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#504700
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/m ... ra-6-music

"BBC station’s audience at lowest for 10 years as star DJ’s ratings continue to suffer, while Radio 4 Extra passes 6 Music in popularity
Nick Grimshaw Radio 1

Nick Grimshaw’s Radio 1 breakfast show averaged 5.5 million listeners a week in the first three months of 2015 – the programme’s lowest audience since Sara Cox’s last three months in the job in 2003.

Radio 1’s audience has dropped to its lowest level for more than a decade, with a record low for its breakfast presenter, Nick Grimshaw.

The station had an average of 9.7 million listeners a week in the first three months of this year, its lowest audience since the end of 2003, according to official Rajar listening figures published on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Radio 4’s digital sister station Radio 4 Extra, home to classic comedy and drama including Dad’s Army and Hancock’s Half Hour, overtook Radio 3 and leapfrogged Radio 6 Music to become the most popular digital-only station.

Grimshaw had 5.5 million listeners, his lowest audience since succeeding Chris Moyles three years ago. The last time the breakfast show had so few listeners was Sara Cox’s final three months in the job in 2003, before she was replaced by Moyles.

Grimshaw has led the station’s drive to attract younger listeners after criticism that it had grown too old. Next Monday will see another change, with Radio 1 chart show host Clara Amfo succeeding Fearne Cotton on the station’s morning show.

Radio 1 controller, Ben Cooper, congratulated Grimshaw for “scaring off the over-30s”, who accounted for around 90% of the dip in his listening figures.

Radio 1 lost 830,000 listeners year on year, down from 10.5 million in the same period in 2014. The BBC said more than half a million of those were aged over 30, outside of its target listenership of 16- to 29-year-olds, although the station’s average audience age is 32.

Its sister digital station 1Xtra was also down nearly a quarter, to 839,000 listeners a week.

Cooper said: “Since Radio 1 has been completely focused on younger audiences – and the most common age of a Radio 1 listener is 21 – it was highly likely some older listeners would move on, like the half a million over-30s that left us this quarter.

“I’m pleased that Grimmy is doing what I’ve asked of him by keeping his young audience happy and scaring off the over-30s.”


The challenge for Radio 1, once known as the “nation’s favourite”, has been made tougher by a collapse in the amount of time young people spend listening to the radio in favour of online pursuits such as Facebook.


A report last year revealed that 16- to 24-year-olds spent 15 hours a week listening to the radio compared with more than 21 hours a week a decade earlier.

But Radio 1 remains a crucial gateway for the BBC to reach younger people and the next generation of licence fee payers (or its replacement). The station has been looking to extend its appeal on digital platforms such as YouTube, which is not recorded by Rajar.

Elsewhere, Radio 4’s digital sister station, Radio 4 Extra, leapfrogged Radio 6 Music to become the UK’s most popular digital-only station with 2.17 million listeners, in the process also overtaking Radio 3.

Up 26% year on year, 4 Extra stole the crown from 6 Music, which has a lineup of DJs including Lauren Laverne and Iggy Pop and was up a more modest 7% to 2.06 million.

Radio 4’s audience was broadly steady, on 10.9 million, as was the breakfast listenership for the Today programme, just under 7.1 million.

Radio 2 remains the country’s most popular station by some distance, despite a fall of nearly half a million listeners year on year to 15.1 million.

Its breakfast DJ Chris Evans was also down, to 9.46 million from a record 9.83 million last year.

Radio 3 had an audience of just under 2.1 million, marginally down on last year, while news and sport station Radio 5 Live was down nearly 7% on the year to 5.8 million. Its sister station, 5 Live Sports Extra, made big gains, to more than 1.3 million.

The BBC’s local and regional stations had a total reach of 8.8 million, down 1.8% on the quarter and nearly 5% year on year."
#504702
Ha, I like the "scaring off" thing. YOU CAN'T SCARE ME BIG BOSS BEN.

Seriously though, this is interesting. But I don't see the bosses losing any faith in Grimmy, or certainly not that they're prepared to admit publicly.
#511424
neilt0 wrote:Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw wants to beat Chris Moyles' Breakfast Show record

http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/ ... ow-record/


Well it's only a few months until he becomes the second longest serving R1 breakfast show host ever - there are a bunch stuck on the five or so year mark. I think Moyles has paved the way for the longer stint breakfast show on Radio 1, prior to that people tended to stay 2-3 years and then 5 or so if they were really decent.

I can see Grimmy getting close actually as much as I would prefer Moyles to have the record. If he doesn't go in the next year or so, I can see him doing the full 8 and a half. Problem for Radio 1 is I dont think they really have anyone ready made waiting in the wings, if you accept that the boat has sailed for Greg and departed about a decade ago for Scott.
#511428
Yeah... the only one I can think of who's still young and potentially talented enough to take on breakfast is Dev. I thought at one time they were priming Huw Stephens but now I don't think so. When Mistajam sat in for Annie Mac during her maternity it seemed like they were opening up the pathway for him to go onto bigger things, but I don't think breakfast would be his style. I would actually really love Matt Edmonson to do it as I love his weekend shows, but I think he's also too old. They've made the strange decision to 'replace' his usual show permanently with the Greatest Hits show they've been doing to celebrate the 50th birthday - still with him presenting, but it seems to mean the loss of all his chat and features, which is a real bummer. I'm hoping it means they're planning to replace him with someone like Jordan North and move him into a better slot where his personality can really shine.
#511429
I don't hear it with Dev - although plenty do. IMO he's dreadful, but personal opinion aside he's the same age-ish as Grimmy and slightly older than Greg. They have been pairing him with Alice recently, she's the only one I could see maybe doing Breakfast out of the current daytime/weekend people - maybe they could pair her with Matt even in a Zoe Ball/Kevin Greening style. I think Matt will either take over the mid-afternoon Scott Mills slot or leave Radio 1 altogether - with the amount of TV he seems to be involved in and his show being incredibly stripped back I suspect the latter.
#511432
I think I was thinking that Dev is a lot younger. I don't know why, maybe cos it doesn't seem so long since he was at uni whilst doing early breakfast. But yep, they're all over 30! I like him with Alice actually, I don't like her so much on her own but when she's on with him, or Scott or Matt, she seems a lot easier to listen to. I think she's one of those who just needs someone to bounce off. I recall I was sure she was gonna take over from Fearne, obviously I was wrong about that!

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