Imagine anticipating, and then receiving, important exam results every three months?
That's just how it feels for the good people at radio stations throughout the land, with the RAJAR* listening research, which is published today for Quarter 2, 2013.
Last time, it was interesting to note how the local stations had settled into distinct bands, in round figures, of hundreds of thousands of listeners.
Leading the field were Downtown/Cool FM with 600,000; then BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle - 500,000; Cool FM - 400,000; Downtown - 300,000; U105 - 200,000; and Citybeat and the Q Network each over the 100,000 mark.
In the latest release, the picture remains much the same, with the exception of Citybeat, which sees its audience jump by 28,000 to 154,000, along with a doubling of listening hours. No doubt sweet music to the ears of John Kearns, who was programming the station and has since moved on to new projects.
In contrast, listening hours overall in NI were down by 7% compared to the same time last year, with this impacting on the other local stations to varying degrees. Something of a strange occurrence given that the latest research period included the bad snowfall, when radio usually attracts greater attention as a provider of essential information.
On the upside, the weekly reach for BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, Cool FM, Downtown and U105 increased year on year, so in a nutshell, more people are tuning in to each station, albeit for less time.
*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI
That's just how it feels for the good people at radio stations throughout the land, with the RAJAR* listening research, which is published today for Quarter 2, 2013.
Last time, it was interesting to note how the local stations had settled into distinct bands, in round figures, of hundreds of thousands of listeners.
Leading the field were Downtown/Cool FM with 600,000; then BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle - 500,000; Cool FM - 400,000; Downtown - 300,000; U105 - 200,000; and Citybeat and the Q Network each over the 100,000 mark.
In the latest release, the picture remains much the same, with the exception of Citybeat, which sees its audience jump by 28,000 to 154,000, along with a doubling of listening hours. No doubt sweet music to the ears of John Kearns, who was programming the station and has since moved on to new projects.
In contrast, listening hours overall in NI were down by 7% compared to the same time last year, with this impacting on the other local stations to varying degrees. Something of a strange occurrence given that the latest research period included the bad snowfall, when radio usually attracts greater attention as a provider of essential information.
On the upside, the weekly reach for BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, Cool FM, Downtown and U105 increased year on year, so in a nutshell, more people are tuning in to each station, albeit for less time.
*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI
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