Kerrang! hits out at 'bland' breakfasts
By Joanna Geary, Media & Marketing Editor
The region's breakfast presenters are bland, dull and listeners deserve better, Birmingham's Kerrang! Radio has claimed.
The rock station, which yesterday aired its first breakfast show with controversial "shock jock" Tim Shaw and ex-Big Brother contestant Kate Lawler, said presenters at other West Midland commercial stations lacked personality.
Kerrang!, which is now three years old, has revamped its schedule in an attempt to win listeners from BBC Radio 1. And Gordon Davidson, programme director at the city centre-based station, said his commercial competitors were losing out because they did not have strong enough breakfast show personalities.
He added that Kerrang! hoped that by changing its line-up it would be able to lure audiences away from market leader BBC Radio 1. He said: "People are attracted to the BBC because of the music, but also because of the personalities - Chris Moyles on Radio 1 and Jonathan Ross on Radio 2 are good examples.
"If we want to compete with these stations, we've got to offer the same thing... but better.
"We have been doing a lot of research over the past year and one of the criticisms of Radio 1 is that it plays too much new music. So, by widening the range of tracks we play and strengthening our line-up, we can give those people currently listening to Radio 1 more of what they want."
Mr Davidson stressed that widening the station's music output, did not mean it wanted to become a "safe bet".
The station wanted to widen its target audience beyond its current core of 15 to 24-year-olds.
He said: "We are not putting out slippers on an settling for 'middle-of-the-road'. We certainly do not want to be bland, there are already enough bland stations in the region."
But other commercial stations have hit back at the accusation. A spokesman for Heart 100.7 FM, which has Heart Breakfast with Ed James and Sarah-Jane Mee, said it's listener numbers proved it had nothing to fear from Kerrang!
He said: "Our weekly breakfast show audience of over 370,000 a week tune in because they know that our show is bright, bubbly, fun and a fantastic way to start the day."
The changes to Kerrang's line-up will come into force this week. New additions include a show presented by Stuart Cable - the ex-drummer of band Stereophonics; an evening slot dedicated to new music and a late night show hosted by stand-up comic Nick Margerrison.
The station hopes the shake-up will boost its weekly listening figures, which have strayed little above 10 per cent of its potential audience since its launch in 2004.
In the last round of quarterly figures by industry body RAJAR, Kerrang!'s weekly audience was 363,000 - or 10 per cent of its potential market. Each of these listeners was tuning in for an average of 6.7 hours a week.
This was little different to its 365,000 listeners in the same period last year (ten per cent of the market) tuning in for 6.1 hours a week.
Mr Davidson said: "We know if we are going to attract new listeners we have keep being cool, keep being innovative and surprising but we can not be niche.
"If we widen our appeal, but are still cool, there is no reason why Kerrang! can not become the most listened-to station in the region."
As each commercial station broadcasts over a slightly different area, it is difficult to compare the like-for-like performance of radio stations.
But other West Midland stations - such as Heart 100.7 FM and Smooth Radio - still command far bigger audiences than Kerrang!, although many are suffering a decline in listeners.
The increasingly competitive market has seen a number of stations revamping their offering, with BRMB and Smooth recently announcing changes to their line up.
In the last quarterly RAJAR figures, Heart's weekly audience was 776,000 or 22 per cent of its potential market - down from 820,000 (24 per cent) in the same period last year. Each listener tuned in for an average of 8.3 hours - down from 9.9 hours in 2006. But the biggest success has been dance station Galaxy, which this year increased its quarterly weekly listeners by two percentage points to 402,000, or 19 per cent of its marketplace. But listening time was slightly down with an average of 8.6 hours, compared to 8.7 last year.
icbirmingham.
I must try to remember to listen. Not really a good time for me though unfortunately.
), and nowts worth that, tbh 