95.8 Capital Radio has London’s most popular breakfast show

This analysis is comparing the weekly reach of the breakfast shows of the London stations and not the time slots. Heart 106.2 FM’s and Magic 105.4’s breakfast shows currently run from 6am-9am, while 95.8 Capital Radio’s runs from 6am-10am.

Johnny Vaughan’s 95.8 Capital Radio breakfast show remained on top in Q4 2008, with a weekly reach of just over 980,000 listeners, despite seeing a 0.6% period on period decline.

95.8 Capital Radio added an extra half and hour to its breakfast show running time in Q1 2008, following on from a half and hour increase in Q4 2007. The show now runs for four hours.

Heart 106.2 FM managed to pip Magic to take second place, following a significant period on period increase of 13%. Its total reach now stands at almost 870,000 listeners.

However, Magic 105.4 also enjoyed a period on period increase of around 11%, taking its total reach to just over 800,000.

Q4 was a good period for Kiss 100 FM – its reach hit more than 720,000 listeners, following an impressive 24% period on period increase.

A number of other breakfast shows enjoyed significant period on period upturns in Q4 – including BBC London 94.9, Smooth Radio (London), XFM 104.9 and Choice FM London.

However, some breakfast shows in London suffered relatively large period on period declines in Q4 2008, according to the latest RAJAR figures.

LBC News 1152 and Gold London slipped by more than 15% and 11% respectively in the final quarter of 2008, while Total Absolute (London) was down by almost 16% period on period (more than 21% year on year) – leaving its reach below 470,000.

It is Absolute’s first full quarter RAJAR release under its new name. The Times of India Group acquired Virgin Radio in June and re-branded it as Absolute in September (see Virgin Radio To Become Absolute).

Nationally, BBC Radio 2 was once again top at breakfast, with Terry Wogan grabbing a weekly reach of almost 8 million listeners.

Meanwhile, Chris Moyles and his team on BBC Radio 1 came a close second with more than 7 million listeners, following a 4% period on period increase.

BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3 also enjoyed significant period on period rises of 8% and almost 19% respectively.

BBC Radio 4’s reach now stands at nearly 6.6 million listeners, which puts the top three BBC breakfast shows well ahead of the other national stations.

The two sport orientated breakfast shows, talkSPORT and BBC Radio FIVE LIVE, suffered quarterly declines – talkSPORT dropped by more than 6% to just over 1 million, while BBC Radio FIVE LIVE fell by around 4.6%, leaving its reach just below 2.3 million.

Meanwhile, Total Absolute Radio experienced a significant 22% decline, taking its reach down to around 860,000 listeners.

RAJAR: 020 7292 9040 www.rajar.co.uk