There should be contentment all round at Northern Ireland's local stations following the release of their latest RAJAR* figures. Every service sees an increase in reach - the number of people tuning in each week - and the total listening hours reported for local radio are up by 5% on the same period last year.

As always, the devil is in the detail. Cool FM, Downtown Country and Q Belfast (formerly Citybeat) enjoyed double digit increases in hours - 18%, 11% and 16% respectively, with Cool now drawing its audience from the larger DAB area compared to the FM coverage 12 months ago.

The original Q stations, U105 and BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle each had a 1% increase in hours, while Downtown dipped by 8%.

Back to the good news for broadcasters on reach; Downtown is up from 245,000 to 288,000; Cool from 400,000 to 495,000; Downtown Country 99,000 to 142,000; Q Belfast 125,000 to 140,000; the original Q stations 125,000 to 166,000; U105 from 182,000 to 198,000 and BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle 504,000 to 572,000.

Attracting these new listeners is a positive step, the next no doubt for radio practitioners being to entice their whole audience to tune in for longer.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.
Each station's figures are quoted within its own Total Survey Area, and all comparisons are year-on-year.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com

Paul Easton with the London perspective:
http://www.pauleaston.co.uk

This summer saw U105 join the ranks of DAB digital radio broadcasters, having previously just been on Freeview on a province-wide basis. The latest RAJAR* for Northern Ireland stations confirms that this party is getting started.

The reach for Cool FM in its DAB area was first reported in the research released in May, and this figure has held, so the year-on-year increase will be largely those now listening on digital (387,000 up to 474,000; hours up by 4%). Downtown improves reach from 248,000 to 274,000, with hours up by 5%. Downtown Country is of course solely digital, and is up from 100,000 to 126,000, though hours dip by 21%.

Interestingly, that puts a DAB-only station ahead of an FM outlet, as Q Belfast (formerly Citybeat) sits on 125,000 (up from 121,000; down in hours by 13%). The original Q stations enjoyed a significant boost (122,000 to 159,000; hours up by 14%).

The aforementioned U105 will start to report on its DAB area in due course, aiming for this to bring increased reach and hours, but for now the station has decreased from 195,000 to 187,000, with hours virtually static.

BBC Radio Ulster had a rise in reach (520,000 to 544,000), but fell in hours by 4%.

Given that listeners selecting DAB can choose from over 50 stations, local gains are well earned and deserved.

As ever, each station's figures are quoted within its own Total Survey Area and all comparisons are year-on-year.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective:
www.pauleastonblog.co.uk

In an era when the conventional wisdom is that young people are tuning into less radio due to the number of media alternatives whilst older folks loyally listen on, the latest RAJAR* for NI stations turns this on its head.

Compared to the same time last year, Cool FM is now measured against its DAB province-wide coverage, and has added 85,000 listeners, taking the station's reach to 473,000, with total hours up by 19%. Interestingly, across the water, BBC Radio 1 explains that its strategy is multi-platform, including YouTube, and in the past 5 years the national station's on air audience has decreased by some 20%. Food for thought.

Downtown increased reach (243,000 to 268,000) and hours by 3%, while its Country sibling boosted reach (84,000 to 103,000) though hours dipped by 20%.

The big picture is a good one for the Newtownards-based broadcaster, with the combined reach of Downtown/Downtown Country/Cool FM up by 72,000 to 703,000, well clear of nearest rival BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle on 518,000. That reach figure is down from 546,000, with hours reducing by 2%.

This trend among older listeners is mirrored at U105, which was licensed to serve the 45+ age group. Reach is now 193,000 (down from 229,000) and hours have decreased by 9%.

The Q Network had a positive set of results, with the Belfast reach up from 127,000 to 135,000, and hours increasing by 4%; while the original 6 services attracted 154,000 listeners (up from 121,000) with hours up by 18%.

As always, each station's figures are quoted within its own Total Survey Area and all comparisons are year-on-year.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective:
www.pauleastonblog.co.uk

The latest RAJAR arrives during a sad week as Northern Ireland's Radio community mourns the passing of Eddie West.

Eddie was at Downtown in its opening week for the first 'Intro' series, and his rich distinctive voice and skilful music presentation soon lead to him becoming part of the full time team. Over the years he also worked in Dublin stations, returned to Downtown and Cool becoming Programme Controller, and then launched an Internet service, Fever 40. Eddie loved Radio, and will be greatly missed by colleagues and listeners alike.

In an era of increasing choice, with 52 stations now available on DAB and all but 6 of these being national, it is telling that for local radio broadcasters year-on-year total listening hours have increased by 8% overall. As additional options aim to capture the audience's time, this is a good result.

RAJAR* for Quarter 4, 2016 reveals that BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle has increased its hours by 9%, with the stations' in-depth coverage of all the political upheaval the likely driver. The weekly reach is down by 17,000 to 521,000.

The local stations in the Bauer Network enjoyed an increase in both reach (to 654,000) and hours by 9%, with individual performances as follows: Downtown - reach up 43,000 to 260,000; Downtown Country - reach up 14,000 to 103,000; and Cool FM - reach up 6,000 to 397,000. Across these stations, hours were respectively up 34%, down 8% and down 1%.

