Radio station hails listener rise

BBC Radio Scotland launched its first football podcast service

BBC Radio Scotland is successfully attracting more listeners to its programmes, figures reveal.

The Rajar report suggests the station posted a year-on-year rise of 90,000 to eclipse the one million mark for the first quarter of 2006.

The figures show it attracted 1,036,000 listeners and reached 24.7 of the population.

Jeff Zycinski, head of Radio Scotland, said new means of delivery like podcasts were paying dividends.

The popularity of live streaming of Radio Scotland programmes rose to a new high with 363,000 requests during the first quarter of this year.

Live SPL commentaries on the internet also proved a big hit with listeners.

Our willingness to take risks and try new ideas seems to have won the hearts of our listeners Jeff Zycinski Head of Radio Scotland

There were 23,000 requests each for the Aberdeen against Rangers clash in February and for the Clyde cup shock against Celtic the previous month.

Both games set new records for the station's streamed commentary, easily beating the previous quarter's record of 14,225 requests.

Mr Zycinski said he was delighted by the station's ongoing success.

"Our willingness to take risks and try new ideas seems to have won the hearts of our listeners," he said.

"Accepted wisdom in radio these days seems to be about playing it safe, but in the first few months of 2006 our production teams invested so much creative energy into the schedule.

'Ahead of the pack'

"We had a Big Day of Music at the new City Halls venue in Glasgow and then, on Valentine's Day, we aired our topical drama King of Hearts.

"We launched a new overnight service, our first football podcast, sent Fred MacAulay and John Beattie to cover Scotland's success in the Commonwealth Games and, back home, we played an active part in the Glasgow Comedy festival.

"Across news, sport, music, comedy, drama and documentaries we've been ahead of the pack."

New programme ideas include a summer season of music, a new Friday format for Colin and Justin, and Karen Dunbar will present a new mid-morning programme in July.