IRS R2, 2009: Radio Mirchi dominates listeners' preferences

The radio data from Media Research User Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research's IRS R2 2009 is out. This time, the validation process was extended to include various radio stations to make it more usable and reliable. Respondents were questioned on their frequency of listening to radio with three options -- yesterday, last one week and ever listened to.

As per data on radio stations listened to Yesterday, Radio Mirchi gets the top rank with 2.04 crore listeners. Big FM is at No. 2, with 1.01 crore listeners.

At No. 3 is AIR FM, with 95.85 lakh listeners, on the basis of Yesterday recall. Red FM is the fourth most preferred radio station, with 90.88 lakh listeners. In the fifth position is AIR FM Rainbow with a listenership of 85.19 lakh.

Suryan FM commands a listenership of 60.5 lakh, followed by Radio City, which has a listener base of 59.8 lakh. They have taken the sixth and seventh ranks, respectively. On the eighth position is AIR FM Gold, which commands a listenership of 34.36 lakh.

My FM and North-East FM station, Radio Ooo La La, are at No. 9 and No. 10, respectively, with listenership of 22.12 lakh and 19.02 lakh, respectively.

As per data based on listenership in the last one week, Radio Mirchi tops again with 4.04 crore listeners, followed by AIR FM Rainbow with 2.12 crore listeners. AIR FM is at No. 3, with 2.09 crore listeners. Following closely is Big FM, which has 2.03 crore listeners.

Red FM takes the fifth place and has 1.86 crore listeners; followed by Radio City, which has a listener base of 1.40 crore. Suryan FM is at No. 7, while AIR FM Gold is at No. 8; with 1.28 crore and 93.14 lakh listeners, respectively.

Next in line is Radio Mantra with a listenership is 42.27 lakh; while Radio One is at No. 10 with 36.83 lakh listeners.

According to the data on radio stations ever listened to by the respondents, Radio Mirchi tops the charts again, with a listenership of 4.47 crore. AIR FM Rainbow is at No. 2 with 2.51 crore listeners; followed by Big FM with 2.26 crore listeners. AIR FM is at No. 4, with 2.24 crore listeners.

Red FM and Suryan FM occupy the next two ranks, with listenership of 2.07 crore and 1.58 crore, respectively. At No. 7 is Radio City with 1.55 crore listeners; while AIR FM Gold has a listenership of 1.05 crore.

Radio Mantra is at No. 9, followed by Radio One at No. 10; with listenership of 47.27 lakh and 41.80 lakh, respectively.

With around 13 crore people preferring to tune into radio at home, in-home listenership leads in terms of radio consumption. Some of the other places where radio is consumed include travel time, at the workplace, and at friends' or neighbours' residences.