Accentuate the positive

There's an moderately entertaining debate going on about recent research conducted for the shy, self-effacing Radio Centre, who would like Radio 1 and 2 to become so dull nobody listens - or to run the stations themselves.

The headline spin is that "Listeners think Radio 1 and Radio 2 should be more distinctive" and "Listeners do not associate Radio 1 and Radio 2 with their public service remits". To reach this view, they put a positive line on negatives - extrapolating a "should be" that's certainly not in their published Q & As.

On Radio 1, for example, given a choice of 10 statements on "what Radio 1 means to you", and allowing people to tick as many boxes as they like, 33% said it was "different to commercial radio". From this, apparently, comes the line that 77% thought it was the same. It's not a positive option. Nor does there appear to be a question about "commercial radio" being "different to Radio 1".

Similarly, out of 14 statements that you might "associate with Radio 1", 25% said "programming for younger teenagers". That morphs into a headline "75% or more of Radio 1 listeners suggest the station is not representing its target audience, or getting them to engage". Not what they were asked, in the detail that's published.

The research was done by BDRC Continental, and as it's on their letter head, one presumes they provided the accompanying copy.