The Rock may only rank third in overall audience share

[uopa]

Living on solid Rock
5:00AM Friday November 02, 2007
By Alan Perrott
The Rock's meat and three veg style is paying off.

The Rock's meat and three veg style is paying off.

Bogans and blokes, you may not run the country, but you rule on radio.

It's all there in the numbers see, numbers which often feature in
really tricky maths stuff, and that's called science. And everyone
knows you can't argue with science.

The particular numbers in question come from the latest radio survey
results; they tell the stations that choose to take part whether
they're gaining or losing listeners, and according to these numbers
New Zealand is heading to hell in the back seat of a Holden because
The Rock is number one.

"We're a meat and three veg station, and we're proud of it," says Rock
programme director Brad King.

They're also apparently "stoked" which isn't very surprising given
they've knocked Newstalk ZB off the perch they've almost come to
consider a birthright.

King puts it down to a simple game plan: "We've never really diverted
from what this station has always been about, we don't take ourselves
seriously, we like to take the piss, and we play rock music. That's
our recipe. Sure we may be riding a bit of a rock revival, but if in
two, three years time, rock, I don't know, dies or something, we're
certainly not going to be changing our name or what we're doing."

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But why is The Rock rising now?

"Well, there's several things happening here," says AUT communications
lecturer Matt Mollgaard, "guitar music is really popular right now,
and if you're a youngish guy who likes guitar music there's not a lot
of radio stations out there catering for you, unless you go for the
top 40 stations like The Edge or ZM.

"So right now The Rock has a real market advantage. Music tends to go
in cycles, and right now rock is doing well."

The evidence is in the numbers.

In the vital Auckland market, the country's largest, The Rock may only
rank third in overall audience share but it recorded the largest
improvement among the station's surveyed and finished top in the
advertiser-attracting 18 to 34-year old demographic, seven points
clear of second placed ZM.

But it's in the provinces where The Rock really struts. The station is
number one in Manawatu, Tauranga, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, and
Christchurch, and number two in Dunedin, Rotorua, Southland, and
Taranaki.

Combined, these results give The Rock a 11.7 per cent market share
nationally for everyone aged 10 years and over, a figure combining the
number of listeners with the amount of time they remain tuned in, with
a 60-40 male-female split. Totals are derived from the listening
diaries filled out by at least 12,000 randomly selected listeners
spread throughout the country.

Newstalk ZB is only a smidge behind with an 11.3 per cent share after
dropping almost 1.5 points over the past year, but remains ahead in
terms of national cumulative audience, the number of listeners
estimated to have visited the station through a week, although The
Rock is catching up with a 25.9 per cent gain in the past 12 months.

According to Colenso media director Peter Myles the result reflects
the station's stubborn adherence to its simple game plan: "So it's not
really a surprise, we've worked with these guys and know their
commitment to what they're trying to do. These results show it's
paying off."