Been sneaking a lie in? Skipping breakfast? Or trying to source your listening more locally? You are not alone. The official body that measures the UK radio audience, RAJAR, has released the first figures allowing us to see how our listening changed over the pandemic.
For some, the marmalade-dropper was that the UK’s three biggest morning shows — The Zoe Ball Breakfast show on Radio 2 (7.2 million listeners), Radio 4’s Today programme (6.5m) and Radio 1’s Breakfast with Greg James (4.3m) — have together shed about 1.8m listeners. But breakfast radio is, forgive me, far from toast. More intriguing is the shift in peak weekday listening from 8am pre-pandemic, to the far more leisurely 10am. And audiences are now sticking around after lunch.
Some will gripe that there are no exact comparative pre-pandemic figures, because RAJAR has tweaked its methodology. But the patterns are clear and the winners are claiming victory. On LBC, seasoned liberal combatant James O’Brien (10am-1pm) celebrated a record 1.3m weekly listeners. Over on Times Radio, which greeted inaugural RAJAR listener figures of 637,000 with joy, irrepressible elevenses star Matt Chorley sounded like he might pop his own cork as he raised a glass of champagne to his 250,000 weekly listeners. On Twitter, Virgin Radio’s Eddy Temple-Morris declared himself “honoured and humbled” by new mid-morning record listening figures. Virgin’s star breakfast presenter, Chris Evans, has seen his audience dip below 1m.
The growth of mid-morning listening is impressive. Woman’s Hour (3.2m listeners) is up by about 100,000 listeners. Ken Bruce on Radio 2, Britain’s most popular radio show since 2019, was up 400,000 to 8.65m listeners. On Smooth Radio, Kate Garraway has a record 2.5m listeners. Over on Classic FM, Alexander Armstrong attracts 2.4m weekly listeners. And the breakfast shows that go later, like the fun Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden, from 6.30-10am (now UK commercial radio’s biggest breakfast show with 4.1m listeners), Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6 Music, from 7.30-10.30am (with 1.35m listeners), or Chris Moyles on Radio X, from 6.30-10am (with 1.1m listeners) are all posting record numbers.
Also striking, according to Matt Deegan from Folder Media, who writes a newsletter about audio, is that as our radio lives are getting closer to home.
Advertisement
The combined audience for the BBC’s local and regional stations is now 9.2m weekly listeners — compared with 7.4m over the equivalent pre-pandemic period. BBC Radio Scotland has increased its audience; local radio’s share of listening in Northern Ireland is overall higher than anywhere else in the UK; in England, BBC local radio’s Make a Difference campaign, has galvanised listeners, helping to make local radio the third most popular network in England, after Radio 2 and Radio 4. BBC local radio has 2.2m listeners, who listen to nothing else.
How we are listening has also changed: digital radios, smartphones and smart speakers are up, particularly at home but we’re listening less in the car.
Radio listening is habitual, and much of this data chimes with changes in my own household. Before the pandemic, Radio 4’s Today programme would wake me and my husband at 6.45am, then continue in either the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen (often, all three at once) until 9am. As we entered lockdown, it became clear that our family commitment to news was not aiding our children’s mental equilibrium. Our Today listening became more furtive, while the kitchen radio moved between BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 5 (during the Olympics) and 6, Heart or Virgin as the mood or music took us.
More than 18 months on, we have not reverted to our older listening habits. And if such seismic changes are being replicated in households, and over non-commutes across the country, then the implications are huge. Will stars like Amanda Holden, Greg James and Chris Evans be up for crawling out of bed in the dark for smaller audiences, or push to start later? Should stations be rethinking their morning offer? Radio 5 Live is from tomorrow, with a revamped 5 Live Breakfast from 6-9am with Rick Edwards and Rachel Burden, then a Nicky Campbell phone-in from 9-11am.
So millions of listeners have apparently been forgoing an early breakfast, but these latest listening figures still leave much to chew on. Not least that although radio has proven its resilience, its long-term future depends on attracting younger audiences — and, for longer. Just the one buck’s fizz for those mid-morning celebrants then — much work still to do.
Clair Woodward’s radio picks for the week ahead
Sunday
Advertisement
Sound And Vision (Radio 6 Music, 1pm)
Kristen Stewart talks to Miranda Sawyer about the music that has shaped her life. Country singer-songwriter Jimmie Allen presents the CMA Summer Jam (Radio 2, 7pm) live from Nashville, featuring Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood and Luke Combs. In the Sunday Feature (Radio 3, 6.45pm), Martin Handley looks at the trees that make musical instruments.
Monday
Brain Of Britain (Radio 4, 3pm)
Russell Davies presents the final of the 2021 series of the nicest quiz on radio. This week’s Between The Ears (Radio 3, 10.45pm) programmes showcase new audio creations by up-and-coming artists, commissioned by the ICA and the BBC New Creatives scheme. Subjects include whales in the Thames, the science of bees, the legacy of Derek Jarman and preserving the Aids quilt.
Tuesday
Jayde Adams — Hometown Glory (Radio 4, 6.30pm)
After ten years in London, the comedian Jayde Adams is returning to her hometown of Bristol. She asks what “feeling at home” really means; why we leave home; and why some of us feel the draw to go back. In Things Fell Apart (Radio 4, 9am), Jon Ronson reports on the culture wars, with stories about individuals, starting with that of the author and film-maker Frank Schaeffer.
Wednesday
Is It Normal? (Podcast)
This pregnancy series with Jessie Ware follows her own pregnancy week by week, with the help of experts who discuss questions from other expectant mothers. The Documentary (BBC World Service, 11.30am) looks at how young Africans are told that they need to speak English or French in order to succeed, and consequently, native languages are being marginalised.
Thursday
Afternoon Concert (Radio 3, 2pm)
Penny Gore presents music from the BBC performing groups and from around Europe through a live performance by the BBC Philharmonic with a space-inspired sequence of music curated by composer Robert Laidlow and conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni. Twentysomething Londoners Ivy and Samira discuss issues facing young women in their Black, Broke And Brilliant podcast.
Friday
Advertisement
In Concert (Radio 3, 7.30pm)
Jumoké Fashola presents the EFG London Jazz Festival’s opening night, live from the Royal Festival Hall. Featured artists tonight include Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Aynur and Ego Ella May. Psycho Schizo Espresso is a podcast from Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson and psychologist Dr Kevin Dutton, exploring the wilder shores of the mind, from psychopaths to the habits of rock icons.
Saturday
Soul Music (Radio 4, 10.30am)
The series that celebrates the emotional power of music returns, beginning with Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, made famous in versions by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross. The Weekend Documentary (BBC World Service, 12.06pm/3.06am) looks at how medical staff looked after the emotional wellbeing of some of the sickest Covid-19 patients and gave them the will to live.