for LOCAL & COMMUNITY RADIO.

    Following a debate in the House of Lords during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2010 the Bishop of Manchester said, "I welcome the Minister's assurances about the continued provision for local stations to use the FM band. He said that we had been over this ground several times, but we have done so partly because of the seriousness of the issue and partly, as the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, said later in the debate, because of the need to pin the Government down to get the precise assurance that people need."

    If and when NATIONAL stations are moved off FM (and currently they hog over half the FM band) there will be more space for local and community radio and the possibility of giving many stations greater power. We will then have both free-to-air DAB for national radio and FM for local and community stations.

    I am so glad that DAB has opened up the airwaves to stations that play jazz, blues, rock, gospel and contemporary Christian music. I am now able to listen to them at both home and in the car as well as to my local FM-only commercial station.

    I for one am not interested in sticking to the status quo and I look forward to the roll-out of the BBC's national multiplex and for a second national commercial multiplex to extend choice even further.