The Russian business daily Kommersant is set to launch an FM radio station in the capital, according to reports in The Moscow Times.

The radio station will focus on business and financial information and draw on content from its print counterpart.

Ghanaian radio continues to dominate the communications medium despite the steady rise of mobile phones, according to new research from InterMedia.

The Africa Development Research Series: Ghana highlights the fact that radio continues to be the most widely used information source, followed by TV. However, the reach of TV is concentrated in more urban areas.

Aiming to tackle the decline in advertising at regional news groups, communications regulator Ofcom has recommended relaxing the rules on the ownership of local media and cross-media ownership.

The rules, still subject to government approval, would allow radio groups to consolidate around a local area, helping independent commercial operators compete with the BBC. With regards to cross-media ownership, regional groups would be able to own a combination of two news mediums in an area.

Ofcom said:

We have found that even though consumers are increasingly using the internet as an alternative source of news, there is still strong reliance on television, newspapers and radio. However, these industries are facing significant economic changes. These are most acute in local media. Some relaxation of the local ownership rules will benefit citizens and consumers by helping to ensure that local content continues to be commercially provided.

The BBC's radio stations have been doing well recently, according to the most recent Rajar figures, released yesterday. Radio 4's audience share of 12.4% equalled its best for a decade, while Radio 3's reach was 2.19m, its highest for five years.

After since the Copyright Royalty Board set a rate structure for royalty payments that many in the online radio indistry found punitive, there has been concern that the previously thriving sector might gradually fade away. So it's good news, then, to see that a deal has been struck between online music streaming service Pandora and royalty organisation SoundExchange that reduces the payments due.

Under the new agreement, larger services whose revenues exceed US$1.25m must pay either 25% of gross revenue or 0.093 cents per listener, whichever is the greater. Those whose turnover is below this amount must pay the higher of 7% of expenses or a percentage of revenue starting at 12% for the first US$250,000.

Phil Riley, former chief executive of Chrysalis Radio, has struck a deal to buy eight radio stations from Global for an estimated £37.5m, with financial backing from LDC. The stations include Heart East Midlands and BRMB.

Bauer had been in negotiations with Global over the stations - but these seemed to be moving very slowly, and several weeks ago, Bauer allowed the agreed negotiation exclusivity period to expire, at which point Mr. Riley made his move and competitive bidding ensued. He says he intends to retain the Heart brand on the stations already operating under the banner, and insists he has "no intention of starting another radio empire."

Thanks to the growing use of computers and mobile phones, more people are listening to the radio than at any time in the past decade.

According to figures released by industry body Rajar, more than 90% of adults listened at least once a week during the first three months of this year. A third of these listened via a digital radio, the internet or digital TV, and 13% via a mobile phone.

Directors of The Local Radio Company have urged shareholders to reject a £1.4 million bid for the group by smaller rival UKRD in favour of a £1.8 million buy-out by its chairman.

Cornwall-based UKRD, which owns six stations, currently has a 13.5% stake in The Local Radio Company and wishes to expand. Ricky Thompson, an adviser to UKRD from Charles Stanley Securities, said the rival bidder had not ruled out "either making a higher offer of ducking out of the race".

The Local Radio Company, which operates 20 stations across the UK, needs a cash injection by the end of the month to continue trading. Shareholders rejected a rights issue earlier this month, holding out for a takeover.

Google yesterday abandoned a move into radio advertising, and said that it plans to sell its Radio Automation business, which created software to automate broadcast radio programming, and phase out its Audio Ads service.

The internet giant has been re-appraising initiatives intended to expand its income beyond internet advertising, and the failure of this venture follows its decision in January to scrap a similar business to place adverts in newspapers and magazines.

Susan Wojcicki, vice-president of product management said "We have always accepted that if you take risks, not all of them will pay off", adding that Google would continue with its "growing TV advertising business, where we can measure audience response and help advertisers understand how effective their ads are".

The latest set of figures released by Rajar reveal that radio audiences increased by more than 400,000 in the last quarter of 2008, to a high of 45.5 million listeners a week.

Sir Terry Wogan attracted the biggest breakfast audience, with 7.96 million listeners, while Virgin Radio - which was recently rebranded Absolute Radio - suffered a 20% fall in its audience, largely due to confusion over the change of name.

Radio listening via digital is up from 17% a year ago to almost 20%, with almost a third of the population tuning in via a digitally-enabled set each week.