Radio 1 Loses Half A Million More

The latest Rajar figures show that Radio 1 has continued to lose listeners, down almost half a million on the previous quarter to 11,009,000; a weekly reach of 23%. A year ago Radio 1’s reach was 28%, and in Q1 1993, two years ago, its reach was 35%. Share of listening has fallen from 11.3% last quarter to 10.8% this time.

Radio 1 was not the only BBC radio station to lose listeners; BBC Network radio as a whole lost 161,000 listeners on last quarter; the BBC local and regional stations however fared better, up 131,000 on the last quarter. Radios 2, 3 and 4 all lost audience, but Radio 5 Live was the success story, increasing audience by 362,000 on last quarter to give a weekly reach up from 10% to 11%, its highest ever.

In terms of share of listening, Radio 2 fared well, increasing from 12.8% last quarter to 13.4%; Radio 5 Live increased share of listening from 2.7% last quarter to 3.1%. BBC radio as a whole, including national and local stations, recorded an increase in audience share from 48.6% last quarter to 48.7%.