Real Record RAJAR Results November 2007
"When you look at that performance of Smooth too, where we're trying to attract a slightly younger audience than before, we have increased hours and our market share which is important from a commercial point of view."
However, Anderson maintains that he needs to stay realistic, in that both Smooth and Rock operate in a marketplace that is competitive, to say the least.
"What we're doing is carving out a niche and giving people what they want by being more specific in our output," says Anderson. "Generic mediums are falling away. You can see that with the press too, and you can see with the proliferation of magazines that people want more specialised output.
"Rock Radio broke the mould as the first ever classic rock station in the UK," continues Anderson, a self-confessed rocker. "We are offering something different. We believe in the medium of radio. We don't just look at our own station - I want to see radio, in general, get stronger.
However, there is more opportunity to build within the marketplace, maintains the GMG Scotland boss. "We still have awareness to drive. And building Smooth and Rock is important as they are still both in their infancy."
And while Anderson may currently be the one celebrating, the rest of the Scottish radio scene should not be downbeat, he claims, with each of Real's rivals continuing to be a presence to be reckoned with.
"It was good to see XFM make an increase, albeit on us. They have something to build on.
"Clyde's performance was probably disappointing from their perspective, but it's still a hugely strong brand and it's still an audience figure that will give them something to build from too."
"Forth was slightly up too and, as I said, I would rather see all areas of radio doing well - picking up more listeners, especially from the BBC - than worrying about petty infighting between the brands."
Richard Muir, marketing director for both Radio Clyde and Radio Forth, said that he expected the results to pick up for the next RAJARs, and that Radio Clyde was still in a very strong position within the marketplace.
"We were disappointed with the results however, our sales team sells Radio Clyde which is both Clyde 1 and Clyde 2 and has a combined listening audience of 650,000 while our nearest commercial competitor has 568, 000. So when you look at it in those terms Radio Clyde is still top in the West," said Muir.
Meanwhile, a new Aberdeen radio station - Original 106, owned by CanWest Global - is set to add further competition to the Scottish radio landscape.
Launched last week, the station aims to target "adult listeners" and will be fronted by Iain McKenna, who formerly ran Aberdeen-based radio rival Northsound.
Alison Black, head of radio, Feather Brooksbank
Overall, and bucking the national trend, commercial radio has strengthened its position in the Scottish market increasing market share from 53 percent to 55 percent. The BBC, in Scotland, has however seen its audience decline by 2.7 percent.
The big news story of this quarter's results is that Real Radio Scotland has become the first regional radio station ever to smash the 30 percent reach barrier. Real has also broken its records for total hours with the average listener now tuning in for 12.1 hours each per week, almost 10 million hours of listening per week (9.8 million) - which would all but equal that of London's 95.8 Capital FM. Also, for the first time Real Radio is now Glasgow's outright most popular station attracting 568,000 adult listeners per week against Clyde 1 FM's 564,000. In the GMG stable, Rock Radio added 5,000 rockers and Smooth Glasgow saw a small drop in audience.
Encouragingly for Emap Forth 1 saw an increase of 20,000 listeners which has stopped the decline in recent Rajars. Clyde 1 and 2 didn't fare so well with both frequencies losing listeners as did Northsound and Tay AM.
All the other Scottish Emap stations saw a rise in listeners, overall a reasonable Rajars for Emap.
Once again XFM Scotland lost listeners across the central belt but more so in the West. However listening hours have risen 38,000 which is probably due to the XU format, where from 10am to 4pm the variety of music has increased and listeners interact with the show to hear their own song selections. This suggests they are appealing to a more niche audience, listening in for longer.
After the last disappointing Rajar Talk 107 has added an extra 3,000 to its listenership taking their reach to 29,000 - another step in the right direction. Finally, not a great Rajar for the local stations with Central, Kingdom and Wave all losing listeners.