JNLR 2013_2

blue4ever

JNLR 2013_2 can be seen here:

http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio

Nota Beag: I take a different approach to the JNLR (for a myriad of reasons). Comparatives used are year on year as opposed to, the conventional, book on book. Both have their merits – it’s just that I prefer the long approach.

Conor

Musicman2000

Are these all a complete fix? How in gods name do they know when and what people are listing to? For example a regional station boasting we are beating all the competition. What competition? You are the only youth orientated station. Just makes me laugh.

blue4ever

Regionals have plenty of competition, national stations (RTE1/2/Lyric Today, Newstalk) Then the multi-city stations. it not shooting fish in a barrel.
Survey: questioairre on 15,600 people every year.

mike65

Tubs still going nowhere. Down 9%. Oh that means he is going down.

Alas JNLR 2013_2 Station Programmes page is missing its charts so the OTB figures are not to be seen

windowcleaner

How - and why - in the name of God are Phantom still on air?

blue4ever

mike65 wrote: »

Tubs still going nowhere. Down 9%. Oh that means he is going down.

Alas JNLR 2013_2 Station Programmes page is missing its charts so the OTB figures are not to be seen

Mike

Serious fork up on my behalf (had to do the articles in 'private mode' and forgot to make them public again!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). Back now:

http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/radio/jnlr-2013-2-station-programmes

its one of the better parts of the survey

Conor

blue4ever

windowcleaner wrote: »

How - and why - in the name of God are Phantom still on air?

You'll probably understand why if you look at their address and other companies at the same address

Badabing

Im like a broken record at this stage but Tom Dunne is 5 years at Newstalk and is still only getting 55,000 listeners I find that incredible! Should be at least 80,000 at this stage.

wnolan1992

Badabing wrote: »

Im like a broken record at this stage but Tom Dunne is 5 years at Newstalk and is still only getting 55,000 listeners I find that incredible! Should be at least 80,000 at this stage.

Yeah, but you have to ask the question "Does DOB want that slot to do better?"...

Is it better for Communicorp to have D'Arcy pulling in massive figures with a weaker opposition from their other national station, or do they bring in a heavy hitter and risk toppling D'Arcy with credible opposition?

Trick of the Tail

Yep, it's 55,000 listeners to a DOB station, rather than another's!

mike65

Maybe they should do something crazy like put a music man on a music station and put a nattering mouth on Newstalk.

westmidlands

98FM are really struggling in Dublin according to this survey, they are really starting to fall behind. And this is after bringing Ray Foley in etc. Looks like they need to do something fast to reverse this trend.

KingOfFairview

How did Phantom do compared to last quarter (I struggle to analyse the figures)?

westmidlands

KingOfFairview wrote: »

How did Phantom do compared to last quarter (I struggle to analyse the figures)?

They are down 1000 listeners from 18000 to 17000. That's a 5.6% drop in the number of listeners for them.

gordongekko

Badabing wrote: »

Im like a broken record at this stage but Tom Dunne is 5 years at Newstalk and is still only getting 55,000 listeners I find that incredible! Should be at least 80,000 at this stage.

and he is up against Miriam. As soon as she says hhhhhheeeeeellllllllooo I say bbbbbbbbyyyyyyeeee

michael999999

gordongekko wrote: »

and he is up against Miriam. As soon as she says hhhhhheeeeeellllllllooo I say bbbbbbbbyyyyyyeeee

No he's not!

gordongekko

michael999999 wrote: »

No he's not!

ah sorry your right

chilloutrelax

98fm is still in free fall, quite astonishing! Nothing seems to work for them.

blue4ever

westmidlands wrote: »

98FM are really struggling in Dublin according to this survey, they are really starting to fall behind. And this is after bringing Ray Foley in etc. Looks like they need to do something fast to reverse this trend.

I feel for him, in today he reached 151k every day and in a very decent time slot. Parachuted into the (looks like) terminally ill 98FM and is now gets 36k (3% of Dubs).

That experiment did not work, and the same time slot gets 137k now.

As for Dunne - I think its a case of - probably - is the face being washed. AND - What do you throw at Pat Kenny and D'Arcy to get audience??

Fcuk all, and that's not being defeatist - just realistic.

chilloutrelax

blue4ever wrote: »

I feel for him, in today he reached 151k every day and in a very decent time slot. Parachuted into the (looks like) terminally ill 98FM and is now gets 36k (3% ).

