Capital Radio Is Top London 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.

95.8 Capital Radio’s breakfast show, hosted by Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen, remained on top in London in the first quarter of the year according to the latest RAJAR data, although it remained relatively static period on period.

Its weekly reach now stands at just under 945,000 listeners following a year on year downturn of almost 2.5%.

The station added an extra half an hour to its breakfast show running time in Q1, following on from the half an hour increase in Q4 2007. The show now runs for four hours.

Heart 106.2 FM’s breakfast show, with Jamie Theakston, boosted its weekly reach by over 8% year on year, although it was down by around 2.5% on last quarter, to leave its total at almost 895,000.

Not too far behind was Magic 105.4’s breakfast show, which saw both period on period and year on year growth, of 2.5% and almost 15.5% respectively.

Its total weekly reach figure now stands at around 830,000 listeners.

Heart 106.2 and Magic 105.4’s breakfast shows both run for three hours.

Kiss 100FM also enjoyed a healthy year on year increase in reach for its breakfast show, of 12.5%, taking its total to around 655,000 listeners, while Total Virgin (London) now has a total of 625,000 listeners at breakfast after a year on year increase of around 9%.

News and speech station LBC 97.3 also experienced an increase in reach, both year on year and period on period, of over 22.5% and 4.5% respectively. It now has a reach of 465,000 listeners.

Following a year on year downturn of around 14.5%, Choice FM London now has a weekly reach of just under 275,000 listeners.

BBC London 94.9’s breakfast offering was also down year on year, by just over 3%, although it was up around 37.5% on Q4 2007, taking its total to 245,000 listeners.

It was not a particularly good quarter for indie music station XFM 104.9’s breakfast show, with its reach down by around 37.5% year on year.

Although Sunrise Radio (Greater London) saw its reach grow by 31.5% period on period, it suffered a year on year fall of around 15%, to leave it with 196,000 listeners at breakfast.

Gold London and LBC News 1152 were also down year on year, by around 61% and 44% respectively. Gold London now has a total breakfast reach of around 95,000 while LBC News 1152’s rests at around 110,000.

Nationally, Terry Wogan kept a firm grip on the breakfast crown, bagging a weekly reach of over 8.1 million listeners for Radio 2, following a period on period increase of almost 5%. The station also enjoyed a year on year rise, of nearly 3%.

Radio 1’s Chris Moyles continued to perform well, increasing his weekly reach by more than 7.2% year on year. Radio 1’s breakfast reach now stands at 7.7 million listeners.

BBC Radio 4, home of the Today programme, retained its third place in the BBC rankings, following a period on period rise of around 3.5%. It now has a reach of more than 6.4 million.

Classic FM’s national reach at breakfast time was down nearly 6.5% on the final quarter of 2007, to 2.8 million listeners.

It was a good quarter for talkSPORT, up 11.3% year on year and around 5% on last quarter, giving it a total reach of almost 1.2 million listeners in the morning.

BBC Radio 3 remained relatively static year on year, although it fell by around 5% on Q4 2007. Its reach now stands at almost 770,000.

Breakfast time in Q1 saw BBC Radio FIVE LIVE’s reach fall 2% year on year, leaving it with almost 2.3 million listeners nationwide, while Total Virgin Radio’s was up period on period almost 2% period on period, to just under two million listeners.

New RAJAR specification introduced in Q2 2007. Please use caution.

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