RAJAR Q4 2009: Breakfast

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 breakfast show currently runs from 6am-9am, while 95.8 Capital Radio’s runs from 6am-10am and Magic 105.4’s runs from 5.30am-9am.

Johnny Vaughan’s 95.8 Capital Radio breakfast show remains on top in London once again with a weekly reach of more than 1.2 million listeners, following an impressive 25.5% year on year increase, according to RAJAR’s Q4 2009 report.

The Global Radio breakfast show, with Vaughan and his partner Lisa Snowdon, sits well ahead of its rival London shows.  It’s closest competitor is Heart 106.2 FM, which suffered a 9% year on year drop during the period, taking its total down to 790,000 listeners.

Bauer’s Magic 105.4 comes a close third with 782,000 listeners, despite also seeing a year on year decline, down by 6.3%.  Kiss 100 FM was another station to witness a loss in Q4 2009, down by 7.5% to 668,00 listeners.

LBC 97.3, meanwhile, is gathering pace following a significant 42.5% year on year rise.  The station’s weekly reach now sits in fifth place at 567,000 listeners.

Sunrise Radio also had a good quarter.  The station posted a 22.8% year on year increase (and a 17.1% period on period upturn), taking its total reach to 151,000 listeners.

However, a number of stations suffered fairly substantial falls in Q4 2009.  GMG’s Smooth Radio dropped by more than 40% year on year, while BBC London 94.9 recorded a 34% decline.

Choice FM London, meanwhile, also suffered a year on year decline, dropping 8.3%, but managed to increase its reach by 4.2% period on period, taking its total to 297,000.

Nationally, BBC Radio 2 retained its breakfast lead after a 1.7% year on year (and 4.4% period on period) increase.  Terry Wogan held the top spot before departing on December 18, boasting a weekly reach of more than 8.1 million listeners.  (Figures for fellow Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, who took over the breakfast show on January 11, will be available in May 2010).

Chris Moyles and his team on BBC Radio 1, meanwhile, remain a fairly close second with a total reach of over 7.2 million listeners, despite posting a 0.8% year on year fall.

BBC Radio 4 also recorded a year on year drop, down by 2.8%, but stays in third place with more than 6.4 million listeners.

With the exception of BBC Radio 2, talkSPORT is the only other station in our analysis to report a year on year increase.  The station’s reach rose to 1.17 million listeners after a 9.8% year on year (and 10.4% period on period) upturn.

The remaining national stations all reported year on year declines in Q4 2009 – with BBC Radio 3 suffering a 10.2% year on year drop and Classic FM down by 9.2%.

MediaTel has PowerPoint presentations available to download, featuring pre-prepared market breakdown graphs for the latest RAJAR data release – click here.