Cornwall's 105 to 107 Itchy FM - Ofcom Licensing

Spoken Word
The research suggests a real opportunity for commercial radio at breakfast time. Respondents tell us
they want a fun, entertaining morning show: 57% choose a station with “a lot of entertainment and fun
personalities mixed with music”, while only 33% choose “a lot of music with minimal chat”. Currently,
BBC Radio 1 appears to be the only option for these people – 69% of those who want an entertaining
morning show listen to BBC Radio 1 most in the mornings. The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show
dominates the market; among those who listen to radio in the mornings, 45% choose BBC Radio 1.
Speech elements, such as news, information and interaction are regarded as important by the
overwhelming majority of respondents. About 8 in 10 of all respondents felt that frequent news bulletins
for Cornwall were important, of which half regarded this as “very important”. There was very similar
importance attached to information about concerts and live music.
It’s certainly bad news for those DJ’s who like to talk up to the vocals – 8 out of 10 respondents said it
was important for this not to happen. But the content of speech is key; respondents indicate that the
presenters should be knowledgeable about the music played and 76% regard radio as their primary
source of finding out about new music – which is 40% more than the number who view music TV
channels and nearly 8 times more than the 11% who get their information from music magazines.
Effect on Listening Trends
Itchy FM will most appeal to the remarkable 62% of listeners aged 15-39 who regard BBC Radio 1 as
their favourite (P1) station. 71% of Pirate FM’s audience is aged 35 or over, 5 and it is unquestionable
that Itchy FM will also appeal to a significant proportion of its much smaller, younger audience.
Those who love Radio 1 and Pirate FM will not stop listening because of this new Dance/Indie
station: There is clear evidence from the data that those who are “completely satisfied” with what they
hear on Radio 1 and Pirate FM are unlikely to leave those stations for this new station. Rather, the
sizeable market for this new station would come from those who are NOT “completely satisfied” with
their current choices. Only 3% of those who currently listen to Radio 1 and are “completely satisfied”
with the station would make this new this new Dance & Indie Rock station their “favourite”. Among
Pirate FM, only 11% of there core listeners would make the new station there “favourite.
There is significant evidence that this
new station would increase the time
people would spend listening to radio in
Cornwall. A significant 34% of the
sample said that they would listen to
radio more if the new station described
were to come on the air. Among those
who said they would listen less to
existing station, a large portion cited
BBC stations as the stations they would
decrease time with.
It is those who are most interested in a
new radio with our proposed format who
are NOT satisfied with their existing
choice of radio in Cornwall.
5 Source: RAJAR quarter ending: 09/04
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