Chrysalis has reclaimed the top spot for commercial radio in London from Emap. Heart comes in at number one with a 6.1 per-cent market share, ahead of Magic's 5.3, and Capital Radio's 4.7.
Heart also has the most listened to London breakfast show for the first time, and is also the largest and most listened to London station at drive-time.
Elsewhere within the group, Heart Midlands (comprising 100.7 Heart fm in the West Midlands and Heart 106 in the East Midlands) increases reach by 4.5% and total listening hours by 10.9% year-on-year.
LBC 97.3 delivers a 22.8% increase in listening hours in the quarter, and 11.8% over the past 12 months. Importantly LBC 97.3 has further improved its audience profile and 73% of its listeners are now ABC1s (Q3 2005: 67%). LBC 1152 also saw listening hours almost double in the quarter and increase by 21.5% year-on-year.
The Galaxy Network added over 1 million hours in the quarter and remains the most listened to No 1 young adult commercial radio brand with over 2.5m listeners, delivering 18.6m listening hours.
Richard Huntingford, Chief Executive, Chrysalis Group said:
'This is a fantastic result for Chrysalis Radio and its hugely talented management, staff and presenters. It underpins our strategy of focusing on strong, major market, branded stations. In particular, I'm delighted that we have achieved our target of becoming London's most listened to breakfast show with Jamie and Harriet – and also performed so well across the rest of the schedule at Heart 106.2.'