Does anyone have the listener numbers for all Dublin breakfast shows? 104 has 102k

GSF

blue4ever wrote: »

I feel for him, in today he reached 151k every day and in a very decent time slot. Parachuted into the (looks like) terminally ill 98FM and is now gets 36k (3% of Dubs).

That experiment did not work, and the same time slot gets 137k now.

As for Dunne - I think its a case of - probably - is the face being washed. AND - What do you throw at Pat Kenny and D'Arcy to get audience??

Fcuk all, and that's not being defeatist - just realistic.

How long has Foley been at 98 now? You'd think they would do whatever it takes to switch Dermot and Dave with Foley going to drive or afternoons anyway.

Newstalk coud be radical and put a woman on between 10 and 12 noon. I was jokingly going to suggest the Global Village woman but maybe that's a step too far!

GSF

chilloutrelax wrote: »

Does anyone have the listener numbers for all Dublin breakfast shows? 104 has 102k

According to FM104 the 3 others added together come to 102k - Q102, 98fm and Spin.

For Forks Sake

GSF wrote: »

Newstalk coud be radical and put a woman on between 10 and 12 noon. I was jokingly going to suggest the Global Village woman but maybe that's a step too far!

The Irish are too racist too allow that to happen


Christ, can you imagine 10 hours of Dil a week?

blue4ever

chilloutrelax wrote: »

Does anyone have the listener numbers for all Dublin breakfast shows? 104 has 102k

Breakfast:

FM 104 = 102k
102= 28k
2fm=29k
today=39
news/t=63k
spin-39k
RTE1=173k



best I can do for you at the moment

Edit: N.T is impressive

chilloutrelax

GSF wrote: »

How long has Foley been at 98 now? You'd think they would do whatever it takes to switch Dermot and Dave with Foley going to drive or afternoons anyway.

Newstalk coud be radical and put a woman on between 10 and 12 noon. I was jokingly going to suggest the Global Village woman but maybe that's a step too far!

blue4ever wrote: »

Breakfast:

FM 104 = 102k
102= 28k
2fm=29k
today=39
news/t=63k
spin-39k

best I can do for you at the moment

Thanks for that. So Ray Foley is number 6 (including radio 1) in Dublin. Such as disaster! A great return on investment??

Q102 struggling in the AM also, could do with with rejuevination!

GSF

chilloutrelax wrote: »

Q102 struggling in the AM also, could do with with rejuevination!

It has never done well at breakfast. Through all the changes they have never had a strong set of figures. They really need a big name but can they prise one away from their current abode?

wnolan1992

Foley's been there since November. I think it's still a bit early to write it off as a disaster, there's still potential for improvement in the next two sets of figures.

He hasn't been helped by illness which saw him out for a few weeks, and hasn't helped himself with a lot of holidays (2 weeks at Easter IIRC, last week and a shot at Christmas). Now, I know he's perfectly entitled to holidays, but I think it has hurt the show by him being absent a lot, especially at this early, crucial stage.

I hope it works out, but at this stage it may take a mini miracle.

wnolan1992

Foley's been there since November. I think it's still a bit early to write it off as a disaster, there's still potential for improvement in the next two sets of figures.

He hasn't been helped by illness which saw him out for a few weeks, and hasn't helped himself with a lot of holidays (2 weeks at Easter IIRC, last week and a shot at Christmas). Now, I know he's perfectly entitled to holidays, but I think it has hurt the show by him being absent a lot, especially at this early, crucial stage.

I hope it works out, but at this stage it may take a mini miracle.

blue4ever

Proprietors in 98 obviously have the eye off the ball

Mr Pseudonym

I am a classical music buff ("How cultured you are"; "Why, thank you"), but I think questions ought to be raised over Lyric FM. Apart from the fact that its listener base is tiny (while Drivetime has 250 000 listeners in the competitive evening slot, Liz Nolan's Classic Drive has 43 000; while Morning Ireland has 450 000 listeners, Marty in the Morning has 34 000) and falling, it offers unimaginative classical music broadcasting. BBC Radio 3 has an audience a sixth of the size of its commercial rival, Classic FM, but it justifies its existence (in some people’s eyes) because of its original and innovative content; RTE merely broadcasts classical music (and similar) with an occasional documentary.

