Which FM radio is the best of all?
Jan 17, 2005
SIR— Last Wednesday, I read two conflicting reports in the press. One was in The Monitor and claimed that an independent company called Consumer Insight had carried out a market research in which it asked the respondents the question, “Which radio station do you listen to these days?â€
SIR— Last Wednesday, I read two conflicting reports in the press. One was in The Monitor and claimed that an independent company called Consumer Insight had carried out a market research in which it asked the respondents the question, “Which radio station do you listen to these days?â€
According to this research, 41% of the respondents indicated that KFM came first, followed by Capital FM with 32% and others followed.
Based on this information, the managing director of the Monitor Publications, which owns KFM, proclaimed that KFM is the number one station in Uganda! He then went on to argue that this “represents great value for money and maximum return on investment for advertisers who decide how to allocate their budgets on the basis of how much audience each station has.â€
The second report was in The New Vision. This quoted the results of a readers’ response to a questionnaire in The New Vision, which indicated that Super FM is the best radio. The management of Super FM argued that the best radio station to advertise with was Super FM.
So which radio is most popular? When I read both items, I could vividly see that the objective of both reports was to lure unsuspecting advertisers to these radios. Otherwise how can these two radios whose signals fade our barely 40km outside Kampala claim
to be the best in number
of listeners?
For a long time, now the war for advertising revenue has become fiercer. The radios are using results of so-called independent researchers to state their case to potential advertisers.
In my view, most of these results are simply dubious. For example, why should a researcher just move to the streets and ask, “Which radio do you listen to these days?â€
Can one rely on the result of a questionnaire put out to the elite who read the New Vision?
Are the readers of the New Vision a representative sample of radio listeners in Uganda? Apart from a few thousand people, mainly in Kampala and some urban areas, how many Ugandans read the New Vision despite of the fact that it has the best circulation? In which languages are the so-called researchers’ questions framed and asked?
Are we sure English programmes (since questions are asked in English) are the most popular in Uganda? I doubt. If these researchers want to know which radio is most listened to, why not use better means of research?
For example, why not move from house to house, shop to shop, market to market, region to region, at different times of the day, over a period of say one month, and listen and note down the radio people are listening to? Why don’t they sit in the taxis and listen to what radios the taxi men tune to?
I am sure that if they were to did this, they would be surprised! For example, I use taxis every day. But on no single occasion have I heard KFM radio tuned on in a taxi! If passengers are not listening to them, surely who is listening? Are they not missing a big chunk of listeners?
Do they know how many people are in taxis at any time?
In Kampala and Buganda region, for example, I know that radios Simba and CBS have many listeners to the extent that they have opened up big fan’s clubs throughout the region.
Where are the fans of the so-called best radios? Where are their fans’ clubs located? Radios Simba and CBS have organised several get-together functions and shows in Nakivubo Stadium, Mengo Palace and other places.
These have attracted mammoth gatherings of their fans. I challenge the so-called best radios to show the public their fans. Before you misunderstand me, I am not saying Simba and CBS are the best, as I have no verifiable evidence. However, advertisers and the public in general should take the so-called independent researches with a pinch of salt!
E. Musoke-Lule
Kampala
According to this research, 41% of the respondents indicated that KFM came first, followed by Capital FM with 32% and others followed.
Based on this information, the managing director of the Monitor Publications, which owns KFM, proclaimed that KFM is the number one station in Uganda! He then went on to argue that this “represents great value for money and maximum return on investment for advertisers who decide how to allocate their budgets on the basis of how much audience each station has.â€
The second report was in The New Vision. This quoted the results of a readers’ response to a questionnaire in The New Vision, which indicated that Super FM is the best radio. The management of Super FM argued that the best radio station to advertise with was Super FM.
So which radio is most popular? When I read both items, I could vividly see that the objective of both reports was to lure unsuspecting advertisers to these radios. Otherwise how can these two radios whose signals fade our barely 40km outside Kampala claim
to be the best in number
of listeners?
For a long time, now the war for advertising revenue has become fiercer. The radios are using results of so-called independent researchers to state their case to potential advertisers.
In my view, most of these results are simply dubious. For example, why should a researcher just move to the streets and ask, “Which radio do you listen to these days?â€
Can one rely on the result of a questionnaire put out to the elite who read the New Vision?
Are the readers of the New Vision a representative sample of radio listeners in Uganda? Apart from a few thousand people, mainly in Kampala and some urban areas, how many Ugandans read the New Vision despite of the fact that it has the best circulation? In which languages are the so-called researchers’ questions framed and asked?
Are we sure English programmes (since questions are asked in English) are the most popular in Uganda? I doubt. If these researchers want to know which radio is most listened to, why not use better means of research?
For example, why not move from house to house, shop to shop, market to market, region to region, at different times of the day, over a period of say one month, and listen and note down the radio people are listening to? Why don’t they sit in the taxis and listen to what radios the taxi men tune to?
I am sure that if they were to did this, they would be surprised! For example, I use taxis every day. But on no single occasion have I heard KFM radio tuned on in a taxi! If passengers are not listening to them, surely who is listening? Are they not missing a big chunk of listeners?
Do they know how many people are in taxis at any time?
In Kampala and Buganda region, for example, I know that radios Simba and CBS have many listeners to the extent that they have opened up big fan’s clubs throughout the region.
Where are the fans of the so-called best radios? Where are their fans’ clubs located? Radios Simba and CBS have organised several get-together functions and shows in Nakivubo Stadium, Mengo Palace and other places.
These have attracted mammoth gatherings of their fans. I challenge the so-called best radios to show the public their fans. Before you misunderstand me, I am not saying Simba and CBS are the best, as I have no verifiable evidence. However, advertisers and the public in general should take the so-called independent researches with a pinch of salt!
E. Musoke-Lule
Kampala