Radio Listening Data 3rd Qtr 2021

Its been a while since we’ve seen the UK radio listening data as RAJAR locked down after Q1 2020 & have just published the first data set since then.

All Radio Listening - Share Platform (%)
Q3 2019 Q1 2020 Q3 2021
FM 43.3 41.4 34.2
All Digial 56.8 58.6 65.8
DAB 39.7 40.2 43.0
DTV 4.2 4.4 4.7
OnLine 13.0 14.0 18.1

FM has taken a big drop, albeit over 2 years but its still the biggest year on year change in the records.
I wonder if this changes BBC decision to hold off on FM switch off - finger crossed it won’t.
On-Line (web radio) & has shown a good year on year growth, great news in my view & for Naim’s iRadio.

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Question :thinking: how can they possibly collect data on fm use after all a basic fm radio does not transmit only receives. Internet yes data via server but fm and dab ???

By RAJAR getting people like me to detail all their radio listening in a given week. I’ve been doing it for a few years now. I do one week in every four, entering via a smartphone app exactly when & where I listened, what station and on what broadcast type (i.e. FM or DAB). You may be pleased to hear I faithfully record all my FM listening to keep the figures favourable.

I’m a bit miffed they haven’t published the data for lockdown - I was recording everything religiously in that time!

Mark

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During a road trip to Scotland this summer I foolishly tried listening to the cricket on DAB. Total waste of time. Constant drop outs. Good old wheezy, whistley AM to the rescue. At home I’ve been relegated to the front room for home office duties and away from the main lounge where the NAT01 lives. A simple Roberts radio is my front room R3 companion with a choice of DAB or FM. Even on a little Radio FM sounds so much better.

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They collect data just as Ebor said, I’ve been doing it for a number of years.
Ebor, they informed me they were shutting down after Q1 2020 but I heard nothing about restarting to get the Q3 2021 data. Whatever I’m back on track now.

Well, that’s peculiar - I kept on rolling with the app every four weeks, email reminders came in like clockwork, I’ve been credited with my ‘reward points’… no suggestion of shutting anything down.

Mark

Hard to get a strong FM signal around here. My lovely little Onix tuner just sits around unused. If only the Beeb would get their act together and broadcast at least R3 in FLAC, I’d be happy to give up on FM altogether (apologies to FM enthusiasts). If RP can do it, why not the BBC?

Roger

Indeed, the R3 FLAC trial was exceptionally good. Perhaps they have it on the back burner ready for FM shutdown whenever that may be. Sadly the BBCs rich heritage of innovation and R&D seems to have been largely abandoned now so I’m not holding my breath.

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Following on from this, RAJAR periodically ask me to detail all my listening (not just radio) for research purposes, and I’m doing that this week for them. It may interest some of you that the questions you have to answer every time you log some listening seem to assume that the one thing you won’t be doing whilst listening to music is, er, listening to music:

Unless listening to music counts as ‘nothing in particular’!

Mark

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:rofl: Classic!!

To be able to say that you are listening to music while listening to music would be tautological. If you were doing nothing else, the answer is obviously ‘relaxing/nothing in particular’. It surely makes perfect sense.

I’m glad it makes sense to you. It still strikes me as peculiar. The world’s big enough to contain both reactions.

Mark

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I have music or news on most working day hours coming from radio of some sort as background whilst doing many of the items on the list.
Any serious listening, that is doing nothing else but listing, is invariably from my own NAS music, so it makes perfect sense to me as well.

@Mike-B thank you for sharing this. Listening to R3 on FM/Nat 05 as I type, no fancy aerial, sounds stunning, hope that FM continues for as long as.

The band II spectrum has no use for anything except radio broadcasting because there isn’t enough of it to use for anything more “valuable”. So the Government/Ofcom are unlikely to want to turn FM broadcasting off.

A more significant point is that it does cost the BBC a certain amount to simulcast in FM as well as on line and DAB, so it’s more about whether the BBC change their mind.

On the Radio 3 FLAC trial, I am hearing that although it was technically a success, it didn’t make any commercial sense and it won’t therefore be going anywhere. Unfortunately.

Hi Lindsay, I/we have a mix of regular listing stations
Typically early morning we have local radio BBC for local news & traffic, then R4 for serious news. If a nothing much to do day once the domestic stuff is done its R3.
If a busy day & background with no DJ verbiage, its Radio Paradise.

Me too NAT-05 via an attic mounted Ron Smith G14 from 46kW (Oxford) transmitter only 5.6km distant - gross overkill but I also get some interesting low power long distance stuff.

The latest on FM switch off published in ‘Radio Today’ Oct 2021 … FM should continue until at least 2030 in the UK according to a Digital Radio and Audio Review by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Media Minister Julia Lopez said: … …
“We must make sure this treasured medium continues to reach audiences as listening shifts to new technologies and that we have a gradual transition away from FM to protect elderly listeners and those in remote areas.
We will not have a digital switchover until at least 2030 and will consider new rules to keep our thriving radio sector at the heart of the UK’s media landscape.”

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When I had to have my TV aerial sorted a little while back the guy looked up at the roof and said “I’ll take that old FM thing down, you won’t be needing that”, “no DON’T do that”!

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Recently had a new TV aerial installed in our new home…

Anyway, the guy tried to convince me that I wouldn’t need an FM aerial anymore.
He had the very strong opinion it didn’t work any more. Despite my best efforts to persuade him otherwise with latest information on this situation. So, sure, that’s all real world right now, with aerial installers.

Love the FM service. In particular my local BBC station and local football matches - live commentary.

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Knowledgeable FM antenna installers must be rarer than hens teeth these days.

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It’s a long shot but if you are anywhere near Southampton, I can easily recommend the guy who put up my Yagi.