Lyric is allocated a third of the amount of the license fee that Radio 1 receives; it pulls in about €500k in commercial revenue.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Subsequent: I must credit the excellent ilevel.ie blog (blue4ever) for the figures on individual programmes.

soc160

wnolan1992 wrote: »

Yeah, but you have to ask the question "Does DOB want that slot to do better?"...

Is it better for Communicorp to have D'Arcy pulling in massive figures with a weaker opposition from their other national station, or do they bring in a heavy hitter and risk toppling D'Arcy with credible opposition?

I don't think DOB manages his stations at such a micro level. He owns them, has a big say in them but they have CEO's and boards too who make decisions as do the station editors, i'm sure he would love Tom to pull in more listeners, no guarantee he will take them off Darcy. Look at Hook and Cooper going up against each other.

westmidlands wrote: »

98FM are really struggling in Dublin according to this survey, they are really starting to fall behind. And this is after bringing Ray Foley in etc. Looks like they need to do something fast to reverse this trend.

They can start by severing any links with Ryan Seacrest and his poorly edited showed aimed at America Dublin. It makes no sense to have a non interactive show on before an interactive talk show! They have potential with Ray in the morning and D&D in the afternoon, but the other stuff is the same as 104, so why would anyone change over, they need something different, more personality driven shows maybe?

windowcleaner wrote: »

How - and why - in the name of God are Phantom still on air?

I suppose no one knows what they make and how much they spend, if they can sustain themselves then it's no harm to have them there, it's a strange situation, they try to target the niche market, but then again you don't want to become mainstream so how do you get more people to listen? Be sad to see them go under because they are a nice alternative.

chilloutrelax

soc160 wrote: »

They can start by severing any links with Ryan Seacrest and his poorly edited showed aimed at America Dublin. It makes no sense to have a non interactive show on before an interactive talk show! They have potential with Ray in the morning and D&D in the afternoon, but the other stuff is the same as 104, so why would anyone change over, they need something different, more personality driven shows maybe?

Strategically 98fm is a mess, it's a perfect business school business case study on how to screw up a company with a business strategy that is incoherent. Changes needed to be broader than programming, they have big problems marketing wise and where the station fits in the market. These should be resolved first. Then go to programming and line it up to the business strategy.
They really need to be radical!!! Very radical...

GSF

chilloutrelax wrote: »

They really need to be radical!!! Very radical...

Never understood why they didn't follow UTVs lead and pitch Spin as the young audience and pitch 98 at the 30-50 market

soc160

chilloutrelax wrote: »

Strategically 98fm is a mess, it's a perfect business school business case study on how to screw up a company with a business strategy that is incoherent. Changes needed to be broader than programming, they have big problems marketing wise and where the station fits in the market. These should be resolved first. Then go to programming and line it up to the business strategy.
They really need to be radical!!! Very radical...

Ye they are marketing the station at....no one by the looks of things. Just random promotions for the station here and there. They have the posters on busses but the station needs a tag line of sorts. Fm104 have Dublins hit music station, Q102 are more music less talk, 4fm are classic hits etc.. 98 have "now is good" WTF does that have to do with radio? I'm shocked at how bad it is doing, anyone I know, knows the station and listens to it occasionally, I guess it's just seen as an alternative to 104 but there's nothing wrong with 104 to make people change

Although thinking about it now.. and looking at the figures, maybe people just want music. Spin and 104 just get on with it and play music and are doing really well, maybe the personality driven presenters are suited to the morning only?

JamesReeves

soc160 wrote: »

They have the posters on busses but the station needs a tag line of sorts. Fm104 have Dublins hit music station, Q102 are more music less talk, 4fm are classic hits etc.. 98 have "now is good" WTF does that have to do with radio?

The have Dublin's Best Music Mix

blue4ever

Spin is a communicorp company - spin, 98, today, newstalk, phanthom, spin s/w being the stable. Most sharing the same issue in these results.

Mr Pseudonym

No takers for my Lyric FM post? Very well!


During the week, Radio 1 is effectively a news/current affairs station, with unexceptional music programmes filling the gaps. Its only commitment to the arts (I reiterate: during the week) is Arena, which I don’t especially rate - it’s not appropriate to review Kanye West albums on a show primarily listened to by middle-aged literary types*.

