Construction worker radio station set up by a graduate becomes Britain’s fastest growing broadcaster

A construction radio station launched by a graduate has become the fastest growing radio station in the UK.

Fix Radio, which entertains merchants, has grown nearly 250 percent since its national launch last May, reaching nearly 300,000 listeners.

The station’s popular segments include The Bald Builders Breakfast, The Plastering Show, and What’s In Your Skip?, where callers call in about the strangest items dumped on the scene.

The success goes against a broader trend, which saw viewership for BBC network radio drop by four per cent over the same period.

Last week, industry figures showed that Radio 4 has had its lowest listening figures in 16 years, while Radio 2 has lost 121,000 weekly listeners.

Fix Radio was built by 30-year-old Louis Timpany, a graduate of the University of Leeds.

While doing construction work, he noticed that his colleagues listened to the radio from dawn to dusk, but were enraged by repetitive music.

Within six months the idea for Fix Radio was born – and in 2016 the station launched in London by delivering 30,000 bacon butties to builders.

“We visited several thousand construction sites, handed out bacon sandwiches and changed their radios,” said Mr. Timpany.

The station continued to grow and last year it was crowdfunded for £1m to launch nationally.

A year later, the average listener of Fix Radio tunes in 23 hours a week. The audience of BBC radio listens only 13.9 hours and commercial radio 9.8 hours a week. The station is also a commercial success.

Broadcasting from Vauxhall in South London, Fix Radio focuses on providing upbeat, varied music for builders to sing along to.

Among the most popular songs are Kings Of Leon’s Sex On Fire, Modjo’s Lady (Hear Me Tonight) and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida.

The station covers topics from tool theft to mental health, with its shows led by tradesmen turned radio hosts hand-picked and trained by the radio station.