Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Target audience<br />
Section 105 (B) and (C): Catering for tastes and interests/broadening choice<br />
The 2001 Census shows the population of <strong>Rother</strong>ham to be 248,176, a 2.2% reduction from<br />
the previous census in 1991 (in contrast, the population of the UK as a whole increased by<br />
2.4%). While the age profile of the borough is generally similar to that of the UK as a whole,<br />
the number within the age group 20-29 is smaller than average (11.0% compared to 12.6%<br />
nationally). Children under 16 account for a slightly higher percentage of the population than<br />
people over 60. However the mean average age of <strong>Rother</strong>ham’s population (38.6) is very<br />
close to that of England and Wales as a whole (38.7).<br />
Although it’s centred on a large industrial town, about three-quarters of the area is rural.<br />
Ethnic minorities account for 3.1% of the borough’s population, with the largest group – 1.9%<br />
of the total population – being of Pakistani origin.<br />
<strong>Rother</strong> <strong>FM</strong> plans to target as broad an audience as possible, with geography rather than<br />
demographics being the key to our appeal. Our core target audience will be 25-54. However,<br />
we believe that our strong local focus will, in due course, appeal to significant numbers of<br />
people both younger and older than that, attracted by our local news and information and our<br />
broad mix of music. We believe the 55-64 age group will soon become an important part of<br />
our listenership (as they have at Trax <strong>FM</strong>), and will be a significant secondary target<br />
audience. <strong>Rother</strong> <strong>FM</strong> also plans to be a popular choice for family listening – parents and<br />
children together, attracted by a positive, “family values” approach and a number of features<br />
of particular interest to children.<br />
Editorially, we plan to cover the whole of the <strong>Rother</strong>ham Metropolitan Borough; our<br />
experience with other stations in the Group is that interest in local news and events is of<br />
sufficient appeal to attract listeners in outlying areas even if the transmission strength is<br />
comparatively weak. Once the transmitter is on, we will analyse the comparative strength of<br />
<strong>Rother</strong> <strong>FM</strong> and Trax <strong>FM</strong> Bassetlaw in the south-east of <strong>Rother</strong>ham – in and around the<br />
Dinnington and Anston areas. We will certainly continue to include this area editorially on<br />
<strong>Rother</strong> <strong>FM</strong>, but if Trax <strong>FM</strong> can be heard more clearly, we will make sure that we also offer<br />
coverage on Trax <strong>FM</strong>. Wath-upon-Dearne is in Dearne <strong>FM</strong>’s TSA despite being in the<br />
<strong>Rother</strong>ham Borough. We plan to offer editorial coverage of this area on both stations,<br />
allowing local residents to choose to listen to whichever station they prefer.<br />
Music<br />
Music forms the background to <strong>Rother</strong> <strong>FM</strong>’s programming, and is designed to be of strong<br />
appeal to as broad an age range as possible; and to encourage long listening hours with its<br />
sense of variety and surprise. The music output will be a mix of melodic hits from the 1960s<br />
to the present day, as outlined in our draft format (Question 5). This blend of music has<br />
proved successful on the Group’s other stations, and was tested on both our two-week RSL in<br />
May 2005 and in our market research.<br />
In the market research project outlined in our answer to Question 6, five types of music were<br />
tested, each represented by artist names rather than the name of the genre. They were Chart<br />
23