Audience reach continues to climb for JACK Radio brand

•    Combined audience across the JACK portfolio increases 13.7% year-on-year to 347,000 (from 305,000);

•    National stations Union JACK and JACK Radio keep their listeners entertained for longer, with both stations seeing quarterly increase in average listening hours;

•    JACK Local remains consistent, continuing to reach 88,000 listeners each week, while both JACK2 Hits and JACK3 Chill grow individual audiences. 

14 May 2020, Oxford: The JACK Radio Brand remains a challenger brand amongst the wider and more traditional UK radio landscape, with today’s RAJAR* results demonstrating a 13.7% year-on-year increase in listeners across the group’s portfolio. The brand reaches 347,000 listeners each week across its two national and three regional radio stations, up from 305,000 during the same period last year. 

The group’s national audiences are also listening to Union JACK and JACK Radio for longer, tuning in for an average 4.2 hours each week (from 3.9 hours last quarter), with audiences also growing year-on-year in reach, to 267,000 (from 231,000). Recent initiatives from the longer-established Union JACK radio have included a hugely popular live quiz, The Not-in-a-Pub Pub Quiz, hosted by one of the country’s greatest quizzers, Mark “The Beast” Labbett; as well as a unique interview series, The Show Must Go On, which combines world-class athletes with household-name comedians, coupled with hilarious challenges for listeners to try at home; while JACK Radio has recently given over its national platform for wannabe performers to share their own performances of their favourite cover songs. 

Meanwhile, Oxfordshire’s JACK Local – consisting of renowned station JACKfm, JACK2 Hits and JACK3 Chill – remains strong, with its audience unchanged at 88,000, and both JACK2 Hits and JACK3 Chill seeing a small quarterly increase in reach. Recent activity from JACKfm includes the creation of a virtual wedding for two NHS workers complete with a surprise performance from Kodaline’s frontman Steve Garrigan; while last month saw JACK3 expanding onto FM, bringing a chilled radio format into Oxfordshire on FM for the very first time, and delivering a new choice of music for a more mature demographic across the county. 

JACK CEO Ian Walker said: “While this has been a unique period for RAJAR results given the current landscape and the impact of the pandemic, we’re pleased to see growth in our year-on-year figures across the JACK network of stations. During this tough climate, our programming teams have worked tremendously hard to provide content that listeners will find entertaining and uplifting and early signs from our digital engagement is that this has been extremely well-received.”  

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