The newly renamed Capital London has raced to the top of the London charts after an impressive 11.1% QoQ and 14.4% YoY increase pushed its reach up to almost 2.2 million listeners.

Radio listeners across the UK still like to wake up to Chris Evans, apparently. The BBC Radio 2 Chris Evans Breakfast Show has a weekly reach of almost 9.2 million listeners (up 5.3% QoQ but down 5.7% YoY) ahead of BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4.

The latest RAJAR figures show a positive period for the radio industry with commercial radio’s share up 1.3% YoY and reach up 5.9% YoY.

RAJAR figures for Q4 2010 saw stand-out performances from a number of commercial radio stations, including talkSPORT and Kiss 100 FM.

BBC Radio 2 still has the highest number of national listeners following a rise this quarter (after two periods of suffering a drop in reach).

Digital radio put in a strong performance once again this quarter, posting substantial increases in weekly reach, listening hours and DAB set ownership.

Magic 105.4 held on to the top spot in London following a positive YoY increase in weekly reach (although it did see its reach fall 4.6% QoQ).

Overall, national breakfast shows enjoyed a boost in listeners between October and December. BBC Radio 2’s Chris Evans show has retained Terry Wogan’s crown as the most popular way to wake up in the morning, with a weekly reach of 8.7 million listeners.

Commercial listening suffered a slight drop in Q4, with local commercial seeing a dip in figures. However, national commercial stations made a gain – up QoQ and YoY.

RAJAR’s Q3 2010 figures show another strong performance from commercial radio in what was an all-round positive release for the radio industry.But what do the figures really mean?  Will a nationwide Capital brand do as well as the Heart Network?  Is the target of 50% of digital listening by 2015 still achievable?  Can commercial continue… Continue reading Industry view: Agencies praise “fantastic” commercial radio results