BBC Radio 4, with the exceptions of the flagship Today programme (6-9 am) and the one-hour PM programme (5-6 pm), puts far less emphasis on news/current affairs discussion. Instead, it lets BBC Radio 2 do that, and frees up space for documentaries, arts discussion, and so many other types of exceptional aural pleasure. Obviously, Radio 4’s output is incredibly expensive (received €135m from license in 2012!), but I think RTE could do more to mimic it. An attempt could be made to cater for the block which switches off, en masse, between 6/7 pm – maybe have late-night, ‘Radio 4’-style comedy shows.

I think 2 FM should be modelled, to some extent, on BBC Radio 2, Britain's most listened to station. Radio 2 has an average audience age of 50, with over 80% of listeners being 35+, and though it plays music, much of its prime-time output is talk-based entertainment. Radio 1’s sport could be added to this offering.

In short: clear some of the news discussion from Radio 1 and send it to 2FM (including Liveline), thereby freeing up more space for cultured entertainment. Leave the kids to download.

I hope this one receives a better response, though I admit it is somewhat off topic.


On another note: blue4ever, do you have the figures for Late Debate and Coleman at Large, and for Radio 1’s weekend schedule? Would be much appreciated.


*I have made an uncorroborated assumption here.

chilloutrelax

JamesReeves wrote: »

The have Dublin's Best Music Mix

They don't use it on promotional materials like posters and side of buses etc

I think they should move away from the best music mix tag line, it's not specific enough for such a competitive market. This article makes some good points http://blog.musicradiocreative.com/radio-station-slogans/

soc160

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

No takers for my Lyric FM post? Very well!


During the week, Radio 1 is effectively a news/current affairs station, with unexceptional music programmes filling the gaps. Its only commitment to the arts (I reiterate: during the week) is Arena, which I don’t especially rate - it’s not appropriate to review Kanye West albums on a show primarily listened to by middle-aged literary types*.

BBC Radio 4, with the exceptions of the flagship Today programme (6-9 am) and the one-hour PM programme (5-6 pm), puts far less emphasis on news/current affairs discussion. Instead, it lets BBC Radio 2 do that, and frees up space for documentaries, arts discussion, and so many other types of exceptional aural pleasure. Obviously, Radio 4’s output is incredibly expensive (received €135m from license in 2012!), but I think RTE could do more to mimic it. An attempt could be made to cater for the block which switches off, en masse, between 6/7 pm – maybe have late-night, ‘Radio 4’-style comedy shows.

I think 2 FM should be modelled, to some extent, on BBC Radio 2, Britain's most listened to station. Radio 2 has an average audience age of 50, with over 80% of listeners being 35+, and though it plays music, much of its prime-time output is talk-based entertainment. Radio 1’s sport could be added to this offering.

In short: clear some of the news discussion from Radio 1 and send it to 2FM (including Liveline), thereby freeing up more space for cultured entertainment. Leave the kids to download.

I hope this one receives a better response, though I admit it is somewhat off topic.


On another note: blue4ever, do you have the figures for Late Debate and Coleman at Large, and for Radio 1’s weekend schedule? Would be much appreciated.


*I have made an uncorroborated assumption here.

I don't listen to Lyric, ever to be honest so I cant comment on their output. But compare it with other stations output, most people want the new stuff, then the classic hits. You can't force people to listen to Lyric Fm really, the figures quoted are not too far off what I would expect them to have, it is a niche station really like Phantom is in Dublin. Both have a tiny tiny share of their potential market but then you have to consider what they can actually achieve get... how many listeners do you think the station could actually pull in?

Infoanon

When you consider the advertising spend - Nova and 98FM are not getting a great return - surprised by the drop in Nova's figures while 98s is no surprise at all.

'Now is good' didn't work from Day 1...alas expensive consultants know better,

Sunshine - Dublins Country Mix - has not turned the corner and with their licence under pressure you would fear for their long term future - choosing the name of a legendary 'Hot Hits' station was not going to solve their problems.(BAI didn't help in that regard either)

Whats the story with 4FM - I would have expected a bigger bounce with the new format.

Mr Pseudonym

soc160 wrote: »

I don't listen to Lyric, ever to be honest so I cant comment on their output. But compare it with other stations output, most people want the new stuff, then the classic hits. You can't force people to listen to Lyric Fm really, the figures quoted are not too far off what I would expect them to have, it is a niche station really like Phantom is in Dublin. Both have a tiny tiny share of their potential market but then you have to consider what they can actually achieve get... how many listeners do you think the station could actually pull in?

