Morning:
12°c
Johnny and Lisa’s radio show is still Capital at waking us up
Amar Singh07.05.09
Johnny Vaughan has held onto his position as the number one radio breakfast show presenter as Capital came top of London's listening figures.
It is the third time in a row the station was named most popular commercial breakfast show in the capital.
The figures, by radio body Rajar, showed in the first quarter of this year Capital had more than one million listeners per week from 6am to 10am, up nine per cent on the previous quarter.
Vaughan, who co-hosts with Lisa Snowdon, said: “This is such great news – I really feel we're striking the right balance, and that Londoners are enjoying coming along for the ride.”
Snowdon added: “This makes all the early starts so worth while.”
Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott retained the number two position, with 833,000 listeners per week between 6am and 9am. Magic FM came third with 784,000.
Kiss 100 FM came fourth with 776,000 and Total Absolute Radio was fifth with 463,000 tuning in.
Meanwhile, national figures showed Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles is almost neck and neck with Sir Terry Wogan in the battle for early-morning listeners.
The Chris Moyles Show has 7.7 million listeners, up from 7.3 million in the last quarter — despite reports that the BBC was considering sacking him for being too old. His popularity increased after his high-profile climb of Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief.
Wake up to Wogan has 7.78 million listeners each week, dropping from 7.96 million last quarter and 8.1 million last year.
Moyles took over the flagship slot in January 2004 as the self-styled “saviour of Radio 1.” Reports that he was about to be axed from the breakfast show last month were strongly denied on air last month by the presenter himself.
The figures today showed that radio popularity has reached an “all time high” of 45.8 million listeners per week, more than 90 per cent of the UK population aged 15 and over. It is the highest number since research methods were introduced in 1999.
The listener figures, for the first quarter of this year, are up by 251,000.
The BBC's radio reach is 33.8 million, an increase on 33.5 million last quarter but down from 34.2 million last year. Radio 4's Today programme, which has seen a surge in popularity linked with its coverage of the economic crisis, has a weekly reach of 6.6 million listeners — up from 6.4 million last year.
Tim Davie, director of BBC Audio and Music, said: “These figures are excellent news for the radio industry, and digital radio in particular. Radio remains as relevant and popular as ever and the growth in digital listening is particularly encouraging.”
