Johnny Vaughan Grabs London Breakfast Crown

Capital 95.8 was resurgent in London’s battle for the commercial breakfast number one spot, beating both Heart 106.2 FM and Magic 105.4 FM to the top of the table.

The Q1 2007 RAJAR figures show that Capital 95.8 enjoyed a 5% period on period increase in weekly reach, giving it a total of almost 855,000. Capital 95.8 underwent a rebrand in March, changing its name from Capital Radio and launching a TV advertising campaign (see Capital Radio Gets Name Change And Ad Campaign).

Heart 106.2 FM came second to Capital 95.8’s Johnny Vaughan in the London commercial breakfast battle, having suffered a period on period decline in weekly reach, from around 950,000 in Q4 2006, to 825,000 in Q1 2007. The station was also down year on year, by 3.5%.

Third placed station, Magic 105.4 also suffered a decline from Q4, of just over 1.5%, leaving it with a weekly reach of around 720,000.

LBC News 1152 saw a big increase in weekly reach for its breakfast show, with a period on period increase of over 39.5% and a year on year increase of over 25%. However, at just under 200,000, it is not competing for the number one spot just yet.

XFM’s breakfast show also enjoyed a large increase in reach in the first quarter, up by almost 18% period on period, taking its total reach to just under 320,000.

Another station to see a healthy increase at breakfast was Smooth FM London, which was up by 18% period on period, and over 10.3% year on year. Its breakfast show now has a weekly reach of over 235,000.

Capital Gold London, meanwhile, suffered a relatively large period on period decline for its breakfast show, of over 17%, seeing its reach drop to just over 245,000.

Choice FM London’s breakfast show was down by nearly 12.5% period on period, leaving its total weekly reach at just under 300,000.

BBC Radio 2 remained the nation’s favourite way to wake up in the morning in the first quarter of 2007, with a weekly reach of well over 7.8 million. However, it dropped almost 1.3% period on period.

Radio 1 added almost 12% to its reach year on year, and 3.5% period on period, to take Chris Moyles’ breakfast reach to more than 7 million.

There was a strong increase in weekly reach for Classic FM’s breakfast show, which was up by almost 6.5% on the fourth quarter, although it remained relatively static year on year.

Total Virgin Radio (AM/FM) also enjoyed a period on period increase, of just over 4.5%, taking its weekly reach to almost 1.2 million.

There was though, a relatively large decline in reach for the breakfast show on BBC Radio 3, which suffered an 8.1% decline period on period, leaving it with a reach of 6.4 million.

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