Radio Exe's audience rises 35 per cent

Station has thousands more listeners

Devon's commercial station Radio Exe has seen a dramatic rise in its audience in the latest figures published on Thursday.

Independent research from Ipsos MORI/RSMB for 2022 as a whole shows a rebound in listening figures following the pandemic. During covid, listening habits changed as many people worked from home and fewer people were on the road.

Now 75,000 adults (aged 15+) tune to Radio Exe every quarter, with a profile which is skewed slightly upmarket, and is slightly younger than in previous years.

The good news follows other recent successes for the station, which is one of the few remaining independent commercial stations in the UK to be locally owned.

Last month, the regulator Ofcom announced that a consortium in which Radio Exe is a key part has been awarded a licence to run a new digital radio network in Torbay and Teignbridge, beating off competition from a Gloucestershire-based company. In December, a similar network run by ExeDab, in which Radio Exe is a connected company, began operating a digital network for the Exeter area.

Radio Exe's managing director Paul Nero says: "It's wonderful to be welcoming new listeners, as well as hearing from longstanding loyal listeners who are enjoying the line-up.

"The new audience figures tell only part of the story though, as they only cover the Exeter, Torbay and North Devon transmitters, Last year, we extended into Plymouth, the South Hams, West Devon and East Cornwall, and we can see we have many thousands more listeners there too."

Radio Exe can be heard on 107.3FM in Exeter, East and Mid Devon, in stereo DAB in the Exeter area, and across Devon and East Cornwall on a larger DAB digital service. You may need to retune as you travel between east and west.