Disappointing result for Now FM

92.3 Now FM, CBS Radio's new CHR station in New York City, hasn't made the same immediate impact as its Los Angeles sister station Amp Radio.

In the first full-month results since its March 9 launch, Now FM only manages to get a 1.5% marketshare. That is only marginally better than its predecessor 92.3 K-Rock and means that Now FM is the 23rd biggest radio station in NYC.

Now FM's main competitor, Clear Channel's Z100, is up slightly to 4.9% and maintains its runner-up position on the market, with Clear Channel's AC station still at number one with 5.9%.

CBS Radio gets some good news from its other stations in New York City. Oldies station WCBS-AM increases to 4.8% and keeps its number three spot, news outlet WCBS-AM rises to 4.1 and sports channel WFAN AM surges from 2.1 to 3.4%. Another winner is Clear Channel's classic rock station Q104.3, which is now in fourth place with a 4.3% share.

December launch for digital radio in France

Paris, Nice and Marseille will be the first three regions in France to get digital radio, media authority CSA announced this week.

When digital radio is launched in December, Parisians will get access to a total of 63 digital stations including 8 public service channels. Seven brand new services have been awarded licenses: Radio Mandarin d'Europe (Chinese), R2O (children), Crooner Fréquence Numerique, Jazz Radio, Antinea Radio (Berber), LCI Radio (news) and RTL L'Équipe (sports).

France has opted for T-DMB Audio as its standard for digital radio. T-DMB Audio is part of the European digital radio family Eureka 147 which also includes DAB (used in the U.K., Denmark and Norway) and DAB+ (the choice of Germany, Italy and Australia).

Amp Radio winner in L.A, talk dominates in Chicago and S.F.

CBS Radio's new CHR station 97.1 Amp Radio has made a clear impact on the Los Angeles market. Since its launch in February, when it replaced 97.1 FM Talk, the frequency's share of listening hours has almost doubled to 3.7%.

Amp Radio's main rival, Clear Channel's KIIS FM, has lost some listeners but is still the L.A. leader with 4.9% of the listening. The runner-up position on the market is shared by Clear Channel's talk outlet KFI-AM and CBS Radio's oldies station K-Earth 101 with 4.5% each. Clear Channel occupies the number four and five slots with soft rock KOST and hot AC 104.3 My FM.

In both Chicago and San Francisco, talk stations dominate according to the latest Arbitron ratings. CBS Radio's WBBM and Tribune's WGN both have 5.3% of listening in Chicago, while Citadel's WLS falls to 4.8%. Similarly, in San Francisco, CBS Radio's KCBS and Citadel's KGO are both at 5.4%, with public service channel KQED at 5%.

The figures for the New York City market has been postponed to next Wednesday, due to a data entry problem.

New podcast from the Radio Academy

The Radio Academy, a British organisation, has launched its first weekly podcast.

Radio Talk features guests from the radio industry and is available at the Radio Academy's website (www.radioacademy.org). In the first show, Radio Talk included a discussion with former GCap boss David Mansfield on how radio can survive the financial downturn. Other guests were David Ackerman from the UK's largest independet radio production company Somethin' Else and Matt Wells from Media Guardian's podcast Media Talk.