The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRC) recently released its third Radio Audience Measurements (RAM) for the year. This release shows radio listening patterns for the period January 2018 to June 2018.
This release also shows radio reach has decreased slightly from 91% to 90%.
Top 10 radio stations in SA
The IsiZulu language radio station Ukhozi FM continues to lead as the biggest station in the country, with an audience 7.5 million listeners – an increase of 200 000 listeners from the previous release. Umhlobo Wenene assumes the second position with almost 5.4 million listeners, slightly down from the 5.5 million listeners it had in the previous release. The third position is held by the SABC’s urban music radio station Metro FM, which has gained 78 000 more listener since the last release.
| Station | Audience | |
| 1 | Ukhozi FM | 7 504 000 |
| 2 | Umhlobo Wenene FM | 5 394 000 |
| 3 | Metro FM | 4 267 000 |
| 4 | Lesedi FM | 3 084 000 |
| 5 | Thobela FM | 2 643 000 |
| 6 | Motsweding FM | 2 356 000 |
| 7 | Gagasi FM | 1 654 000 |
| 8 | RSG | 1 339 000 |
| 9 | Ligwagwala FM | 1 161 000 |
| 10 | iKwekwezi FM | 1 125 000 |
Top 5 Community Radio Stations
Soweto-based Jozi FM continues to lead in the community sector with an audience of 618 000 listeners. Radio Zibonele, which previously assumed the fourth position in this category in the October 2017 to March 2018 release, now moves up to second position.
| Station | Audience | |
| 1 | Jozi FM | 618 000 |
| 2 | Radio Zibonele | 238 000 |
| 3 | Unitra (UCR) | 207 000 |
| 4 | Kasie FM | 185 000 |
| 5 | Thetha | 177 000 |
Devices used to listen to the radio
Limpopo’s Capricorn FM leads when it comes to cellphone listening followed by the Eastern Cape-based station trufm.
This RAM release also reveals that many of Primedia’s Cape Town talk station listeners listen to the station in their cars, this followed closely by Smile 90.4FM.
Listener loyalty
Two thirds (66%) of respondents in this release only listen to one station, this is slightly up from the 63% in the previous release. Limpopo has the highest loyalty in the country at 89%, it is perhaps not surprising then that the top three stations with the most loyal listeners are all based in Limpopo.
| Station | Exclusive listeners |
| Phalaphala FM | 87% |
| Munghana Lonene | 79% |
| Thobela FM | 76% |
| Smile 90.4FM | 61% |
| Umhlobo Wenene FM | 58% |
Time Spent Listening
The national average time spent listening (TSL) still remains the same from the previous release at 3h42. The Free State province has the highest TSL in the country at 4h54, this is up 18 minutes from the last releases 4h36. The SABC’s PBS radio station Phalaphala FM currently leads as the station whose listeners listen to the longest, followed Munghana Lonene FM and Thobela FM.
| Station | Time Spent Listening |
| Phalaphala FM | 3h36 |
| Munghana Lonene FM | 3h30 |
| Thobela FM | 3h24 |
| Lesedi FM | 3h12 |
| iKwekwezi FM | 3h12 |
| Ukhozi FM | 3h06 |
| Umhlobo Wenene | 3h06 |
| RSG | 3h00 |
Diary-on-diary increases
Five radio stations have reflected four diary on diary increases, Tiso Blackstar owned Vuma 103FM has grown its audience by 78.4% between the Apr ‘17 – Sep 17 and Jan ‘18 – Jun ’18 releases.
| Station | Apr ’17-Sep ’17 | Jul ’17-Dec ’17 | Oct ’17-Mar ’18 | Jan ’18-Jun ’18 | Growth |
| Vuma 103FM | 134 000 | 173 000 | 188 000 | 239 000 | 78.4% |
| Phalaphala FM | 689 000 | 802 000 | 901 000 | 984 000 | 42.8% |
| Ligwalagwala FM | 920 000 | 1 105 000 | 1 146 000 | 1 161 000 | 26.2% |
| Metro FM | 4 028 000 | 4 120 000 | 4 189 000 | 4267 000 | 5.9% |
| Ukhozi FM | 7 209 000 | 7 274 000 | 7 304 000 | 7 504 000 | 4.0% |
Increase in three of four diaries
Cape Town’s KFM has increased listenership in three of the four last diaries, the station has for the first time in the BRC RAM hit the 800 000 listener mark, this has also earned the station bragging rights as the Number 1 Cape Town-based radio station.
The station has shown a growth of 11% or 80 000 listeners between the Apr ’17-Sep ’17 and Jan ’18-Jun ’18 releases. Talk radio station Power 98.7 has seen an increase of 10.5% in audiences between the Apr ’17-Sep ’17 and Jan ’18-Jun ’18 releases.
| Station | Apr ’17-Sep ’17 | Jul ’17-Dec ’17 | Oct ’17-Mar ’18 | Jan ’18-Jun ’18 | Growth |
| KFM | 726 000 | 711 000 | 787 000 | 806 000 | 11.0% |
| Power 98.7 | 114 000 | 97 000 | 107 000 | 126 000 | 10.5% |
| Munghana Lonene FM | 925 000 | 861 000 | 914 000 | 985 000 | 6.5% |
| 702 | 471 000 | 471 000 | 469 000 | 479 000 | 1.7% |
Source: BRC
Lwazi Mpofu is the 2017 Liberty Radio Awards Bright Star Recipient and a former radio producer. He is currently reading for a Masters Degree in Communication Science at UNISA, he is also an emerging researcher in the fields of media policy and the development of radio in SA.
