The View from V2 Radio - How radio listening has changed - By Neale Bateman, presenter of V2 Radio’s Daytime show.

It will probably escape most people’s notice, but here in “radio land” one of the highlights of the calendar is the quarterly release of radio listening figures compiled by RAJAR – the Radio Joint Audience Research - the official body responsible for measuring radio audiences in the UK.  The latest numbers are due to be released this week, and while the headlines sometimes make the tabloid newspapers - especially those critical of the BBC and everything that the licence fee stands for (more of which another time!) – for most it is quickly yesterday’s news.

But it is interesting to see how radio listening has changed over the last few years.  Figures released earlier this year showed that 87% of adults in the UK listen to the radio each week (that’s over 51 million people) and that the average listener spends over 20 hours a week tuned in. Most significantly for digital radio stations like V2 Radio, the data also reveal that listening to the radio “on-line” has hit record levels, demonstrating changing listening habits as more people tune in via connected devices like laptops, mobile phones and smart speakers.

Total digital listening (all platforms) has reached an all-time high; 77% of the population tune in to digital radio every week, and what’s more, commercial radio listeners are at the forefront of this trend.  This increase, whether on-line or to DAB radio, is of course broadly at the expense of traditional radio technologies such as FM and AM. Hardly surprising in the case of AM, as so many station owners have now switched off so many of their medium wave transmitters.  But even on FM, another trend is emerging which shows the real value of genuinely local radio.  V2 Radio’s own audience research shows that local news and travel information is one of the most important reasons people tune in, second only in fact, to the music we play and the company of friendly and trusted presenters who actually know and love the area we live in.

Many of you will know the history behind V2 Radio, and will no doubt remember Spirit FM which preceded it. The same fate which befell Spirit FM has also now gobbled up even more of the fondly remembered radio stations here in the south – now desperately trying to sound “local” despite the programmes and presenters being based, in many cases, hundreds of miles away, and mostly pre-recorded – that’s NOT local radio! Now wonder that there is an upsurge in local businesses and organisations wanting to get their message across to the record number of listeners who now tune in every day to V2 Radio – now that IS proper local radio!   

 Neale’s Daytime Show is on weekdays from 11am-3pm and you can listen to V2 Radio on your digital (DAB) radio, on-line, and on your smart speaker, phone or tablet – WWW.V2RADIO.CO.UK