As Radio 2 chases a younger audience, the older listeners left with no committed full BBC ‘golden oldies’ offering are turning to Boom Radio…
The radio station for baby boomers has seen a 35% growth in total listening hours in just three months. Figures show Boom Radio outperforms all other music-based commercial stations for listener loyalty.
David Hamilton, Boom Radio:
“Clearly, Baby Boomers are united in their love for what we are providing. We’ve been able to create a successful national radio station that smashes predictions and tops the growth tables in less than one year, on a virtual shoestring compared to our BBC rival Radio 2 and other national stations.”
Boom Radio, launched in lockdown and broadcasting from the bedrooms and sheds of its presenters – all aged between 60 and 83 – is now the top music-based national commercial station for listener loyalty, according to the latest RAJAR audience data released today (Thursday 3 February 2022).
The station is aimed at the UK’s 14 million baby boomers and launched last February on DAB and smart speakers. The schedule has brought back a line-up of famous presenters from over the decades – including David Hamilton, Esther Rantzen, Graham Dene, Judi Spiers, Nicky Horne, Roger Day and Jenny Hanley.
Many of the station’s personnel returned from retirement or semi-retirement to take on the radio world in the digital era; Hamilton, at 83, is the oldest person to launch a daytime music show on national radio, while the average age of the Boom presenter line-up is 68.
The audience figures for the final quarter of 2021 see almost a quarter of a million (242,000) listeners tuning into Boom Radio for an average of over 10 hours per week. Total listening hours grew by a huge 35 per cent to 2.5million.
It appears more and more ‘boomers’ have become disillusioned with BBC Radio 2, which seems to be turning into ‘Radio 1 for 30-somethings‘ with the same bland formats and no variety in the type of ‘DJ’s’ replacing the well-known personalities. BBC Local radio has also seen a decline in audience figures for a number of stations as they attempt to also chase the youth. Boom Radio themselves note that 86% of their listeners comes from their target reach of ’60-74-year-old audience’ with listeners telling Boom they are ‘disaffected by Radio 2’s changes.’
The latest casualty in the ever chasing a younger audience at Radio 2 has seen Paul O’Grady’s show, Sunday’s 5-7 pm, chopped down to half a year – airing in two three month batches instead of his full year-round run. The gap will be filled by Rob Beckett. Disgruntled R2 listeners may be happy to discover Sunday’s from 5-7 pm on Boom Radio are hosted by former Pebble Mill presenter, ITV continuity announcer – with WestWard Television and TSW in the South West – and local BBC radio personality Judi Spires.
David Hamilton, Boom Radio:
“We launched to speak directly to the growing discontent felt among the Baby Boomer generation – an audience on which the BBC has turned its back – and the results speak for themselves. Outside RAJAR, our own listener polls tell us almost three quarters of our listeners are former R2 stalwarts who are listening less to the BBC.”
