Radio 1 Still The UK’s Favourite Station
BBC Radio 1 remains the most listened to station in the country according to new radio audience figures, released by RAJAR this afternoon. Radio 1 had an average weekly reach of 10.8 million listeners during the first quarter of 1999. This is followed by Radio 2, with 9.7 million and Radio 4 with 9.5 million. Radio 2’s total share of listening, 12.8%, is higher than Radio 1’s 9.8%.
| National Stations Q1 1999 | |||
| Station | Share of Listening % | Weekly Reach % | Weekly Reach (‘000s) |
| All BBC | 50.3 | 64 | 30,500 |
| All BBC Network Radio | 39.7 | 56 | 26,478 |
| All Commercial | 47.5 | 66 | 31,482 |
| All Local Commercial | 38.6 | 56 | 26,229 |
| All National Commercial | 9.4 | 26 | 12,349 |
| All Radio | 100.0 | 89 | 42,632 |
| Atlantic 252 | 1.0 | 5 | 2,285 |
| BBC Local Radio | 10.3 | 20 | 7,833 |
| BBC Local/Regional | 10.6 | 21 | 10,204 |
| BBC Radio 1 | 9.8 | 23 | 10,846 |
| BBC Radio 2 | 12.8 | 20 | 9,678 |
| BBC Radio 3 | 1.4 | 5 | 2,277 |
| BBC Radio 4 | 11.4 | 20 | 9,475 |
| BBC Radio 5 | 4.2 | 12 | 5,830 |
| Classic FM | 4.3 | 13 | 6,038 |
| Talk Radio | 1.8 | 5 | 2,321 |
| Virgin Radio AM (UK) | 2.4 | 7 | 3,524 |
Of the national commercial stations, Classic FM leads the way and broke the six million listeners barrier in the first quarter. Classic’s share of the national market is 4.3%, slightly higher than BBC Radio 5 which has a share of listening at 4.2%.
Commenting on the results, Classic’s managing director, Roger Lewis, says: “In recent years, commerce and classical music have been uneasy bedfellows. The fact that a mass audience to classical music has been created by commercial radio makes the achievement all the more remarkable.”
Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio has listenership of 3.5 million nationally on AM and a further 1.2 million FM listeners in London.
As RAJAR introduced a new methodology for audience research this quarter, year on year comparisons cannot be made.
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