RNS Number:1854O
Wireless Group PLC
31 July 2003



For immediate release - 31 July 2003

The Wireless Group plc, owners of talkSPORT, the UK's only national commercial
sports radio station, announces that it has today issued the following statement
to the UK media regarding the anomalies of RAJAR audience research compared to
independent electronic measurement.


             GfK and RAJAR surveys cover same period for first time

            talkSPORT HAS 5 MILLION MORE LISTENERS THAN RAJAR CLAIMS

talkSPORT has 7.2 million adult listeners every week and remains the nation's
Number One commercial station, according to the latest audience figures from GfK
Media's national broadcast survey of Radio & TV audiences.

For the first time, the GfK Media survey period matches the Q2 2003 period that
RAJAR reports on today (Thursday July 31st) and credits talkSPORT with 5 million
more listeners than RAJAR.

Reporting on the 13-week period from March 24th - June 22nd, GfK Media
(employing a system of electronic measurement of radio audiences in a national
survey for the first time in the UK) says talkSPORT is the UK's Number One
commercial station with a weekly reach of 7.2 million adult listeners. Second is
Classic FM with 6.9 million adult listeners, followed finally by Virgin AM and
FM combined with 4.4 million.

RAJAR (the industry body asks people to remember which radio stations they
listened to and when in order to complete a listening diary) says talkSPORT has
2.16 million listeners -- 5 million fewer adults than the electronic measurement
system.

Kelvin MacKenzie, Chairman and Chief Executive of The Wireless Group that owns
talkSPORT, said today: "These results are proof-positive that RAJAR's diary
system based on people's memories is damaging talkSPORT. The differences are so
dramatic (we go from Number Three under RAJAR to Number One under electronic
measurement). For the first time, electronic measurement is able to be compared
day for day with RAJAR's diary results on a national basis, so there is no
excuse that we are not comparing like with like."

The latest talkSPORT reach of 7.2 million is 700,000 lower than the previous GfK
Media figure (for the period March 10-May 25) -- a drop that MacKenzie explains
is understandable with the end of the war as well as the absence of football.

The GfK Media results show talkSPORT's audience profile, however, to be
particularly strong in the most sought-after demographic by advertisers -- with
20.5% of its listeners being young men aged 16-34, as compared to its nearest
rival Classic FM which has only 2.5% in this category. In contrast, Classic FM
is clearly popular with the over-55s, with 74.4% of its audience in this age
bracket, according to the electronic survey.

                                     - END -
                                        
For further information, please contact:

David Rydell / Robin Tozer

Bell Pottinger Financial                   Tel: 0207 861 3232



TalkSPORT Press Office                     Tel: 0207 959 7821

Note to Editors:

When mathematical margins of error (or in this case 95% confidence intervals)
are applied to the numbers, the lowest possible figure for talkSPORT's weekly
reach under GfK is 6.44 m, compared against the highest possible figure under
RAJAR of 2.26 m -- a difference of 4.18 m. This takes into account the different
sample sizes used by both surveys.



















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