More than one No. 1

More than one No. 1

Kiss92 has the biggest slice of the radio pie among the English- language stations Boon Chan Media Correspondent In the battle of the airwaves, new kid on the radio block, Kiss92, has claimed the No. 1 position among English-language stations. And so has Class 95FM.

Both are in pole position according to the latest Nielsen radio survey results released on June 18 - but in different categories.

In yet another category, Gold 90.5FM is at the top of the heap.

The survey results have caused confusion over what being No. 1 means.

MediaCorp's Class has the most number of listeners at 640,000. Its sister station Gold has listeners who tune in for the longest time span (7 hours 53 minutes a week).

After combining both those yardsticks to measure a radio station's total market share, it is Singapore Press Holdings' Kiss that leaves everyone else behind.

The easiest way to think of this is that Kiss has the biggest slice of the radio pie among the English-language stations.

This is calculated by taking the total number of listeners multiplied by number of quarter hours listened for one station divided by total number of listeners multiplied by number of quarter hours listened for all stations (including the non-English-language ones).

Business analyst Rebekah Ong, 31, calls herself one of the station's biggest fans. She stays tuned for close to two hours in the morning as it provides a cheery start to her day.

"The morning crew are really cool and all the topics they talk about are relevant and interesting. The little segments, such as 'quizzanators', are so funny," she says, referring to the morning show from 6 to 10am that is helmed by Maddy Barber, Jason Johnson and Arnold Gay.

In the category of total market share, Kiss had a share of 6.4, ahead of Gold's 5.8 and Class' 4.9.

For comparison, the top Mandarin language station Love 97.2FM had a share of 14.4 per cent and the top Malay station Warna 94.2FM had a share of 9.8 per cent.

In the previous survey, which is conducted twice a year, Kiss had also topped this category among English stations with a figure of 6.7.

Paralegal Serene Er, 33, started tuning in to the station after meeting deejays Barber and Johnson at a promotional event held at Shaw Centre's The Ultimate Penthouse Spa last year.

She says: "The morning crew are very chirpy and they brighten up the morning. It's the start of the day and you just want to hear cheerful voices."

In the category of cumulative listenership, Kiss has 574,000 and comes in second to Class, which has 640,000. This refers to the number of different people who tune in to a station for at least 15 minutes a week.

The category saw Kiss greatly increasing its numbers from 485,000 listeners in the previous survey held last November to leapfrog Gold, which currently has 500,000.

The Nielsen Radio Diary Survey is conducted twice a year to track the listening behaviour of audiences. The latest survey was carried out between March 24 and May 18 and had a sample size of 2,020.

Gold exacted some revenge on Kiss by dethroning it in the category of time spent listening to the channel.

Its figure of 7 hours 53 minutes a week kicks Kiss (7 hours 35 minutes) to second place. In the last survey, Kiss had topped this category with 9 hours 39 minutes.

Kiss was launched in September 2012 and targets women and families. The right mix of music and the personalities are the reasons given by listeners for tuning in to the station.

For civil servant Priscilla Tan, 27, the music is a big draw as the station plays both contemporary artists including Katy Perry and Bruno Mars as well as what they call Kiss classics such as Wilson Phillips' Hold On (1990).

She says with a laugh: "Sometimes I can't really name the artist, but when they play the song, I would be singing along. It's as if the brain is working and telling the mouth to sing along."

"The morning crew are really cool and all the topics they talk about are interesting. The little segments, such as 'quizzanators', are so funny."

Kiss92 fan Rebekah Ong, who stays tuned for close to two hours in the morning as it provides a cheery start to her day


This article was first published on June 26, 2014.
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