BBC Radio Solent

BBC Radio Solent is the BBC local radio station covering Hampshire, Dorset and The Isle of White. It was first aired in 1970. According to recent RAJAR, Radio Joint Audience Research, figures the station   has a daily audience of 268,000 people which is 18% of its 1,532,000 reach. The average listening time of each individual a week is 10.5 hours which gives the station 7.9% of the UK listening shares. 

The target audience is in the ABC1 demographic which is made clear through the chosen news agenda and the way the bulletins are presented. Also the frequency of travel reports throughout the day suggests a majority of the listeners would commute to and from work in the large cities within the county. Another reason for this chosen demographic is the area Solent covers. Hampshire’s largest employers are The Army, NHS and the Public sector; with 25.21% of the population working in the public sector. 

I believe Solent to have more female listeners than male. I have made this judgement from the features in the shows throughout the day, but the majority are in the day rather than drive time or evening shows. The features are aimed at women more than men, with many focusing on cooking or fashion, which would appeal to a large majority of the female population. The other popular focus for features on the station is the armed forces, which reflects the large military influence in the area.

I believe the age of the majority of Radio Solent’s listeners to be aged between 46 and 75. I made this decision from the music chosen, the news agenda and the presentation of the news. Solent’s bulletins are fairly long, usually lasting around 4 minutes, and do not have a musical bed or music between bulletins. Each story is time for all the facts to be presented and they usually contain a vox pop or an expert opinion. Compared to Radio 1, which is aimed at a younger audience, Solent’s news is much slower and clearer; it does not contain any sound clips between stories and gives clear factual information. 

Solent’s news agenda is very much focused on the local area. The lead story of the bulletin will relate to local news usually government of council reflecting the large percentage of the audience who are employed in the public sector. Also this is will appeal to an older audience who are interested in local politics and will be affected more by council changes than younger people living in the area. National news also takes a high priority on the news agenda; this is partially because the station is run by the BBC and because national stories interest a large audience. Usually the day’s bulletin will contain a story or feature focused on the armed forces or the NHS which is relevant to the audience because of the number of people employed within these services. 

Sources:

http://www.rajar.co.uk/