Thank you for responding (despite quoting a different post). My point was that it doesn't warrant so large a proportion of the license fee (1/3 (of Radio 1's allocation - subsequently added)) unless it has, either, a large number of listeners or content that contributes culturally. I argue that it has neither.

Loafing Oaf

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

No takers for my Lyric FM post? Very well!


During the week, Radio 1 is effectively a news/current affairs station, with unexceptional music programmes filling the gaps. Its only commitment to the arts (I reiterate: during the week) is Arena, which I don’t especially rate - it’s not appropriate to review Kanye West albums on a show primarily listened to by middle-aged literary types*.

BBC Radio 4, with the exceptions of the flagship Today programme (6-9 am) and the one-hour PM programme (5-6 pm), puts far less emphasis on news/current affairs discussion. Instead, it lets BBC Radio 2 do that, and frees up space for documentaries, arts discussion, and so many other types of exceptional aural pleasure. Obviously, Radio 4’s output is incredibly expensive (received €135m from license in 2012!), but I think RTE could do more to mimic it. An attempt could be made to cater for the block which switches off, en masse, between 6/7 pm – maybe have late-night, ‘Radio 4’-style comedy shows.

I think 2 FM should be modelled, to some extent, on BBC Radio 2, Britain's most listened to station. Radio 2 has an average audience age of 50, with over 80% of listeners being 35+, and though it plays music, much of its prime-time output is talk-based entertainment. Radio 1’s sport could be added to this offering.

In short: clear some of the news discussion from Radio 1 and send it to 2FM (including Liveline), thereby freeing up more space for cultured entertainment. Leave the kids to download.

I hope this one receives a better response, though I admit it is somewhat off topic.


On another note: blue4ever, do you have the figures for Late Debate and Coleman at Large, and for Radio 1’s weekend schedule? Would be much appreciated.


*I have made an uncorroborated assumption here.

The way Radio 1 now is clearly a massive commercial success, I don't think you could reasonably expect RTE to tamper with it significantly in the current climate. Mike Murphy's old afternoon arts show was highly regarded, but IIRC its ratings were a disaster. The R4 type programming is as you acknowledge massively expensive, unless RTE's financial fortunes were completely turned around I can't see them doing a whole lot more of it.

soc160

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

Thank you for responding (despite quoting a different post). My point was that it doesn't warrant so large a proportion of the license fee (1/3) unless it has, either, a large number of listeners or content that contributes culturally. I argue that it has neither.

Are they getting a third of the license fee's? If so they don't deserve that money, although is saying that 2fm don't deserve anything either... If they could sustain themselves with advertising revenue then let them continue but they can't rely on license fee money.

Loafing Oaf

soc160 wrote: »

Are they getting a third of the license fee's? If so they don't deserve that money, although is saying that 2fm don't deserve anything either... If they could sustain themselves with advertising revenue then let them continue but they can't rely on license fee money.

I believe it was one-third of what R1 gets was the figure quoted. Still pretty hard to justify given its listenership I would say...

Mr Pseudonym

Apologies, as I said in first post, "Lyric is allocated a third of the amount of the license fee that Radio 1 receives."

RTE Annual Report, 2011

Relevant pages are 44 and 72 (PDF reader page-numbers are wrong).

2 FM doesn't receive Licence Fee funding, and is making a loss of €5.2m.

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

The way Radio 1 now is clearly a massive commercial success, I don't think you could reasonably expect RTE to tamper with it significantly in the current climate. Mike Murphy's old afternoon arts show was highly regarded, but IIRC its ratings were a disaster. The R4 type programming is as you acknowledge massively expensive, unless RTE's financial fortunes were completely turned around I can't see them doing a whole lot more of it.

I concede your points. However, I wasn't proposing that any content be scrapped, just moved from one station to another. But I acknowledge that that could affect listenership figures due to a loss of clout or authority.

blue4ever

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

No takers for my Lyric FM post? Very well!


On another note: blue4ever, do you have the figures for Late Debate and Coleman at Large, and for Radio 1’s weekend schedule? Would be much appreciated.


*I have made an uncorroborated assumption here.

I can't help you there as the Late Debate is two days only and thus 'merged' into a larger figure and can't be abstracted. Coleman - the same as the programme was last aired in January (I think).

blue4ever

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

a show primarily listened to by middle-aged literary types*.

