AS LOCAL MEDIA around the country struggles there is one area of news and entertainment that has continued to thrive – local radio.
That is certainly true off Moray Firth Radio (MFR) who were this week able to reveal that their weekly audience reach had increased by 4% to an impressive 118,000.
The figures were published by the industry body Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), who named MFR as one of a number of stations operating under the Bauer Media Scotland banner to show increased figures in the third quarter of this year.
Producers of Ginno at Breakfast, MFR’s flagship early morning show, were also celebrating as they learned that the programme had attracted an additional 1000 regular listeners, taking it to the 80,000 mark.
The network managing director, Graham Bryce, said: “These latest figures from RAJAR are an absolutely terrific set of results for our stations across Scotland and demonstrate that we consistently get close to our listeners with rich and engaging local content.
“We continue to invest in local presenters, news, travel and sports teams to ensure that our stations, already rich in heritage, remain somewhere relevant that our listeners know they can trust and go to for entertainment and the best music.
“The success is all credit to our talented teams, not only on air but all the support behind them, while we also say a huge thank you to our local station listeners across Scotland for continuing to tune in.”
There was good news also for another of Bauer Media’s north-east stable, with Northsound 1 extending its lead as the most listened to radio station in the region, reaching 144,000 adult listeners each week – a 10-year high for the station.