Commercial Radio

 Commercial broadcasters also known as Independent Local Radio in the UK and are largely funded through the sales of advertising spots on their radio station. Commercial stations are often quite local, and may have some public service commitments within their permit. Commercial radio run advertising on their radio stations frequently to earn money, the money they earn is to keep the radio station live. The advertising are their main source of income.

   The UK radio industry is very tightly regulated in it's structure and output. This section outlines the structure of the UK radio industry, the range of job roles, how the radio industry is regulated, changing radio technology and how to prepare for employment in the industry. You will recognise independent or commercial radio by the advertisements which take up a significant part of the time, as much as 12 minutes in every hour. The income from selling advertising space, or 'air time', is used to pay the station's staffing and running costs, and to generate profits for its owners and shareholders. Commercial radio stations also have to pay the government for their broadcasting licence, usually millions of pounds each year according to their income. Licences are awarded every five years by Ofcom, the media regulator. It is illegal to broadcast over the airwaves without a licence. The last radio station to be granted a license by Ofcom was  Original 106 (Aberdeen).

      Commercial stations program the format of the station to gain as large a slice of the demographic audience as possible.

      A station's value is usually measured as a percentage of market share in a market of a certain size. The measurement in UK markets has historically been by RAJAR a commercial statistical service that uses listener diaries. Market share is not always a consideration, because not all radio stations are commercial.

           Three national commercial radio stations broadcasting on analogue radio in the UK which are:

• Classic FM - 99.9 to 101.9 MHz, first air date 7 September 1992
• Absolute Radio - 1215 kHz mediumwave in most areas, first air date 30 April 1993 as Virgin1215
• Talksport - 1053 kHz and 1089 kHz in most areas, first air date 14 February 1995 as Talk Radio UK

Commercial Radio in Manchester
The most popular local commercial stations is Manchester are:

• Key 103
• Northwest Radio
• Capital FM (Manchester)

National Brands
Some stations have been collected into networks, sharing some programmes and syndicated output.
Global Radio

• Heart
• Galaxy
• Gold
• Xfm

Guardian Media Group

• Real Radio
• Rock Radio
• Smooth Radio

Bauer Media

• Kiss
• Magic