There is no cake in Bergwijk in Hilversum, but the faces are long. The cowardly politics and lack of a dedicated station manager at Radio 10 seem to be paying off for two of Talpa’s three stations. Direct competitor JOE, which stole Radio 10’s top FM band in a frequency auction, is now above two stations in the John de Mol radio group.

Both Sky Radio and Radio 10 are losing listeners and listening time, while JOE is recording significantly more listening time. Both Talpa stations have adjusted their music policy after the arrival of DPG’s old Greatest Hits station, programming more classics and less new music. Radio 10’s programming has also been significantly overhauled, due to the departure of Gerard Ekdom and Rob van Someren, but also due to the introduction of the “more music” formula. While the oldest rule in the radio guide is always: “Don’t be the best, be different”. Do they choose old classics and safe content at JOE? Then we won’t do that at 10 o’clock and will offer a different music mix and more exciting elements.

The entire Talpa Radio Group is down 1%, so the damage isn’t too bad. Hopefully JOE’s massive jump up is a holiday-distorted image, but there are clearly concerns about the arrival and success of this direct competitor. Qmusic are again top of the charts with their Summer Top 500, which of course also affected Sky and 538.

NPO Radio 2 is declining, probably due to the absence of regular morning and afternoon programmes, but also due to a change in listening behaviour with regard to holidaymakers. NPO Radio 1 is making a big plus thanks to the Olympic Games and the Dutch gold. NPO 3FM is also making a small plus due to a slightly longer listening time. NPO Radio 5 is losing 0.4%.