BBC Radio Shropshire’s joy over rise in listeners
Friday 7th August 2009, 10:32AM BST.
BBC Radio Shropshire has reported its best audience figures in five years, new research has revealed.
The station has attracted an extra 18,000 listeners since December 2004, according to Radio Joint Audience Research.
The findings also show that the station has about 5,000 more listeners than it did last year. The results, published today, have been welcomed by managers at the station, which serves the whole of Shropshire and is based in Mount Pleasant, Shrewsbury.
Managing editor Tim Beech said: “Our reach is the best for almost five years (since December 2004) at 30.4 per cent – that’s up by 4.6 per cent from the last quarter and up 1.2 per cent from a year ago.
“Our share of listening is also up from 13.9 per cent to 15.2 per cent quarter on quarter. We’re obviously thrilled with the results and very grateful to our listeners for giving us their time and their wonderful support.”
Experts say audience reach is a measure of how many people listen to a radio station for a minimum of 15 minutes in the course of an average week.
Audience share represents the share of listeners a radio station attracts in its survey area.
Rajar spokeswoman Penelope James said the figures were compiled quarterly and Radio Shropshire operated in a survey area of 377,000 potential listeners aged 15 and over.
She said the figures showed Radio Shropshire had achieved an audience of 115,000 in the second quarter of this year, while it managed 97,000 in the first quarter.
Radio Shropshire attributed part of its success to its sport coverage.
For the new season it will resume with football commentaries on every Shrewsbury Town game on FM and every AFC Telford United match on DAB and online.
Other factors include a new look to weekends with Clare Ashford on Saturdays between 10am and 2pm, Vicki Archer on Sundays, 9am to noon, and Amy Clowes, 1pm to 3pm.
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Well the nation is getting older…
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I wonder what percentage our household represent as we’ve stopped listening to a number of the presenters who without doubt have formed the holier than thou society,their loss is my gain as it has reacquainted me to Mr Wogan.
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I prefer the nationals at least that way you do not have to put up with the presenters over-inflated egos.
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We stopped listening because of the seemingly incessant talk of football, if it wasn’t commentaries they were talking about it during the shows and the news, our perceptions have now been confirmed, at least we need not even bother switching back over with their intentions to carryon where they left off.
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Statistics creates a strange animal, here we are bombarded with wall to wall football coverage which 15.2% of the available population listen into. That means that 84.8% have no say other than switching the radio off or changing channels.A case of the tail wagging the dog if ever there was one.Public broadcasting at its best! :-(
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Statistics collected do not allow for online listeners & listen agains from the rest of UK & abroad for the excellent Genevieve Tudor Sunday Folk. Two hours of superb broadcasting with ‘live’ guests performing in the legendary middle studio, interviews & the weekly what’s on guide + online show playlist from Allan Price. Quality broadcasting at it’s best from Radio Shropshire and far outdoing BBCR2 Folk’s 1 hour offering imho. Be like me & just listen to this, local radio at it’s best.
There are other Folk programmes online from other BBC local radio stations & BBC Radio Scotland etc, or find specialist shows in any subject of your choice, search them out and enjoy. Happy listening via the freedom of iPlayer.
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If there are a couple of things that annoy me intensely it is that they always seem to be revelling in other peoples misfortunes, death here, puppy gone missing there and then there’s the blasted ‘snow line’ they run each year..”ooh there’s .01mm of snow in Wisteria Grove, four people live down here and the gritters haven’t been out” People- Get a life. BBC Radio Depressing 96FM
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I agree with EnglishFolkfan ,there are some exceptionally talented presenters who know their genre inside out GT being one of them and then there are a few who bore me rigid as Al sums it up as ‘the holier than thou brigade’. I think I shall have to download the Iplayer and see what the other local radio channels have to offer,it seems that unbounded enjoyment is only a mouse click away.
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Adam Green is a good lad.
Can we get him to replace Victorian Dad Darvall? Please?
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All radio stations have got irritating presenters, if you don’t like them a new one is only a flick away.
There are some really strong performers on Radio Shrops and some that quite frankly have flown past their use by date,why those are still in post defeats me, but that’s where choice comes in, it’s that Marmite moment, you either love’m or hate’m !
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I always follow the same routine
7.30 Wogan – better to start off the day with a smile than feeling depressed. Someone will select the top 15 seconds of the RS Breakfast Show and then be played every hour during the day so you won’t miss anything.
9.00 Jim Hawkins – let the battle commence, what’s going to fire them up this morning? Religion,speed cameras,immigration,each one a winner.
10.15 The RS public are now burnt out, time for Ken Bruce and the popmaster quiz.
12.00 Jeremy Vine, which politican is going to be sacrificed today?
13.00 Colin Young, he’s finished with all that stupid stuff and hopefully will settle down and play some decent music.
14.00 Steve Wright – seamless presentation without appearing to be scripted.
16.00 John Darvall – that posh sounding bloke trying to eek a page of subjects already covered during the day out to fill a novel. Sometimes you just wish that something would happen on his watch.
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The current Mrs Tony and I find that Adam Green just grates with us,Darval is traditional BBC but with a mischevious sense of humour, as Si says it’s the Marmite effect.
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