Listening figures provide a boost for radio stations

Published on Thursday 24 July 2008 10:59

TALK107, the Edinburgh-based all-talk station, has recorded a big increase in listeners following its programme changes earlier this year.

Scotland's only commercial speech radio station saw the total hours it was listened to rise to a record 300,000 hours a week in the second quarter of the year - 42 per cent ahead of the first quarter and 94 per cent ahead of the same period last year.

The latest RAJAR figures show the station's weekly reach is now 41,000 adult listeners a week - up 24 per cent on the first quarter.

It comes after a recent clear-out of presenters that saw Tommy Sheridan and programme director Mike Graham sacked as it attempts to move away from a confrontational style, but it still only achieved a market share of 1.7 per cent.

Matt Allitt, Talk107's senior station director, said: "These are the first RAJAR figures since we made some major programming changes to the station earlier in the year.

"The number of people listening to the station has increased and those that are listening like what they hear as they are listening for longer."

The RAJAR figures also held good news for Radio Forth.

The station pulled in an extra 26,000 listeners during the first quarter, giving it an adult audience of 317,000 and a market share in Edinburgh of 18.9 per cent.