Thu 05 May, 2017

How many people listen to National Prison Radio?

National Prison Radio broadcasts to over 81,000 people in prison across England, Wales and Scotland, and 72% listen regularly. The average listener tunes in for 11.4 hours every week.

These are the main findings from the Prison Radio Association’s annual Impact Snapshot.

We publish details about the size of our audience, and what action people take as a result of listening to National Prison Radio, every year. The publication demonstrates the central role National Prison Radio plays in the lives of prisoners all over the country.

This year has seen a dramatic increase in the number of letters people in prison have written to us, and messages from friends and loved-ones of prisoners. In total our staff dealt with over 10,500 items of correspondence – around 10% up on last year’s total of 9,562.

We’re extremely proud to have worked with an astonishing 147 different partner organisations to bring their messages to the prisoner audience over the past twelve months, with major campaigns in parnership with the National Careers Service, National Literacy Trust, Shannon Trust, BASS, and HM Prison and Probation Service who commissioned campaigns aiming to reduce violence and the use of synthetic drugs behind bars.

National Prison Radio is the world’s first national radio station for prisoners. It broadcasts into the cells of over 81,000 prisoners across England, Wales and Scotland and has been named as a Radio Academy Station of the Year on two occasions.

The Prison Radio Association has won ten Sony Radio Academy Awards and is the Third Sector Awards’ Charity of the Year.