RAJAR: Lyca Gold makes history with “promising start” in Q4/21 data

London’s recently launched station, Lyca Gold has got off to a flying start in official data published by RAJAR for Q4/21.

It covers the quarter up until 19th December 2021, saw Lyca Gold increased its weekly reach from 38,000 in Q3/21 (as Dilse Radio) to 68,000. The station, which broadcasts on 1035AM in Greater London, clocked up record high average listening hours, up from 4.7 hours to 8.2 hours. Lyca Gold’s average listening hours were the largest for any UK Asian radio station in this quarter, measured by RAJAR.

Lyca Gold launched in September 2021 as the UK’s first and only retro Asian music station. It was one of the biggest changes made under Lyca Media’s CEO, Raj Baddhan, who decided to drop Dilse Radio, in favour of Lyca Gold, which is positioned for an audience aged 40 and over.

Lyca Media’s main station, Lyca Radio on 1458AM in London, witnessed a drop in its reach from 86,000 to 73,000. Its listening hours stood at 2.4 – down from 4.6.

Raj Baddhan, CEO of Lyca Media said, “I am thrilled with today’s audience data for Lyca Gold. It’s always exciting yet nerve-racking to launch a product but to see how Lyca Gold has been received in this quarter by our listeners, it makes all the hard work worthwhile. The station has indeed made a promising start.

“I wholeheartedly would like to thank our advertisers and sponsors for supporting the launch of Lyca Gold, as well as our loyal listeners that have embraced Lyca Gold so warmly and a huge thanks to my wonderful team for their hard work and dedication over the past few months.

“With Lyca Radio, the journey has just begin. There’s some fine-tuning on the anvil, plus some huge announcements that will further lift Lyca Radio. Asian London has been calling for a fresh station and that’s the gap we endeavour to fill with the new Lyca Radio.”

Leading London station, Sunrise Radio saw its weekly reach drop from 175,000 to 163,000 – its average listening hours also dropped from 4.1 to 3.2.

Sunrise Radio Managing Director Tony Lit MBE, said, “Following the release of Rajar Q4 2021, I’m happy to report that Sunrise Radio is the clear leader in commercial Asian radio in London and the only national commercial Asian radio service. Sunrise has retained its number ONE position since inception and is now in its 33rd year of broadcasting to British Asians. It’s been tough for us all during the pandemic, but now that we’re starting to get back to normality I will have a number of exciting announcements for our listeners to look forward to, and give them another reason smile. So not to tease too much, the first announcement will be later on this month.

“I would just like to finish with a ‘big thank’ to our listeners, our commercial partners and my wonderful team, you’re the best and you’ve just proved it again !!”

Panjab Radio slipped from a reach of 78,000 to 59,000, while its sister station Asian FX increased its audience from 26,000 to 38,000. Its average listening hours dropped though from 2.6 to 1.5.

National
BBC Asian Network stayed ahead with a smaller audience in latest data. The national station garnered a weekly reach of 489,000 – down from 533,000. Its average listening hours were up from 4.5 hours to 4.7 hours.

Sunrise Radio also lost listeners on a national level. Its audience dwindled from 387,000 to 365,000. Its average listening hours were down from 4.7 to 4.2 hours.

Other UK based Asian radio stations such as Radio XL in Birmingham, Sabras Radio in Leicester, Asian Sound in Manchester, Sunrise Radio in Yorkshire and other digital and community Asian radio stations do not subscribe to RAJAR.