There’s a curious thing that a lot of people experience when a new building springs up somewhere. It’s expressed most succinctly in the question: what was there before? It’s particularly common in Lagos where, if asked what previously stood in the locations of any of the malls around, dwellers would be hard pressed to provide an answer beyond I don’t remember.

Similar is the case with radio at the moment, but in a slightly different way. Urban 96.5 has taken the reins of the airwaves with a grip so firm that it’s clearly not just the work of the station itself (which, of course, is excellent) but also a function of filling a clear vacuum for listeners. The question then becomes, was the void always there? And if so, did no one else realize it?

Questions to which we may never know the answers, but all of which come down to Urban 96.5 retaining the #1 spot on our top 25 radio stations countdown. It’s 3 months straight at the top for the relatively new entrant onto the radio playing field – literally only a year old and already leaving other major players shaking in their boots. Beat 99.9 FM, which once occupied the young, fresh disruptor position Urban has now so firmly taken hold of, retains their #2 position this month. The station enjoys considerable listenership based on a solid state of now reliable (if not entirely fresh or cutting edge) programs, also scoring major buzz through meaty interviews with raves-of-the-moment from the Big Brother Naija house.

Elsewhere, Radio Continental remains at the bottom, Inspiration FM moves up into the top 10, and Unilag FM continues to languish in a cesspool of unremarkability and wasted potential.

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Click here to see our top 25 Radio chart

 

*The YNaija Ranking is a perception index determined by a variety of factors including Listenership, Programming Quality, Brand Recognition/Reputation, and Influence.