If the UK is officially in recession because of two consecutive quarters of negative growth, what do you call commercial radio's double quarters of expansion against the BBC?
A radio renaissance might be considered a bit optimistic after the great Channel 4 radio debacle. But there are signs of life in the undergrowth, possibly even an occasional green shoot or two.
Now is the time, if ever there were one, to accentuate the positive. In the gathering gloom we must search for good news, and even radio can help.
So here goes. According to the latest Rajar listening figures, commercial radio reclaimed 0.7% audience share from the BBC in the third quarter of 2008, adding to its winning performance in the second quarter. That means commercial radio has added two percentage points in six months, taking its share to a heady 43.1%.
Let's celebrate success. In the old pre-recession days, cynics might have pulled out their calculators and pondered how the BBC still managed to hold on to virtually all the rest of the market, with 54.9%. They might even have asked why the commercial sector's audience share was as low as 41.1% in the first place. That's the old negative way of thinking.
Let's talk about how well the local commercial stations are doing. Local stations now reach 50% of the population and have a 32% audience share, the highest since the second quarter of last year. Perhaps recession will be disproportionately kind to local media. Certainly local newspapers haven't lost as many classified ads as the regionals.
Richard Wheatly, executive chairman of The Local Radio Company, is brimming with confidence. Some of his 20-strong chain of local stations have a 40% audience share, his company is debt-free and, like Rupert Murdoch, he is in the market for bargains. Wheatly has also chosen the teeth of a recession as the time to relaunch Jazz FM as a digital brand under a licensing agreement with the Guardian Media Group (GMG). This collaboration works well because GMG bought the old Jazz FM, rebranded it Smooth and has ditched as many hours of jazz as Ofcom will allow.
The new Jazz service is available via DAB in London, the West Midlands and the North West, as well as online.
First signs for the resurrected brand are encouraging. PizzaExpress is sponsoring Jazz FM's Drivetime show and will broadcast the station's programmes in its restaurants.
The Financial Times has also agreed a sponsorship deal. Jazz FM's breakfast show will promote the weekend edition of the newspaper, the one with all the recession-busting, high-end ads.
In the midst of a slump, that all adds up to heart-lifting news. And once you start looking, there are nuggets of good news to be found almost everywhere.
It is impressive that Absolute Radio - formerly Virgin Radio - should be spending so much on its relaunch. Not before time, too, as Virgin mislaid 120,000 listeners year on year. In an impressive example of cross-media co-operation in such difficult times, Absolute has spent much of its marketing budget on TV ads. It must really believe all that stuff about TV's brand-building power.
There will, however, always be mean-spirited people, the sort who reach for writs in a recession just because, on a first superficial examination, the ill-informed might think there is some connection between Absolut Vodka and Absolute Radio.
That aside, the principle stands up remarkably well. You can find good news about commercial radio if you look hard enough. And if you can find good news about radio...
Raymond Snoddy is a media journalist and presenter of BBC TV's Newswatch
30 seconds on... The Local Radio Company
- The Local Radio Company (TLRC) operates 21 local stations in the UK, from Eastbourne's Sovereign Radio to Falkirk & Stirling's Central FM in Scotland.
- According to Rajar, the company's stations collectively reach 788,000 listeners, and generate more than 6.8m hours of content, every week.
- TLRC is led by executive chairman Richard Wheatly, who sold Jazz FM to Guardian Media Group for £41m in 2002.
- Wheatly joined TLRC in 2004 to oversee its flotation, which he subsequently used to fund the acquisition
- of local stations.
- As well as its portfolio of local stations, TLRC has a licensing agreement with Guardian Media Group to operate Jazz FM, which was relaunched as a digital and online station earlier this month.
- At this year's Sony Radio Academy Awards, TLRC's Silk FM, which broadcasts in the Macclesfield area, was named Radio Station of the Year (under 300,000 listeners).