GMG Radio gains listeners but Bauer loses out

GMG Radio North West said it added another 211,000 listeners across its stable of stations in the first quarter of the year.

The group, which owns Smooth, Real and Rock Radio, attracted 1.28 million adult listeners each week, according to latest figures released today by industry body RAJAR.

Its main commercial rival Bauer North West, which has a stable of stations including 97.4 Rock FM, Key 103, Radio City and Magic, lost 55,000 listeners during the period, slipping 4% to 1.29 million.

GMG’s largest station, Smooth, saw year-on-year growth in listener numbers of 23% to 825,000 a week. Real Radio grew by 6% to 472,000.

Bauer lost listeners at 97.4 Rock FM, which dropped 7% to 286,000, and Key 103 which lost 33,000 listeners, or 7%. Radio City in Liverpool put on 38,000 listeners, up 9%.

GMG’s managing director Andy Carter said: “As a whole, the GMG Radio portfolio of Smooth, Real and Rock stations offer a fantastic array of programming and opportunities for advertisers wanting to target a large chunk of the adult population.”

BBC Radio Manchester lost 38,000 listeners, compared to the same period last year. This was a 15% decline to 203,000 people. BBC Radio Merseyside was down by 1,000 listeners, or 0.3%, to 323,000. BBC Radio Lancashire put on 22,000 listeners, or 9%, to 250,000 and Cumbria also gained listeners, up 1.3% to 156,000.