Zoe Ball has lost 780,000 weekly listeners from her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, according to the latest industry figures from Rajar. The presenter took over from Chris Evans in January after he left for Virgin Radio. In the second quarter of 2019, Ball's audience fell from 9.05 million to 8.27 million, though her show remains the most popular breakfast programme.
Ken Bruce's mid-morning show on Radio 2 has now become the most popular radio programme in the UK, with 8.49 million listeners. Bruce said: 'After 34 years as a part of the BBC Radio 2 family, I'm astounded that the allure of my daily grumpy musings, coupled with PopMaster, continue to entertain. Many thanks to the long-suffering listeners.'
Elsewhere, new classical music station Scala Radio, whose presenters include Simon Mayo, reached 250,000 listeners, but Classic FM increased from 5.3 million to 5.6 million. Country Hits Radio recorded 208,000 listeners in its first three months. BBC Radio 1's Greg James attracted 5.19 million listeners, his highest since taking over the breakfast show last August.
Nick Ferrari's LBC breakfast show reached a record 1.4 million listeners, while the station overall attracted 2.4 million weekly listeners, its best ever. Eddie Mair added 120,000 listeners to LBC's late afternoon show. Kisstory became the most popular digital-only station with 2.32 million listeners, overtaking BBC 6 Music at 2.29 million.
Roman Kemp increased Capital's breakfast show audience to 3.8 million, while Chris Evans boosted his Virgin Radio audience from 1.04 million to 1.11 million. Other breakfast shows that improved included Tom Green and Daisy Maskell (Kiss), Ronan Keating and Harriet Scott (Magic), and Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden (BBC Radio 5 Live).