Q Radio outside Belfast increased reach by 17,000 to 143,000 and hours by 23%, while in the city lost 3,000 listeners (now 129,000) with hours increasing by 4%.

U105 saw reach decrease by 27,000 to 210,000 along with hours by 1%.

As ever, the figures quoted for each station relate to its own Total Survey Area and all comparisons are year-on-year.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan:
www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective:
www.pauleastonblog.co.uk
​

It's well over a year since the NI local radio landscape changed, with new stations such as Downtown Country launching and Citybeat being renamed and programmed as part of the Q Network, and the latest RAJAR* reflects some settling.

With audience figures, increasing either the reach - the number of listeners tuning in each week - or the total hours, is a measure of success.

Year-on-year, Downtown, Downtown Country and Cool FM have managed to achieve both. Together they reach 639,000 people (up from 604,000), and individually, Downtown has 245,000 (up 5,000), Downtown Country 99,000 (up 14,000) and Cool FM 400,000 (up 25,000), with the stations increasing their hours by 30%, 11% and 6% respectively.

Q Radio in Belfast likewise added reach (125,000, up 6,000) and hours (up 24%), but the 6 original Q stations lost reach (150,000, down 25,000) while boosting their hours by 27%.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle dropped by 22,000 to 504,000, but hours were up by 7%.

U105, now a stand-alone service, saw a fall in both reach (211,000 to 182,000) and hours by 5%.

Overall, it's a solid performance by our local broadcasters, and a Brexit-free zone so far as one can tell...


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.
The figures quoted are for each station in its own Total Survey Area.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan: www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective: www.pauleastonblog.co.uk

As 2015 heralded several station launches and rebrands in Northern Ireland, it is now after a year that the effects are showing through in the latest RAJAR* audience figures just released.

Downtown Country offered a clear new listening choice, and sees its audience grow to 100,000 this time. That takes the performance of the entire Downtown/Cool FM Newtownards-based operation up to 632,000 listeners, with hours up 18% year on year. Downtown itself dropped 49,000 over that period to 248,000, while Cool FM increased by 33,000 to 387,000.

At the Q Network, the 6 original stations outside Belfast lost 32,000 listeners (now 122,000), while Citybeat, which was rebranded as Q last summer, was down by 12,000 across the year to 121,000. Increased hours on the quarter in all areas will doubtless be some consolation.

U105 and BBC Radio Ulster enjoyed increases in both reach (6,000 to 195,000 and 16,000 to 520,000 listeners respectively), and hours, compared to 12 months ago.

The figures quoted above are for each station in its own Total Survey Area.


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI.

More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan: www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective:
www.pauleastonblog.co.uk

That Latin inscription appears in Dallas, Texas of all places, at the legendary jingle company JAM, and translates as 'It takes time to make things'. So too with building radio audiences, and each RAJAR* provides a snapshot of progress for new, rebranded and heritage stations alike in Northern Ireland.

In the wake of last week's White Paper on the future of the BBC, Radio Ulster will be pleased with a year-on-year increase in both reach (up 22,000 to 546,000) and hours listened. Quarterly figures are also up by both measures.

Downtown Country celebrated its first birthday last month, and the total reach of the now 3-station network has increased by 30,000 to 631,000 against the results for Downtown/Cool FM a year ago. Downtown itself is down 56,000 to 243,000 (though up 26,000 on the quarter) and Cool is up 39,000 to 388,000, with each declining in hours, and Downtown Country has an impressive 84,000 listeners after 12 months.

Q Radio in Belfast saw a drop in both reach (145,000 to 127,000) and hours compared to its previous performance as Citybeat, and the original 6-station Q Network dipped 8,000 to 121,000 though hours were up slightly.

U105, now part of The Wireless Group and not UTV, was up on the year on reach (180,000 to 229,000) and in total hours, but down in both over the last 3 months.

The next RAJAR arrives in August, and this won't, I promise, be a Latin Quarter...


*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI. The figures for each station relate to its own Total Survey Area.


More RAJAR analysis:

The national picture from Matt Deegan: www.mattdeegan.com
Paul Easton with the London perspective:
​www.pauleastonblog.co.uk

The past, as they say, is a different country, and in 1976 Northern Ireland it was a difficult one to be in.

The Troubles were in full flight, and in recognition of the importance of local news and coverage, and no doubt the impending arrival of competition, BBC Radio Ulster had been launched the previous year.

It was, though, a pretty formal sort of station, having replaced Radio 4 Northern Ireland on the dial.

So, the time was ripe for a truly local service, one that would entertain as well as inform in those dark days, and on March the 16th, just ahead of St. Patrick's Day, from the County Down town of Newtownards came Downtown Radio, the 17th ILR station to go on air.

I had joined in December 75 as one of the engineering team, and the following month the journalists and presenters arrived to begin the job of creating a new style of radio.

