Kerrang!(THE INSIDER)

Just as magazines covering rock have recently been enjoying rising ABC figures, growing mainstream interest in the genre has also had specialist radio stations reaping the benefits. Among them is Emap's West Midlands-based Kerrang! 105.2 which, just 20 months after launching, is setting its sights within the next year of become the number one station in its geographical market for 15- to 24-year-olds.

The station, which targets the 15- to 34-year-old demographic, is seeing its audience grow ever broader as the music that was once niche consistently finds its way onto the playlists of Kerrang!'s more mainstream competitors. "We might have a primary core focus on 15- to 24-year-old males, but the appeal of Kerrang! 105.2 is so much wider than this," says head of music Emma Scrafton. "We now find many of our commercial competitors sharing some of our strongest tracks, which is good because mainstream listeners know our songs and are more likely to give us a try for a full rock radio service that they, might not have listened to before."

Kerrang!'s playlist is also drawing more on more on music that falls outside of what may traditionally be considered "rock", with artists such as Dr Dre, Eminem, Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy finding their way onto the station. Specialist programming also takes up a large proportion of the weekly schedule, with more than 40 hours of unique programming every week covering genres such as punk, metal, emo, new wave, goth and thrash.

While research plays an ongoing role in the station's programming decisions, Scrafton says retaining ...