As radio listener figures climb inexorable higher Radio 1’s Chris Moyles rises ever upward as Radio 2 stays static. Moyles, after his well publicised trip to Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief saw his audience rise from 7.30 million to 7.70 million.
While BBC Radio had a good quarter generally, Radio 2 saw a slight drop in its share while Wake Up To Wogan dropped down to 7.78 million from 8.10 million last year.
Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live both saw their audiences grow, 4 enjoying almost 10 million listeners every week – its highest reach since 2003. Its flagship Today show saw its reach go from 6.42m to 6.69m this quarter. Radio 5 Live and its digital sister Sports Extra attracted 6.32 million, a four year high.
Across the BBC digital networks, BBC 6 Music saw a seventh consecutive spike in its audience with 681,000 listeners, while BBC Radio 7 edged ever closer to the million mark with a record 984,000 listeners a week. The BBC Asian Network has 405,000 listeners and 1Xtra has a reach of 616,000.
Radio 3’s stayed steady at 1.99 million, the BBC World Service increased its reach to 1.47 million – up from 1.35m last year.
In Northern Ireland BBC Radio Ulster remains the number one listened to radio station with an average weekly audience of 531,000 listeners tuning in each week.
The figures for the latest quarter show that Radio Ulster has had an increase of 14,000 listeners from the last period with the Stephen Nolan hosting the station’s top performing show.
Tim Davie, Director BBC Audio and Music, said: “These figures are excellent news for the radio industry and digital radio in particular. Radio remains as relevant and popular as ever and the growth in digital listening – powered by DAB – is particularly encouraging.”