RAMS shows continued drop in radio listening

On the weekend, Saturday listening declined from 70.9% in the year previous, to 64.4%, and Sunday listening dropped from 69.4% to 64.0%. Time spent listening per day - currently at three hours, 43 minutes - remains similar to the previous release, with only three minutes being lost over RAMS® December 2009. Annually, there was a loss of 20 minutes, but this is due to the new small urban/rural sector, which was introduced in October 2009.

TV viewing is up significantly in this sector, with a rise of 812 000 adults in the TV meter universe last year (AMPS 2009BA).

While radio currently shows comparable levels to those seen in December 2009, there have been a large number of significant shifts over the year previous. The majority of these changes were negative.

Station showing growth

Two commercial/PBS stations and four community stations however, managed to buck this trend.

• North West FM's weekly audience rose from 384 000 in the year previous, to 675 000 currently. Its reach is 2.1% nationally, up from 1.2% in February 2009. The station's average weekday audience has also grown, from 0.6% to 1.0% reach over the same period.
  
• Substantial formatting changes bore fruit for Radio 2000, whose weekly audience is up from 1.1% in February 2009, to 2.3% in the current release. In thousands, the station's weekly audience is now 742 000, from 360 000 in the year previous. Similarly, average Monday to Friday listening has grown from 0.3% to 0.8%.
  
• Alfred Nzo Community Radio 98.3/93.8 fm: from 0.7% to 6.5% in Eastern Cape (317 000 listeners)
  
• Izwi loMzansi 98.0 fm: from 1.2% to 2.1% in KwaZulu-Natal (140 000 listeners)
  
• Moletsi Community Radio Station: a rise from 0.6% to 2.2% in Limpopo (78 000 listeners)
  
• Radio Khwezi: up from 2.0% to 3.7% in KwaZulu-Natal (246 000 listeners)

  Stations in decline