FM still more than DAB for mainstream BBC radio

General Discussion
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Radio 1: 44% of listeners still tune in via FM, while only 28% are on DAB and 25% utilise streaming services.

Radio 2: 40% of listeners still tune in via FM, while only 26% are on DAB and 20% utilise streaming services.

2022 RAJAR, extracted via a complicated battle between BBC and Information commissioner after I poked them an awful lot. They didn’t give up these figures easily.

So after nearly 30 years of being on the best DAB network in the country, on standard DAB (not +), at a decent bitrate, Radio 1 and 2 still can’t get anything like the DAB listeners as on FM. And online is catching up very very rapidly.

Not quite the narrative we are lead to believe. But then again with 2/3 of the RAJAR stations being DAB only, of course DAB will appear better. But these figures are for two stations which are far more representative of anything.

I am struggling to get these figures into the public domain. It seems the media has a vested interest in seeing DAB succeed, and the media controls the media so won’t run a story that isn’t in their own interest.

Is this something better media could make a statement on to try to get it into the public domain and start the conversations?

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Hi Sam,
Thanks for raising these really useful stats. They paint a picture that is very much in line with the concerns raised in our submission to the DCMS about the Media Bill earlier this year.

As for further publicising them, would you be willing to write up the contents of this post into a short blog? We could then publish it on our website and try to get some publicity for it through our connections in the Independent Media Association, the Broadcast 2040+ campaign and elsewhere.

Reach me by email at contact@bettermedia.uk if you like.

Rowan

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These figures have now been published in Radio Today:

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