RAMS release includes new place-of-listening

The total listening levels for RAMS Jun 13, are stable over RAMS May 13. Only one radio station posted a significantly changed audience figure over the previous survey and the time spent listening is stable.

National listening levels

Radio listening levels for RAMS Jun 13 are stable on both the previous survey, and the year previous.

Quarter-hour listening levels for an average Monday-Friday are identical to the May 13 release, as well as to the year previous. Saturday morning and afternoon levels are slightly lower compared to the previous year, but almost identical to the May release, while Sunday listening is consistent with both the previous release and the year previous.

• Seven-day listening (p7d) - radio reaches 89.4% of the total adult (15+) population. This figure is stable on the previous survey, although there has been growth in listening in Bloemfontein.
• Average Monday to Friday - 69.4%
• Saturday listening - 65.5%
• Sunday listening - 65.4%

Time spent listening

• Time spent listening is up by one minute on RAMS May 13. SA adults spend on average three hours, 29 minutes listening to radio each day.
• Per week, adults listen for 24 hours, 24 minutes on average, which is six minutes longer than in the previous survey.

Where people listen

The new place-of-listening question asks respondents where they listened to the radio "yesterday", with answers ranging from home and work, to bars, gym, hotels, or while travelling. The first results, based on responses from the large-urban sample only, show that home is not only where the heart is, but where the radio is too.

• 89.8% of large-urban listeners listened to radio at home or at another person's home.
• 22.6% listened in their cars or while driving in a carpool
• 12.2% listened at work or the office
• 11.9% listened in a minibus taxi or while on public transport such as a bus or train
• 3.8% listened in a restaurant or shopping centre

Individual station changes

Commercial radio - No commercial radio station showed any significant change in its audience levels over the previous period. A number, however, have audience levels which look significantly different now than they did in June 2012.

Looking healthier than they did a year ago are:
• East Coast Radio, whose national weekly reach is now 5.5%, compared to 4.9% a year ago. The station's audience is now 1.907-million, where a year ago it was 1.726-million.
• The weekday audience figure for Lesedi FM is up from 2.112-million in RAMS Jun 12 to 2.351-million currently. The station now reaches 6.7% of SA adults, up from 6.0%.
• SAfm is up from 1.5% in RAMS Jun 12, to 1.9% (p7d), with audience in total at 655 000, which is 115 000 more than a year ago.
• Talk Radio 702's national weekly reach is now 2.2%, up from 1.8%, with an additional 147 000 listeners bringing total audience to 768 000. Average Monday-Friday levels are also up, from 0.8% to 1.1%.
• Average Monday-Friday reach is up year on year for Thobela FM, from 4.3% to 5.0%, giving the station an audience boost of 259 000 listeners to 1.753-million.

Year-on-year levels are down for:
• 567 CapeTalk, from 0.4% to 0.2% (p7d) and from 0.2% to 0.1% (M-F)
• Metro FM, from 18.4% to 16.5% (p7d), and from 7.0% to 6.0% (M-F)
• North West FM, from 1.5% to 1.2% (p7d)
• OFM, from 1.6% to 1.3% (p7d)
• Phalaphala FM, from 3.0% to 2.3% (p7d)

Significant demographic shifts over RAMS May 13

All shifts are for weekly listening.
• 94.7 Highveld Stereo is up in metros, and has more 35-49-year-old listeners.
• 657 AM Radio Pulpit/Kansel has grown its male audience.
• Good Hope FM is up in the Cape fringe.
• Ikwekwezi FM is up in Pretoria.
• Kaya FM 95.9 is up on the Vaal.
• Lesedi FM has fewer listeners in Kimberley.
• Phalaphala FM saw gains in its Gauteng audience, and in Johannesburg in particular.
• Ukhozi FM has lost listeners in cities and large towns.

New station results

The first audience results are in for new commercial station, Vuma 103FM, which launched in November last year. Based on large-urban data only, the station has achieved a weekly reach of 0.2%, with an audience of 74 000, while its average Monday-Friday reach is 0.1%, with an audience of 26 000. The first full audience results for Vuma 103FM will be released with RAMS Nov 13.

Community radio

Reach for the community radio sector as a whole remained stable over the previous survey, but is still not at the levels it was a year ago. Weekly reach was 24.9% in RAMS Jun 12 and is currently 23.5%, while average Monday-Friday listening levels are 11.6%, compared to the 12.5% of the year previous.

The sector, however, boasts the only radio station in the country to post a significant change in listening levels over the previous RAMS release.

• The Voice of the Cape grew its reach into the Western Cape from 4.7% in RAMS May 13, to 6.8%, with audience numbers now at 241 000, up 73 000 since the last release.

Significant year-on-year changes over RAMS Jun 12

All shifts are for weekly (p7d) listening. Reach stated is provincial, not national.

KwaZulu-Natal:
• Imbokodo FM 96.8, up from 1.0% to 1.8%
• Radio Khwezi, down from 2.6% to 1.7%

Western Cape:
• CCfm 107.5, down from 2.9% to 1.5%
• Radio Tygerberg, 104fm down from 8.6% to 6.6%

Eastern Cape:
• Alfred Nzo Community Radio, up from 4.9% to 6.5%
• Unitra Community Radio, down from 7.7% to 4.8%

North West:
• Star Fm 102.9 Mhz, up from 2.7% to 4.8%

Free State:
• Mosupatsela FM Stereo, down from 8.8% to 4.6%

Northern Cape:
• Radio NFM, up from 2.0% to 6.3%

Audience figures for new community stations

RAMS Jun 13 has the first weekly audience figures (large-urban data only) for a number of new community stations.
• Midcities 107.4FM in Gauteng: 1 000 audience members.
• Radio Al-Ansaar in KwaZulu-Natal: 0.5% reach, with an audience of 38 000.
• Ugu Youth Radio in KwaZulu-Natal: 0.1% reach, 6 000 audience.
• Modiri FM in North West: 2 000 audience members.

The next RAMS release for 2013 will be on 15 August 2013.