Radio 2 enjoys record year after snaffling Radio 1 listeners
Radio 2 has had a bumper year at the expense of its younger audience focussed rival, Radio 1, according to industry RAJAR figures.
They show that Radio 2 added close to a million listeners a week over the past year, taking its audience to 15.1m with breakfast show host Chris Evans drawing a record audience of 9.52m – up from 8.86m last year.
By contrast radio 1 saw half a million listeners jump ship with weekly audiences dipping to 11.1m and breakfast show host Nick Grimshaw also drawing half a million fewer pairs of ears than his predecessor, Chris Moyles.
Analysts attribute this rearranging of the decks to Britain’s ageing demography as listeners move on to stations geared toward older listeners.
Another big beneficiary of this switch was the once closure threatened 6Music which saw its audience share jump from 1.44m to 1.89m.
Bob Shennan, the controller of Radio 2 said: “Whether it’s Dermot O’Leary, Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine or Jamie Cullum, the health and popularity of the network have never been greater. Plus, once again, the linchpin of the Radio 2 schedule – The Chris Evans Breakfast Show – is in great shape."