By Jess Jones
“Keep Britain building” says one presenter on Fix Radio which, like the tradespeople it serves, is laying bricks thick and fast to cement its position as the UK’s fastest-growing national broadcaster.
During the Thursday afternoon show, listeners heard 1980s bangers from Neil Diamond and KC & the Sunshine Band quickly transition into a recent Calvin Harris release, then a J-Lo dancefloor classic.
The Upbeat founder of the station channel, Louis Timpany, said the channel has to stay varied and avoid repeating songs, as its listeners – mostly builders and tradespeople – tune in for an average of five hours at a time.
“Music repetition drives tradespeople mad…so we eradicated that on Fix” he told City A.M.. “It’s such a big part of their life,” Timpany added, recounting a time when he saw one builder walk out of a site because he refused to listen to BBC Radio 2.
Having worked on building sites while looking for a job in the City, Timpany saw that builders listen to the radio all day long. “From that personal experience, I realised that tradespeople love radio and that there was an opportunity for a radio station directly serving that community.”
Launched in 2017, Fix Radio is now seeing rapid growth. Its audience has increased by over 100 per cent in the past year, according to independent auditor Nielsen.
For the first five years, Fix broadcasted only in London before crowdfunding and expanding out nationally in May 2022, which Timpany described as a “massive step forward”. With more than 450,000 weekly listeners, Fix reaches about 15 per cent of UK tradespeople and aims to increase that to 30 per cent in the next couple of years.
Commercially, it is thriving. Revenue grew from £2m in 2022 to £3.7m in 2023, with a forecast of over £5m in 2024. It took around three years to start gaining “some real commercial traction” but now Fix works with major advertisers including B&Q, Screwfix and Checkatrade. The station is also broadening its advertiser base into other verticals.
Despite challenges in attracting listeners away from their long-standing radio habits, Timpany believes Fix’s targeted approach appeals to its audience. “I think our audience were grateful that someone was launching a brand aimed specifically at them, so they almost feel a sense of obligation to get involved in many respects,” he explained.
Presenters on the station, which favours cheerful singalong tunes, are genuine tradespeople found on social media and trained to provide authentic content highly targeted towards trade.
The programming includes a mixture of entertainment and information, covering topics such as mental health and tool theft. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has made an appearance to discuss ULEZ charges – an issue that particularly affects the building community who rely on vehicles to work.
Compared to big-name radio brands,Fix remains relatively small. As of January, Heart has 11.5m weekly listeners, Smooth Radio has a weekly audience of 6.2m and LBC reaches 3m weekly listeners, according to Rajar, the body that measures radio audiences in the UK.
But Timpany is undeterred. “We’re super-serving a community and so we feel it’s a great opportunity to make our product different to our competitors and to really look after the community we’re in,” he said. “No one else is super serving this community and therefore we don’t feel too much pressure from these other brands.”
