Football a turnoff for Radio Scotland

Published on Thursday 7 May 2009 22:07

RADIO Scotland's audience figures slumped 7.9 per cent over the past year, figures showed yesterday, despite radio listening reaching an all-time high across the UK.

Commercial stations underlined their place as market leaders north of the Border as BBC Scotland suggested Scottish football clubs' poor performances in Europe were a factor in the fall.

The string of stations bought last year by the German publishing giant Bauer registered a 9.9 per cent increase in listeners. The rise was said to be caused by the strength of local news, traffic and information programming, as well as Scottish-anchored popular music shows.

Across Britain there were 45.8 million radio listeners per week, the highest figures released since Rajar (Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd) introduced new research measures in 1999.

BBC stations Radio 3, 4, and Five Live all showed sturdy increases. Listening hours on digital radios were up 12 per cent, and on mobile phones by 13 per cent.

The Rajar figures said Radio Scotland's reach – the number of adults who listen to a station for at least five minutes in a week – slipped to 928,000 in the first quarter of 2009, from 1,008,000 a year ago.

A spokesman said fluctuations were hard to explain, but Radio Scotland has the broadcast rights for Scottish football clubs playing in Europe.

The head of radio at BBC Scotland, Jeff Zyncinski, said: "These are interesting times for radio. Good Morning Scotland and Sportsound remained the outstanding performers for the station," he said.

BBC staff said its online offerings, including twice-weekly podcasts and Burns poetry, are doing well. People listened to 245,000 hours of "live streaming" from the website.

Bauer Media's Scottish stations, bought from the Emap group last year, include Radio Clyde 1 and 2, West Sound, South West Sound, Forth, Borders, Northsound, MFR and Tay.

Duncan Campbell, regional director for Bauer Radio in Scotland, said: "These stations that we own are all heritage stations, and to be honest remain focused on the local communities that we serve. The products are consistent, the stations have very popular personalities and we have continued to improve those products."

While Radio Scotland "tends to be all things to all people", Mr Campbell said, Bauer has remained focused on its target audience of the 15-44 age group with a mix of mainstream rock, pop and dance music. Meanwhile Radio 1 and Radio 2, broadcast from London, struggle to stay relevant to Scottish audiences, he said.

Andrew Harrison, of Radio Centre, the umbrella organisation promoting commercial radio, said the Bauer stations were number one in 22 of the 25 UK markets they serve.

He said Radio Scotland's decline was "quite a lot to blame on a few football teams not being so good".