My research on RAJAR and local radio stations (To the Isle Of Wight) listening figures for AS media. Shania

1. RAJAR

2. What is RAJAR?
• RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research.
• It is the official body in charge of measuring radio
audiences in the UK.
• It is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre
on behalf of the commercial sector.
• There are currently approximately 310 individual
stations on the survey with the results being
published every quarter.

3. About RAJAR
• RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research. It is the
official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the
United Kingdom.
• RAJAR was set up by the BBC and the RadioCentre in 1992 to
measure their audiences using the same system. It replaced
the BBC’s Daily Survey and Commercial Radio’s JICRAR survey.
• RAJAR is a non profit making organisation.
• RAJAR data is the industry wide currency for planning, buying
and selling advertising on Commercial Radio.
• RAJAR is owned and controlled by the industry it serves.
• RAJAR has a continuous programme of innovation and
development to meet its market’s needs.
• The current annual sample is approximately 110,000
respondents aged 15+. Participants are asked to keep a diary
recording their radio listening for a week.

4. History of RAJAR: 1st Contract 1992-98
• The first RAJAR contract commenced with the measurement of radio
audiences for Quarter 4 of 1992 and was in operation up to and
including Quarter 4 of 1998. From Quarter 1 of 1999, the origins of
the current survey were put in place.
• The research carried out between 1992-1998 was based on a seven
day self-completion diary, personally placed and collected by
Interviewers. The respondents completed their diaries using a list of
relevant stations which were pre-printed across each diary page.
Diary's were given to members of selected households.
• The sampling and fieldwork plan for 1992-1998, allowed the
publication of results for BBC and Commercial Radio national and
regional services (with adult populations of 4 million or more on a
quarterly basis.. Results for most local radio services, both
Commercial and BBC, were published for each quarter 2 and quarter
4. Audiences for the smallest stations (with an adult population of
under 300,000) were measured once a year in quarter 2.

5. History Of RAJAR: Review of methods.
1996-1997
• In 1996 and 1997, RAJAR had a review of
methods, followed by an extensive experimental
programme of new diary and sample designs. After this
review had taken place, three new features were added
to the RAJAR contract specification.
1. A personalised diary, customised to include the
stations required by each individual respondent.
2. Only one adult per household is to be
interviewed, instead of all the household members.
3. Measurement of audiences on a rolling basis, with
listening data built up over three, six or twelve
months, according to the size of this station, with
publication of all stations results every quarter.

6. History of RAJAR: 2nd RAJAR Contract
1999-2006
• When planning the second RAJAR Contract from
1998 onwards, there was a need to adjust the
current system to an increasing complex radio
market, in particular the growth in the number of
stations. A new diary was required.
• Other objectives for the new specification were to
provide improvements in the same quality and
reporting systems.

7. History Of RAJAR: The 3rd Contract
2007 onwards
• A new contract was awarded starting in quarter 2 of
2007. Ipsos retained the fieldwork while sample design
and weighting is handled by RSMB.
• Changes to the main contract include:
1. A new diary featuring platform columns as well as
location, allowing reporting on each platform
separately.
2. The move from postcode sectors to districts as
building blocks to define TSAs, which led to a
reduction in the number of segments, therefore
bringing less volatility to the reported data.

8. Online Diary: 2011
• From Quarter 3 of 2011, RAJAR introduced an online
version of a radio listening diary as an additional
collection methodology across all TSAs. It is recognised
that respondent engagement is critical to the continued
quality of the survey and that by offering a choice as to
how people record and return their listening data will
help maintain the current high levels of participation
and completion into the future.
• Additional benefits also include higher accuracy in
attribution of listening to the different platforms
(Digital/non digital) as well as higher in home
completion that in turn enhances overall data quality.

9. RAJAR’s Mission
RAJAR is responsible for setting the research
specification, the awarding of the research contracts
to third party suppliers and the overall quality control,
management and delivery of the service. The day to
day operations are overseen by the Chief Executive
and Research Director.

10. Why is RAJAR important to the
industry?
• RAJAR estimates listenership of over 300 radio
stations – who listens, where, when and how.
• It is the trading currency for radio
broadcasters.
• It is used by media agencies to plan and buy
advertising in radio airtime.
• It is used by radio owners to pitch for
business, sell advertising airtime and monitor
programmes performance.

11. Listening figures for Capital South Coast
Here are the quarterly figures for Capital South
Coast:
Only 21% of the 1,161,000 people that can listen to the station do listen. Despite Capital
being a popular station in the South, there are also other stations such as Wave 105 and
BBC Radio Solent that are popular meaning that Capital would be sharing the audience
with other stations. Also, the target audience for Capital seems to be for teenagers and
young adults which could also indicate why the percentage is low as adults are less likely
to listen to this sort of station.

12. Listening figures for Isle Of Wight
Radio
Here are the Quarterly Listening figures for Isle
Of Wight Radio.
Out of the 120,000 people living on the Isle Of Wight, 34% listen to Isle Of Wight Radio. This is
quite surprising as you would think as Isle Of Wight Radio is specifically for the island, more
island residents would want to listen to it. But with the advance of technology, it is possible for
islanders to choose to listen to other south coast stations suitable for their own target audience.

13. Audience figure glossary
Average Hours per Head: The average length of time a person spends listening to a station. This is calculated by
dividing the Weekly Hours by the Population.
Average Hours per Listener: The average length of time that listeners to a station spend with that station. This is
calculated by dividing the Weekly Hours by the Weekly Reach.
Population: The number of people aged 15+ who live within the TSA of a given station.
Reach Index: The Weekly Reach % of a station against a Target Market indexed against the All Adult Weekly Reach %
for that station. This indicates whether a Target Market is more or less likely to listen to a given station, with 100
being the norm.
Share in TSA: The percentage of total listening time accounted for by a station in its Total Survey Area in an average
week. This is obtained by dividing the station’s total hours by the All Radio total hours in the station’s TSA.
Survey Period: Depending on the size of their Total Survey Area, stations report on a sample based on 3, 6 or 12
months. This is the survey period and is denoted by the letters Q (Quarter), H (half yearly), and Y (yearly).
Total Survey Area: The area within which a station’s audience is measured. This is defined by the station using
postcode districts as building blocks.
Total Weekly Hours: The total number of hours that a station is listened to over the course of a week. This is the
sum of all quarter-hours for all listeners.