The BBC's local radio stations covering Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside lost a total of 56,000 listeners in the three months to the end of June compared with the previous quarter. At Radio Manchester, 83,000 listeners have switched off over the last 12 months. It's a different story in the south of England – with some of the better gains for BBC local radio.
BBC Radio Bristol added 31,000 listeners per week and saw its total hours rise by more than half a million quarter-on-quarter. The station's weekly audience of 248k is the highest in two years.
Tim Pemberton, Managing Editor of BBC Radio Bristol, says: "I'm really pleased that the station changes are beginning to have a positive impact. Not only are we attracting thousands of new listeners, they are staying with us for longer. It's a credit to the hard work of all the team here that our audience figures are up"
Radio Cambridgeshire's new enlarged TSA brought them an extra 20,000 listeners this quarter (% reach stayed the same). BBC Cambs also posted its best market share figures in 18 months.
At BBC Radio Cornwall they'll be partying on the beach in the August sunshine after adding 29,000 listeners this survey and seeing their market share rise to 24.4%.
In the North, Radio Manchester's neighbours in Blackburn and Liverpool might not be popping the champagne corks either today. Radio Lancashire lost 15,000 weekly listeners and saw a drop in hours as well. The station's now got its worst market share in many years (8.2%). Radio Merseyside's hours and share are up, but that won't make up for the 24,000 drop in the size of their audience.
Maybe it's a northern thing (the weather to blame perhaps?)… BBC Radio Newcastle lost 38,000 listeners quarter-on-quarter as well.
There's a mixed book for the BBC Nations with Radio Ulster getting its best reach for a few years. They added a whopping 82,000 listeners in Q2/07 compared with Q1/07. Radio Wales lost 46,000 from its audience though, and BBC Radio Scotland did worst off of the three – losing 146,000 from their reach (dropping from 25% to 21%). That sees them drop below the million listeners per week level again.
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