Radio listening reaches record high thanks to digital technology

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It is the highest figure since industry body Rajar began keeping track of the nation's listening habits in 1992.

The rise is being attributed to growing numbers of people tuning in via the internet, digital television or their mobile phones. Some 7.8 per cent of people aged 15 and above listen to the radio via their mobiles, according to Rajar research conducted in the last three months of 2006.

The figure is 24 per cent up on the same period of 2005.

A quarter of all 15- to 24-year-olds said they listened to the radio in this way.

Listening via the internet was up 10 per cent and via digital television up 9 per cent.

Internet podcasts are also increasingly popular. There are now 2.1 million people (17 per cent of MP3 player owners) who download and listen to podcasts - a rise of 15 per cent on the previous three months.

Jenny Abramsky, the BBC's director of audio and music, said: "It's great to see radio listening at a record high, with more than 45 million people tuning in every week.

"It proves that radio still plays an incredibly important part in people's lives and that, despite the range of new media available, listeners continue to value the close relationship they have with radio."