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ftm Radio Page - January 23, 2015

Unwanted license revoked, only pirates circle
employee cooperatives rise

The final chapter on Athens radio station VFM finally closed this week as the Greek broadcast regulator National Council for Radio and Television (ESR) officially revoked its license, reported media portal e-tetradio.g (January 20). VFM has been off the air since December 2012, forced by the bankruptcy of owner Liberis Group. Pirate broadcasters appropriated the FM frequency, something the ESR has never liked.

Several Greek radio stations have tumbled into bankruptcy in recent years becoming distressed properties owned by banks. Liberis Group also owned Best FM, as well as newspapers and news portals. Best FM employees essentially took over the station when buyers could not be found, a solution allowed under Greek law when worker's salaries remain unpaid. An auction for VFM attracted no bidders, largely due to high debts. The license revocation is the first for an Athens radio station since 2001. (See more about media in Greece here)

Dormant Athens radio station Flash 96 returned to the airwaves earlier in January, operated by a cooperative of former employees. It had been off the air since November 2012. Several FM frequencies throughout Greece vacated by the government closure of public broadcaster ERT have become a playland for pirates.

Stations know their place and stay there
some do, however, jump out

French media watchers paid less than usual attention as Médiamétrie released Greater Paris (Ile de France - IDF) radio listening estimates for the period September through December. Most are waiting for first quarter results, which will show effects from the dreadful murderous attacks in Paris that stunned the whole of France. Indeed, market share rankings year on year were largely unchanged even as overall listening dropped to 77.4% from 79.6%. Average time spent listening was up slightly.

The big national general interest channels - largely news, talk and related variations - lost audience share on aggregate, dropping to 40.0% of all listening from 42.9%. Within that grouping defined by Médiamétrie there were no changes in rankings though individual channels swung rather dramatically. RTL kept top spot, increasing audience share one year on to 13.4% from 12.4%. The others, generally at the top of overall rankings, all lost audience share; public radio channel France Inter (2nd place) dropped to 9.8% audience share from 11.1%, Europe 1 (3rd) fell to 8.9% audience share from 10.1% and RMC (4th) posted 7.0%, down from 7.9%.

Public regional network France Bleu, also among the general interest channels but with limited coverage in the IDF, dropped to 0.9% from 1.5% year on year. FIP, the Paris-oriented public station, jumped to 2.9% - reaching 10th in the ranking, best showing in several years - from 2.2%. FIP programs a rather eclectic music mix along with local newscasts. All-news national public channel France Info held 5th place in the IDF audience share rankings, up to 4.9% from 4.4%. France Culture and France Musiques were also up one year on. On aggregate Radio France channels dropped in audience share to 23.0% from 23.4%. (See IDF radio audience trend chart here)

Among music channels, NRJ kept 5th place in the IDF rankings with 5.0%, up slightly. Skyrock was unchanged at 4.1% and 7th place. Radio Classique moved to 8th with 3.7%, up from 3.2% and Nostalgie bolted to 9th with 3.1% audience share, up from 2.4%. Most other national music channels were either up or down slightly except RTL2, which fell to 2.0% from 2.4%. On aggregate the national music channels were up slightly to 25.4% audience share from 24.8% year on year.

Audience shares for local channels, as usual, moved around quite a bit. Generations, Oui FM and suburb-oriented Evasion made noticeable gains while Radio Nova was unchanged. Radio Latina, regularly at the head of the local radio list, was off slightly and TSF Jazz was significantly lower, perhaps effected by the gains for FIP. On aggregate stations defined by Médiamétrie as local increased market share to 18.2% from 17.4% one year on.

 

Radio Page week ending January 16, 2015
radio in France, Médiamétrie, radio audience, Europe 1, RTL, Radio France, France Inter, France Culture, NRJ, Nostalgie, Skyrock, Alouette, radio in Denmark, DR

Radio Page week ending January 9, 2015
radio in Russia, Ekho Moskvy, Gazprom Media, Mikhail Lesin, radio in the Netherlands, Radio Veronica, concession fees

Radio Page week ending January 2, 2015
radio in Turkey, radio audience, URYAD, Kral FM, TRT FM, Power Turk, RTUK

Radio Page week ending December 12, 2014
radio in Austria, ORF, O3, FM4, FM21, DAB+, radio in Ukraine, medium wave, NRCU

Radio Page week ending December 5, 2014
radio in France, digital radio, Libé Radio, Radio Nova, radio in Sweden, radio in Switzerland, radio in Germany, DAB, digital transition

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