radio

Definition:
One of the five 'major' ADVERTISING MEDIA in Britain. Radio funded by revenue from advertisers came comparatively late to Britain. Before the Second World War, two foreign stations broadcasting in English and carrying advertising had attracted just over 3 per cent of total UK total ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE. One, Radio Luxembourg, resumed broadcasting after the war and provided the only 'commercial radio' option for British advertisers for another two decades. Meanwhile, offshore 'pirate' stations such as Radio Caroline confirmed that there was indeed a large, young audience for a programme mix that was distinctly different from the BBC offering of the time. Eventually, the 1972 Sound Broadcasting Act sanctioned commercially funded local radio services alongside the BBC's national network. The first such station to go on air was Capital Radio in London, in November 1973, followed by Radio Clyde on, appropriately, New Year's Eve. Ten years later, there were 40 on air. From 1986 onwards, stations were permitted to broadcast different programmes to different audiences on their AM and FM frequencies, a development called 'split frequency' or 'narrowcasting'. In 1989, an 'incremental' licence was awarded to Atlantic 252, broadcasting to a reception area covering more than half the British Isles. A year later, the 1990 Broadcasting Act sanctioned the establishment of national commercial stations in competition with the BBC, and Classic FM came on air in 1992. In 1997, the UK commercial radio network consisted of 196 local stations, 5 regional and 4 national: see INDEPENDENT LOCAL RADIO, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL RADIO.
Radio's share of UK total ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE reached 2.4 per cent by 1979, but remained stubbornly on a plateau around 2 per cent for the next thirteen years, despite the number of commercial stations having risen above 100. It earned itself the nickname 'the two per cent medium' and signally failed to engage the interest of national advertisers. Three events in 1992 marked a sea-change in its fortunes: the setting up of the Independent National Radio network, the RADIO ADVERTISING BUREAU and the RAJAR audience measurement system. The following year, its 'media share' returned to the 2.4 per cent, and then rose in successive years to reach 3.2 per cent in 1996. It shared the radio listening audience exactly fifty-fifty with the BBC network, but took more than 60 per cent in every age group up to the mid-forties; 78 per cent of all adults listened to a commercial radio station at least once in any four-week period. Not surprisingly, national advertisers have been won over: the five highest spenders on radio in 1996 were the Central Office of Information, Dixons, Coca Cola, McDonalds and Carphone Warehouse. The great majority of radio AIRTIME is sold to such advertisers by 5 SALES HOUSES. Despite a prolonged adolescence, radio is now the fastest-growing of the five MAJOR MEDIA in Britain.

Cross-References:
[sales houses] [RAJAR] [Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB)] [advertising expenditure] [Independent Local Radio (ILR)] [Independent National Radio (INR)] [advertising expenditure] [air time] [major media] [advertising media]

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