Radio 1 audience further hit by frequency switch

Radio 1's surrender of its medium-wave frequency in July has cost the station about a million listeners and allowed commercial radio to edge ahead of the BBC in overall share of listening for the first time in its 21-year history.

According to figures released by Rajar (Radio Audience Joint Research) yesterday, Radio 1's weekly audience stood at 11.2 million for July, August and September, down 1.1 million on the previous three months and around 4.5 million adrift of the same period last year.

Commercial radio now commands a 49 per cent share of radio listening, compared with 41.1 per cent a year ago, and the BBC's 48.6 per cent.

The chief beneficiaries of Radio 1's medium-wave switch-off were the national networks Atlantic 252 and Virgin 1215. Atlantic saw its weekly reach boosted by 725,000 listeners to 4.9 million in the third quarter, while Virgin moved up 508,000 to 3.9 million.

Although Radio 1's losses are significant they are broadly in line with expectations. Sue Farr, head of marketing for BBC network radio, pointed to station research which showed that 980,000 people would have to stop listening following the surrender of the medium wave frequency to the Radio Authority on 31 July. A further 740,000 said they would listen less. When Radio 2 lost its medium-wave band in 1990, about 2 million listeners defected.

The latest figures nevertheless cap a difficult year for Radio 1. Critics have attributed the haemorrhage of listeners to last autumn's radical shake- up of style and content, masterminded by Matthew Bannister, the station's newly appointed controller.

However, Radio 1 had been losing listeners for several years, with 1 million deserting in the quarter before Mr Bannister took control. This was largely because of the Government's liberalisation of the airwaves which has seen the station move from enjoying a near-monopoly on pop to competing with 140 local broadcasters as well as Virgin 1215 and Atlantic 252. Ms Farr said she did not expect Radio 1's position to stabilise 'until the end of the year at least'.

Although Radio 3 is registering short-term gains (up 200,000 on the previous quarter), its weekly reach of 2.5 million is still nearly half a million listeners down on the same period last year. The deficit is put down to the loss of test match cricket coverage to Radio 4.

While Radios 2 and 4 also suffered slightly, Radio 5 Live, launched in the spring as a news and sport channel, has steadily improved - it now attracts 4.4 million listeners (compared with its predecessor Radio 5's 4 million) and commands a 2.4 per cent share of listening.

Justin Sampson, of the Radio Advertising Bureau, expected commercial radio's growth to continue. He said the London market, where commercial radio accounts for 61 per cent of listening, proved that more commercial stations meant bigger share. However, the number of radio listeners in the capital has fallen 10 per centage points in two years.

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