Arena Age Profile:

20-24 0%
25-34 6%
35-44 11%
45-54 28%
55-64 39%
65+ 39%

Positively 'middle' aged!

I do think that it's a difficult one for RTE and, least we loose sight of the fact, our money.

I do think they have to have a 'youth station' and a 'ents' and a 'cultural one'

If I remember correctly - in an interview in the not to distant past, one of the big-wigs in Donnybrook said that if they were doing it again, they would not set thing up as they are now. Now is historical and a bit of a mess with stations remits overlapping.

If you think in your minds eye an 'image' for RTE1, 2FM and Lyric - its unclear (Lyric being the better of the bunch).

Think now of BBC Radio 1,2,3,4 & World Service - there is a better, clearer image*

IMO

Expunge

A lot of the RTE Radio problems in terms of how the stations are set up are well documented. Serious identity crises infect three of the four FM networks to a greater or lesser degree.

Radio One as the flagship, catch all station with still a strong national presence can still get away with it.

We wait to see how the 2FM project goes under new management.

Lyric is starting to display serious problems both in terms of content and listener response.
Their decision to chase a number of audiences during the day is starting to hurt badly - double digit year on year percentage decreases in reach nationwide and in the crucial Dublin market.
It is a dogs dinner of a schedule, which I think is doomed.
Lyric is first aimed at eejits who like blather and elevator music first thing (Marty in the Morning), which has registered a modest increase it must be said.
Then it becomes very classical for the next 4 hours - I personally think this it what it should be about.
Then it's aimed at chin stoking, black polo neck wearing w**kers with John Kelly.
Then back to classical at Drive time. It's in this slot that the station has had a collapse of it's audience in the last 12 months - 30% down. Presenter or music? I'm not sure.
It might be better to let lyric get on with an arts and serious music agenda and take it out of the JNLR, so it doesn't have to look over it's shoulder.

niceview

Can someone explain to me how the figures are interpreted? As in, what is meant by book on and book and year on year? Are the surveys that come out throughout the year all looking at the last quarter or do they examine different things/periods?

blue4ever

The survey is conducted throughout the year and the results are issued every quarter. (15,000+ surveyed every year - very robust)

So, this survey is 2013_2 survey - from July 2012 to June 2013.

The conventional metric of comparison is ‘book on book’ i.e. you compare the twelve months to 2013_2 against the previous quarter - the twelve months to 2013_1.

I, the unconventional one or two, don’t subscribe to that as, mathematically, you’re overlapping hugely on surveys (see attached graphic).

My comparisons are the twelve months to 2013_2 to the twelve months to 2012_2. Its more like with like in my opinion.

Mr Pseudonym

blue4ever wrote: »

I can't help you there as the Late Debate is two days only and thus 'merged' into a larger figure and can't be abstracted. Coleman - the same as the programme was last aired in January (I think).

Thanks anyway. It would have been interesting to see whether there is an apetite for late-night radio (that isn't phone-in).

Arena Age Profile:

20-24 0%
25-34 6%
35-44 11%
45-54 28%
55-64 39%
65+ 39%

Positively 'middle' aged!

I'll say! No way of knowing wheter they're in to hip hop, though! BTW, is there an overlap in age sub-sets, becasue my quick calculation gives a combined percentage of 123?

Expunge wrote: »

Lyric is starting to display serious problems both in terms of content and listener response. Their decision to chase a number of audiences during the day is starting to hurt badly.It might be better to let lyric get on with an arts and serious music agenda and take it out of the JNLR, so it doesn't have to look over it's shoulder.

Lyric's numbers (on par with Nova in Dublin) demonstrate that there would likely be a commercial replacement were it to close. That replacement would be unlikely to broadcast nationally though. Perhaps a licence could be sold giving sole classical music broadcsting rights in exchange for gaurenteeing to broadcst nationally. This idea has flaws (e.g. "What is classical music").

You say, "Get on with an arts and serious music agenda", but Lyric provides little in the way of interesting content in either of those categories at the moment. The argument for Public Service Broadcasting is that something of worth is provided that ordinarily wouldn't. But merely playing piece after piece of classical music, which is out of copright (and therefore cheap), hardly falls into that category, and, as I suggested above, would be provided by a commercial station.