It was a great day for radio yesterday and the industry has been celebrating the biggest ever listening figures to radio in the UK. We’ve been pushing the message hard for London’s number 1 station, Magic 105.4 and the rest of the stations in the Bauer Place Portfolio and Bauer Passion Portfolio. I can share the full details of the results for these stations below and in particular it’s worth noting the performance of the Rickie, Melvin and Charlie breakfast show on Kiss FM which now has a weekly audience of 1.6M listeners nationwide.

One of the most interesting points is still the question of tracking and monitoring the new ways of listening to radio. Speaking of my own experiences, I now use my iphone as a portable radio around the home and garden, choosing radio stations via the TuneIn Radio app and streaming the play over wi-fi. I love it. It means I can take radio anywhere with me and I have all my favourite stations, commercial and BBC, bookmarked. And then there’s the playback facility in apps like KissKube – KissStory’s brilliant. Which underlines the importance of programming brands as well as the overall radio station brand. So, I’m listening to more radio than ever before (and it’s not even the footy season!) but none of that listening is being officially tracked. Something’s got to give…

In the meantime, here is the release in full:

BAUER INCREASES REACH TO 13.8m LISTENERS IN UK

MAGIC 105.4 RETURNS TO No.1 MUSIC STATION IN LONDON, AHEAD OF BBC RADIO 2

- Magic 105.4 (London) and Kiss FM (national) register highest ever reach -

- Bauer Place Portfolio and Bauer Passion Portfolio increase reach and hours year-on-year -

LONDON, Thursday 4 August: Bauer has increased its reach across the UK from 13m to 13.8m listeners year-on-year (yoy), with Magic 105.4 returning to number one music station in London ahead of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 1, Capital and Heart. Magic 105.4 and national youth brand KISS FM recorded highest ever reach, up 11.7% and 14.7% respectively (yoy).

Bauer Place Portfolio –

Big in all the right places

The Bauer Place Portfolio increased its national reach by 4.5% (yoy) from 8.7m listeners to 9.1m listeners around the country. Listening hours increased 1.4% (yoy). This supports Bauer’s strategy of increasing listener engagement through relevant and local programming content, which is tailor made by local stations that broadcast to and from the places they live.

Bauer Place Portfolio is headlined by flagship station Magic 105.4, which returned to the number one spot in London after a spectacular quarter that saw an increase in reach of 14.4% quarter on quarter (qoq) and 11.7% (yoy) to almost 2.3m listeners. Hours and market share also increased, rising 19.4% (qoq) and 15.1% (qoq) respectively. The station was boosted by its on and off air promotion of the inaugural ‘Magic Summer Live’ event with Sir Elton John, the Lighthouse Family and Rumer. Breakfast presenter Neil Fox increased reach by 4.3% to 845k (qoq), to commercial number two ahead of Heart’s Jamie Theakston.

Stations in the Bauer Place Portfolio have also beaten BBC Radio 1 breakfast DJ Chris Moyles across the UK, taking number one spot in markets the length and breadth of the country, including Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Belfast and Sheffield. In addition to outperforming the BBC, Bauer is also commercial number one for reach and share in all of its 21 markets.

Top performing stations in the regions include –

· Radio City 96.7 in Liverpool, with reach up 12.7% and hours up 23.8% (yoy). It was boosted by the build up to ‘Radio City Live’, featuring artists like Scouting for Girls.

· Metro Radio in Newcastle, with reach up 1.6% and hours up 0.8% (yoy). Highlights included four days of live broadcasts to celebrate the start of Take That’s national tour.

· Clyde 1 in Glasgow, with reach up 8.5% and hours up 8.7% (yoy). Innovations included ‘Seven Saturdays in the Summer’, with broadcasts across the local transmission area.

· 97.4 Cool FM in Belfast, with reach up 9.9% and hours up 6.5% (yoy). Highlights included an outside broadcast from Oxegen Festival, featuring Beyonce, Coldplay and The Script.

· Wave 105 in Southampton, with reach up 18.7% and hours up 26.5% (yoy).

Bauer Passion Portfolio –

Uniting listeners around music and lifestyle

Youth brand KISS FM recorded its highest ever audience – both across the UK and in the competitive London market. Reach jumped from 3.7m to 4.3m listeners across the UK, an increase of 14.7% (yoy), and listening hours also increased by 13.1% (yoy). The KISS FM breakfast show, Rickie, Melvin & Charlie in the Morning, increased its reach nationally by 104,000 listeners (yoy) and now attracts an audience of 1.6m every week. In London, KISS FM is now the biggest station for the all-important 15-24yo, 15-34yo and 15-44yo audience, beating BBC Radio 1, Capital and Heart.

KISS FM headlines the Bauer Passion Portfolio, the home of Bauer’s passionate, iconic brands dedicated to music and lifestyle. The Portfolio increased its reach from 6.4m to 6.6m (yoy), up 3.4%. Listening hours also increased, up 4.3% (yoy).

Within the Portfolio, The Hits also increased its reach from 1.1m to 1.2m, with hours up 5.8% (yoy). Highlights include the brand new ‘Future Hits Live’ event series, intimate gigs featuring emerging artists like Tinchy Stryder, Wretch 32 and girl band, Parade. Popular promotions around ‘Bieber O’Clock’ and Glee saw The Hits become the top trend on Twitter for several days at a time this quarter, supporting Bauer’s strong focus on social media.

Smash Hits also increased its reach significantly, rising from 990k to 1.1m (yoy), whilst listening hours increased 1.6% (yoy). Smash Hits has continually proven the popularity of its jukebox style focus on pop music. The Bauer programming team focuses constantly on tweaking and fine-tuning the playlist, with a view to ensuring the music remains relevant.

Bauer Gets Social

Bauer’s strong focus on the power of social media to enrich the radio experience is reflected in its online and social media numbers. Each month 1.8m fans visit Bauer’s radio websites, total app downloads have now reached 1.5m and over 1.2m fans follow a station on Facebook.

Steve Parkinson, managing director of Bauer Radio London, said: “Our London team is rightly celebrating today’s figures – with both Magic and Kiss enjoying their highest audiences ever. Quite an achievement. Magic is playing the BBC at their own game by using other Bauer platforms such as magazines and TV to promote our service, and Kiss continues to connect with millions of young consumers across radio, and via a huge increase in app downloads and online listening.”

Dee Ford, group managing director radio, Bauer Media said: “I am very pleased to see that the strategy behind Bauer Place Portfolio and Bauer Passion Portfolio is continuing to pay dividends, as we return another strong set of results. I am particularly pleased to see Magic 105.4 return to number one spot in London, with the largest reach of all music stations, including the BBC. Commercial radio as a whole is performing very well and listening hours are up across the board. The rise in digital radio listening hours and reach is also a great story as The Hits and Smash Hits have a positive quarter under the Bauer Passion Portfolio. The Bauer Place Portfolio continues to focus on local programming and we are thrilled to see our hours continue to grow, reflecting our ambition to be ‘big in all the right places’. The results make Bauer commercial market leader for reach and share in each of our 21 markets.”