On the opening day the newsroom was handed a gift from an unlikely quarter - Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigned, and keen as mustard, the Downtown newshounds ran a newsflash, the first station in the UK to do so.

That set the tone for a service that came to be highly regarded in the Province.

The bits in between the news were ground breaking too - the popular music of the day, in glorious FM stereo for the first time in Northern Ireland, presented by personalities who knew the area, its people, and what they wanted to hear about, all done in an informal, accessible way.

They very quickly became household names, and are known to this day - Candy Devine, Big T, Hendi, John Paul...

The regulator back then was the IBA, and in granting a monopoly commercial licence they required a range of programming to be provided, and this Downtown did with enthusiasm, with over 20 weekly specialist speech and music programmes for many years.

The big genre was Country, and its enduring popularity led to the launch of Downtown Country on DAB last year.

But back to 76 - public reaction was immediate, and by the first audience survey, Downtown had 70% of adults listening each week, and became the top ILR station in the UK.

The 80s saw expansion from the Greater Belfast area to Provincewide on FM, and in 1990 came the split and Cool FM. The 90s and first years of the new century heralded more local stations, and Downtown in now providing 3 services holds its own against them.

But after 4 decades the legacy is more than that - all of the broadcasting stations have former Downtown people with them, whether that's the BBC - Radio Ulster has changed greatly to meet the competition over the years, UTV, Citybeat now Q Radio, or U105.

So, Happy Birthday Downtown, and here's to the next 40!

A significant birthday is an apt time for radio stations to take stock of what has been achieved and to consider the direction of travel.

In the latest RAJAR* audience research, U105, which in recent months turned 10, reached its highest weekly audience to date of 237,000 (up 48,000). This nudges the station 3,000 listeners ahead of the previous peak 5 years ago, and comes as the takeover of UTV's television interests by ITV leaves U105 in a new operating environment.

Next month Downtown celebrates 40 years on air; in the late 70s, 7 out of 10 adults in Greater Belfast - around half a million - tuned in each week. Over the years through extending the coverage area provincewide and the launch of additional services, Cool FM in 1990 and Downtown Country last April, the broadcaster today has more audience than in those early days (612,000, up 3,000). Within the 3-station family, Cool FM is up 30,000 to 391,000, Downtown itself decreases by 90,000 to 217,000, and Downtown Country has 89,000.

BBC Radio Ulster had a year of celebration for its 40th in 2015, and the latest weekly figure is 538,000, down 31,000.

From heritage stations to a re-brand; Citybeat became Q Radio last summer, and is up 2,000 to 133,000, while the 6 original Q services are up 5,000 to 126,000.

All comparisons are year on year, and each station's figure relates to its own Total Survey Area.

*RAJAR is compiled by Ipsos-MORI

For the national picture, go to www.mattdeegan.com
and for London analysis:
www.pauleastonblog.co.uk

November the 14th is a radio 'date' - it marks the day in 1922 when the first of the then British Broadcasting Company's local stations 2LO took to the air in London, but here at home in 2005 it was the launch of U105 at 6am that morning with Van Morrison singing 'Wavelength'.

Having led the application for this Greater Belfast licence, which was won against competition from 10 other contenders, for me it was the culmination of an 18-month period of apprehension, elation and anticipation.

The station was to cater for those aged 45 and over, and to attract an audience that was primarily listening to the BBC.

Being an established and respected broadcaster, UTV had the resources to provide a comprehensive service, along with the means to promote it. With much of the infrastructure already in place, the new radio station could draw on in-house expertise more cost-effectively than a stand alone operator.

As with the birth of any new media outlet, the early days were exciting, and having attracted a talented team of experienced presenters, the station began to forge its identity and was making steady progress by the time I stepped down from my full time role in May 2008.

The stage by stage build of audience was uncannily close to the predictions made in the extensive research conducted for the licence application, but of course any PLC is impatient to drive growth and when one has its own TV airtime this became much used to push the radio programmes and presenters, to the annoyance of rivals without access to this kind of advantage.

Indeed, U105 has arguably had the most TV promotion of any local radio station in the British Isles. The surge of interest as listeners sampled the output - many in fact under 45 - took the audience up to 234,000 in June 2011 before this fell back a year later to 178,000, a level from which U105 has since struggled to get beyond the 200,000 mark.

So what of the on air sound? The early promise of a wide variety of music during the day and a range of programmes in the evenings and at weekends, covering styles such as Country, Rock, Soul, Irish and Nostalgia, has given way to a limited selection of tracks designed, it seems, mostly to please a
40-something listener.

While the mantra of 'less is more' is not one I subscribe to, it does make all the more necessary the arrival of Belfast 89FM to 'super serve' the 55+ age group in terms of both music and speech.

If the most recent years of U105's first decade have been about streamlining and consistency, the next 10 start under the shadow of the sale of UTV to ITV. Gone will be the shared resources, the TV airtime (unless bought at the going rate), and perhaps even the 'U' in the name as the brand will be the property of ITV.

Whatever the future holds, I wish all those involved well, and say Happy Birthday to you, 105!