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
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
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