BBC Keeps Seat At Top Of National Breakfast Table

Britain’s most popular breakfast show, BBC Radio 2’s Wake Up To Wogan, retains its position at the top of the table according to the latest RAJAR results, despite a slip of 2.58% period on period which cost the presenter 206,000 listeners.

Wogan’s national audience now stands at just under 7.8 million, followed by Radio 1’s Chris Moyles with 6.3 million.

Moyles also exhibited a dip in listening however, shedding 5.12% period on period to see 341,000 of his audience move elsewhere for their morning entertainment.

Radio 4 continues to hold third place, with its audience of 6.1 million keeping it head and shoulders above the nearest competition.

In commercial broadcasting, Virgin Radio was the only national station to see an increase in breakfast listeners, thanks to the signing of former Xfm poster boy, Christian O’Connell.

O’Connell joined the station on 23 January (see Virgin Signs O’Connell As New Breakfast Host), and has so far added 0.24% to its national breakfast audience, which now totals 1.2 million.

Fellow national commercial station talkSPORT was less fortunate however, losing 1.91% of its audience period on period to move further away from the one million mark it had surpassed this time last year. The station now commands a national breakfast audience of 976,000.

Capital Radio retained its position as Londoners’ top choice for breakfast listening, despite a dip of 2.43% period on period, as host Johnny Vaughan recorded an audience of 963,000 in the capital.

Heart’s Jamie Theakston retained his second place meanwhile, despite a sharp period on period decline of 6.86%. The breakfast show, which has now been taken national (see Heart Takes Theakston Breakfast Show National), commands an audience of 855,000.

Elsewhere, Magic 105.4 performed well to regain its third place in the capital, adding 17.89% to its audience period on period to overtake Kiss 100FM and total 804,000.

Magic’s increased audience pushes Kiss into fourth place, with the station’s slip aided by a loss of 3.66% in its audience period on period. Kiss now claims a total of 658,000 listeners in the London area.

Fifth place went to Virgin Radio, which failed to ape the national success of its breakfast show in London, as new host Christian O’Connell saw a 0.96% decline period on period. The station’s London breakfast audience now stands at 622,000.

Elsewhere, London-based Xfm, O’Connell’s former home, saw an impressive rise in the first quarter of the year, with Lauren Laverne adding 23.64% to her audience period on period. The station’s breakfast listeners now number 340,000 within London.

LBC News and Choice FM London also saw success with their breakfast programming, as the stations notched up impressive rises of 46.23% and 37.87% respectively period on period. LBC News now commands a morning audience of 155,000, despite broadcasting exclusively on AM, while Choice FM sees a total of 324,000.

Last month saw GCap Media appoint Ivor Etienne as the new managing director of Choice FM, taking responsibility for the station’s programming and strategic direction (see GCap Signs Etienne As New Choice MD).

RAJAR: 0207 903 5350 www.rajar.co.uk