Rother FM - Ofcom Licensing

Section 105 (D): Evidence of local demand or support
was named by 47% of 25-34 year olds and by 34% of 35-44 year olds. This shows that
playing the best of today’s music will be very important for a substantial part of our target
audience. There were also strong positive responses to 60s, 70s and 80s music. Amongst
specific genres of music, R’nB, rock and country were mentioned by – respectively – 19%,
18% and 17% of respondents, although country was mostly popular only with the top end of
our target age range and beyond.
As respondents could give multiple answers to each question – they were allowed to choose
as many genres as they liked – the main lesson learned is the variety of choice. It seems
there is strong support for a station playing a broad range of music from the 1960s to the
present day.
News and information
82% of respondents felt it was important that a new radio station should provide a
comprehensive local news and information service. In order to establish more about what
that service should sound like, a series of further questions were asked. News about
Rotherham, news about South Yorkshire as a whole and national news were all felt to be very
important, while 73% agreed that it was important for the news to be independent of other
local media in the Rotherham area. Rother FM, which will have no dependence on local
newspapers, will be able to provide this.
Interest in local news and information topics shows local weather to be as important as local
news – with 91% of respondents rating each as “important” or “very important”. These are
followed by national news, local travel and local people. Other subjects proving of interest to
more than two-thirds of respondents are local people, crime, local sport, health and hospitals,
and what’s on listings. This question has helped inform our news and programming
proposals.
Likelihood to listen, broadening of choice
86% of respondents said they’d be “likely” or “very likely” to listen to Rother FM, based on a
description of the proposed service as follows:
The station will have a comprehensive local and national news service, travel and
weather reports for this area, plus information about major events in the Rotherham
area, sport and things to do. The station will play a broad range of popular music from
the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and the present day.
Given the satisfaction levels with their current choice of local listening, it is interesting that
once a specific Rotherham station is mentioned, respondents seem very ready to listen.
Likelihood to listen is highest with 35-64 year olds, and with the C2DE groupings. When
asked if the station described would increase their choice of listening, 84% agreed: again,
highest amongst 35-64 year olds.
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