Ashford Local Radio - Ofcom Licensing

Current Radio Listening
Invicta FM is the dominant station in the area, with 44.3% of respondents saying unprompted that they listen to it, and a
total of 53.6% listening when prompted. Radio 1 also proved popular, with 27.4% of respondents unprompted listening to
it, and 36.3% when prompted. Unprompted, 10.5% of respondents said spontaneously that they listened to ALR, increasing
to 17.3% when respondents were prompted with a list of radio stations, taking over local station BBC Radio Kent’s figures
of 15.3%.The significance of Invicta FM and BBC Radio Kent in the listening repertoire suggests a desire to hear a service
with a ‘regional identity’, when neither in fact can deliver a truly ‘local’ service to the people of Ashford.
When respondents were asked which radio station they had listened to the most in the previous week, 5.1% said ALR,
but out of the current ALR listeners, almost a third had listened to it the most over the last week, suggesting it proved
popular with those that had heard it. In terms of other stations that had been listened to over the previous week, ALR
received 10.1%, around three times that of BBC Radio Kent’s 3.4%.This suggests it is more likely for ALR listeners to listen
to it in addition to other main stations.Therefore, it should be ALR’s aim to provide choice and variety in addition to the
existing radio stations.
Profile of Radio Listeners
Although Invicta FM and Radio 1 proved to be the most popular stations, whereas Invicta scored highly with all those
in the 16 to 54 age group, Radio 1 was most popular with those under 35. Since Invicta had the highest listening figures,
this suggests a large potential audience for ALR, as the two stations target similar audiences. When respondents were
specifically asked if they had listened to ALR, respondents in the male age group 30 to 34 were most likely to have
listened, (45.0%).
Local Focus
Although Radio 1 was the second most popular station, overall the research showed that local stations performed slightly
better in Ashford, with around 55% of respondents listing local stations when asked about their current listening habits.
This suggests a loyalty to localness in Ashford and that a new commercial service would find itself easier to launch in
terms of gaining new listeners.
The respondents were given 10 statements to choose from to describe which factors were important to them in a radio
station.The results showed that the relative importance of the factors listed differed between the users as a whole and
ALR listeners, suggesting that ALR’s audience have specialised needs. ALR listeners were in agreement with the
respondents’ overall view that ‘music that suits my tastes’ and ‘programmes that entertain me’ were the two most
important factors. But then ‘local’ factors such as ‘news and information about the local area’, ‘good for the local
community’ and ‘makes me feel part of life in the local area’ were the next priority for ALR listeners.
While Invicta FM was the most popular station chosen in all the factors, ALR received its highest number of votes in more
locally centred categories, suggesting its strength is its local focus. 40.7% of respondents who had heard ALR said
unprompted that they liked it because ‘it’s about Ashford and the Ashford area’. One quarter said they like that it ‘has local
news about Ashford and the surrounding area’. When prompted, these figures rose to 50.8% and 42.4% respectively.
19.5% were more likely to listen to ALR because it was ‘local’, and interestingly 17.1% of ALR listeners said they listened
because it was on at work.
Decision Making
Music and entertaining programmes were seen to be the main reasons for people selecting a station. But it has been seen
that the two most popular stations, Invicta FM and Radio 1, attract different audiences and have differing approaches, with
Radio 1 faring badly on local centred issues. Invicta scored highly in all factors, stressing that while music and entertaining
programmes are the most important factors to listeners, this does not mean that other, local centred factors, are not wellreceived.
www.ashfordlocalradio.com
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