National Survey Launched

RNS Number:7170H
Wireless Group PLC
20 February 2003


             THE WIRELESS GROUP LAUNCHES UK'S FIRST NATIONAL SURVEY

                OF RADIO LISTENING USING ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENT



  * Results of national survey to be published monthly from June 2003
  * Results of London survey to be published monthly from Sept 2003
  * Three-year deal signed with GfK
  * Survey samples explained by Prof Frank Kelly, FRS, of the Statistical
    Laboratory at Cambridge University



The Wireless Group plc ("TWG"), owners of talkSPORT, the UK's only national
commercial speech radio station, today announces a three-year deal with
international market research group GfK to commission the UK's first-ever
national survey of radio listening using electronic measurement.

GfK owns Radiocontrol in Switzerland, which developed the technology, and GfK
Marketing Services will conduct the fieldwork. The Radiocontrol system is based
on an electronic wristwatch that records the radio stations listened to by the
wearer for a week. By audio-matching the watch's recording against the output of
the monitored radio stations, the stations that the respondent listened to are
identified.

Up until now, RAJAR has operated as the single currency for the radio industry
in the UK. Using a recall-based system, respondents fill out diaries in which
they mark down the radio stations they listened to during the period of a week
and when.

The Wireless Group-commissioned national survey, the first of its kind in the
world outside Switzerland, begins on Monday 3 March 2003.

Audiences of the five national BBC analogue stations (Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and Five
Live) and the three national commercial analogue stations (Classic FM, Virgin
and talkSPORT) will be measured in the national survey and the first results
(based upon a sample size of more than 1,900 respondents) will be published in
mid-June and on a monthly basis thereafter. Top-line results are expected to be
released by the first week in May.

One of the world's most respected authorities in statistics, Professor Frank
Kelly, FRS, of the Statistical Laboratory at Cambridge University, said: "A
national sample of 1,900 respondents (i.e. 160 people over 12 weeks) is
perfectly capable of estimating a 10% reach within a confidence interval of
between 11.4% and 8.7%.

"That is to say, we can be 95% confident that a measured 10% reach is within
1.4% above or below the result that would be obtained if the entire UK
population were recruited for the survey.

"Even a monthly sample of 640 people would be able to estimate a 10% reach
within 2.5%.

"We also have to bear in mind that this confidence interval takes no account of
how accurate the electronic measurement system is compared against a diary-based
system.

"I would expect the electronic meters to be more accurate at recording what
people actually listen to, rather than what people would mark down in a diary."

Ten London radio stations will also be monitored and the first results will be
published in mid-September. London results will also be published on a monthly
basis from then on.

Kelvin MacKenzie, Chairman and Chief Executive of The Wireless Group, said:
"This will be great news for the radio industry, advertisers and investors. In
essence, watches are a mobile version of BARB, which has supplied stats for the
TV industry for the past 20 years.

"Everyone in research knows that diaries are the worst system and that only
electronic measurement can supply what is much closer to the truth.

"The Wireless Group will continue as members of RAJAR for the foreseeable, but
not indefinite, future. We are not hostile to RAJAR but as Tony Blair keeps on
saying 'It's time to move on'."



                                    - ends -



For further information, please contact:

Luke Morton / Robin Tozer
Bell Pottinger Financial
Tel: [phone]




NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The commissioning of a national survey by TWG follows the company's
successful completion of two three-month tests (one in the Slough, Windsor and
Maidenhead area and the other in the Bolton, Bury and Prestwich area) last year.
The results of those tests were published in September and among the key
findings were:



  * Weekly reach went up for 29 of the 34 stations monitored in the two test
    areas. In some cases, audiences increased by significant amounts (almost six
    times the RAJAR figure for one radio station)
  * Speech stations attracted much larger audiences than estimated under the
    current RAJAR system
  * People listened to more radio stations than they marked down in a diary.
    (In a parallel study, 215 radio listeners filled out a diary and wore a
    watch at the same time. In their diaries, they marked down that they
    listened to an average of 2.7 radio stations a week. The watch, however,
    recorded that those same people actually listened to an average of 4.4
    stations a week)
  * People listened to the radio for shorter periods than they marked down in
    a diary. (In the same parallel study, respondents averaged 23.2 hours
    listened according to their diaries, remarkably close to the RAJAR figure of
    23.5 hours in that area. Their watches, however, told a different story:
    recording virtually half that amount of radio listening, at just 12 hours a
    week)
  * More than 30% of all periods of uninterrupted listening recorded by the
    watch were for periods under five minutes. These periods are not counted at
    all by RAJAR, which only counts those of five minutes or more. The majority
    of listening periods recorded by the watches, more than 54%, were for
    periods between five minutes and half an hour
  * Less than 1% of all listening periods lasted longer than 4 hours - proof
    that, unlike diaries, the watches do not over-report listening hours

2. GfK (Growth from Knowledge) was established 68 years ago as Germany's first
market research company. It now has more than 110 subsidiaries and a total of
4,750 employees in 51 countries. It has an annual turnover of #300 million and
clients in the UK include ICI, BSkyB and Argos. It has TV and radio research
contracts in Germany, France, Switzerland and Holland. The Radiocontrol system
has been operating as the single currency for the radio industry in Switzerland
since January 2001.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

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