THE Q Radio Network saw its average weekly listeners soar by a third to 284,000 between April and June - its largest quarterly increase since audience research body Rajar resumed collecting data in September 2021 after it was paused at the start of the pandemic.
It gave Q Radio by far the most significant gain of any station in the north, and further strengthened its position for its target audience in the 25-to-44 age range.
In May, Q launched its new Breakfast Show, with Andrew and Amy joining the team, and with just eight weeks to sink into the listeners’ ears, it has increased its listenership by more than a third quarter-on-quarter, with the momentum continuing throughout the day with significant increases across all shows.
"It's essential to recognise that our success is a result of a collective effort," said Annette McManus, chief marketing officer at Q Radio owners IntoMedia.
"This is a huge improvement on last quarter and second only to the numbers when Q first officially reported the whole of Northern Ireland as its total survey area (TSA) in Q3 2021, bringing us back to number three in the local commercial market, now just 8,000 listeners behind Downtown.
"Our talented presenter line-up, content creators, programming and marketing teams, and all departments across the business have played a pivotal role in delivering a broadcasting strategy that is clearly resonating with our audience."
The latest Rajar report revealed a substantial upturn in all audience measures for Q Radio, including total hours up 44.8 per cent from 1.220 million to 1.766 million and average time spent listening up from 5.7 to 6.2 hours a week.
Top local radio stations (weekly listeners) Q2 2023 v Q1 2023 (source: Rajar)
• Cool FM - 490,000 (up from 489,000)
• Radio Ulster - 439,000 (down from 456,000)
• Downtown Radio - 292,000 (up from 289,000)
• Q Radio Network - 284,000 (up from 216,000)
• U105 - 260,000 (up from 249,000)
• Downtown Country - 153,000 (down from 193,000)
Meanwhile, the Rajar figures show that BBC Radio 2 has lost one million listeners since veteran broadcaster Ken Bruce (72) left the station on March 3, having presented his mid-morning programme for more than three decades, and began a new show on Greatest Hits Radio in April, taking with him his popular music radio quiz PopMaster.
Listeners to BBC Radio 4 have also fallen to their lowest level since the pandemic, averaging 9 million in April-June, down 5 per cent from 9.4 million in the previous quarter and a drop of 1.3 million year-on-year.
But there was better news for the BBC with Radio 1, where the average weekly audience stood at 7.7 million in the latest quarter, up 2 per cent on the previous three months and up 3 per cent year-on-year.
BBC 5 Live's audience was broadly unchanged at 5 million, compared with 5.1 million in both the previous quarter and a year ago, while BBC 6 Music continues to be biggest digital-only network in the UK, with listeners holding steady at 2.7 million.
Among the smaller commercial stations, GB News Radio, which launched at the start of 2022, saw its audience drop quarter-on-quarter to 317,000, although the figure is up year-on-year from 277,000.
TalkRadio's audience stood at 727,000 in April to June, down from 840,000 in the previous quarter but up year-on-year from 686,000.
