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RAJAR Round Up: Chris Evans down, Nick Grimshaw up 

By | Published on Thursday 3 August 2017

Chris Evans

The latest listening figures from the UK radio industry have just been unleashed. Did you notice? Well, we did, we love a little bit of RAJAR nonsense. Here are five things of note. So you should all note them.

1. In somewhat awkward timing, it’s been confirmed that the Chris Evans breakfast show on Radio 2 has lost nearly half a million listeners in the last year. Just over 9 million tuned in during the second quarter of 2017, compared to 9.47 million in the same period in 2016. It’s awkward because of all the recent headlines about how Evans is the highest paid BBC celeb following the broadcaster’s forced publication of what it pays its best paid stars.

2. But good news over at Radio 1 Towers where the Grimmy-meister-grim-grim-whatnot-dude reached 5.5 million people with his silly breakfast show, an increase both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. Radio 1 as a whole saw its audience increase by nearly half a million in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. So not every pop music fan is glued to YouTube 24-7.

3. But who cares about the BBC? Commercial radio, that’s what we all love, right? The commercial radio sector secured its highest ever total audience last quarter at 35.9 million people. That beats the same quarter in 2016, also a record breaker. Commercial radio is ahead of the BBC when it comes to total number of listeners – by nearly a million – though BBC radio stations still boast higher listening hours.

4. BBC 6 Music is still the most popular digital-only radio station with a weekly reach of 2.23 million listeners. Remember that time they tried to shut 6 Music down because no one listened? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

5. Global Radio’s Capital is still the biggest commercial station in London, with its reach at a thirteen year high. Capital also has the biggest commercial breakfast show in London, followed by Bauer’s Kiss and then the chatty breakfast offering on also Global-owned LBC.



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