chrismoyles.net
- Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:31 pm
#242376
From today's media grauniad
Self-styled saviour of Radio 1 keeps his promise with record listener figures
· 6.79m listeners tune in to controversial show
· Arch-rival Vaughan told to change laddish image
Paul Lewis
Friday August 4, 2006
The Guardian
To his fans, his bolshie and brash presenting style offers a guaranteed chuckle over breakfast. To others, the abrasive sound of Chris Moyles on the radio is as irritating as he is inescapable.
But the self-styled "saviour" of Radio 1's morning slot yesterday proved there is substance behind his self-adulation, registering a record number of listeners. Scoring the highest breakfast results for Radio 1 since 1999, the DJ's famed rants and caustic quips attracted 6.79 million listeners in the last quarter - an increase of 530,000 on the previous year. Figures were boosted by a series of broadcasts from Germany during the World Cup, a spokesman said.
His bulging audience share caps a recent turnaround. He was recently censured by industry watchdog Ofcom for swearing live on air and using the word "gay" to mean rubbish. The Hollywood actress Halle Berry also accused of him being racist during a live interview.
But Moyles, who began his career in hospital radio and hosting shows for the high street store Top Shop, appears to have won new fans after his whole-hearted appearances as a crooner on the celebrity version of ITV1's X Factor.
ITV bosses are also rumoured to be seeking some of the Moyles magic and are said to have offered the DJ, who earns £630,000 a year for his BBC radio work, his own television show in order to revive ITV1's slumping ratings. "A year ago he was a bit like Marmite, you either loved him or hated him," said his agent, Vivienne Clore. "But you'd be surprised how wonderful people think he is now. He just has a unique personality."
The Moyles effect stands in stark contrast to the sliding listening figures of his arch rival, Johnny Vaughan, who registered the worst ever breakfast show results for London's Capital FM, losing 225,000 listeners in a year.
Vaughan - who Moyles has provocatively dubbed Johnny Yawn - has now lost half a million listeners since taking over from Chris Tarrant in 2004. His failure to attract listeners will be a real concern for Capital FM, which has lost more than 15% of its overall audience in a year, and faces financial difficulties.
A spokesman for the station said they would stay loyal to their morning-slot presenter, who remains the capital's number one commercial radio breakfast DJ. The station's bosses have, however, reportedly told Vaughan to tone down his "laddish" approach to presenting.
The battle for London saw Moyles leapfrog Heart's Jamie Theakston and Magic's Neil Fox into first place by attracting 857,000 of the capital's listeners.
News that Radio 1's breakfast show has recovered from the disappointing figures achieved by the previous host, Sarah Cox, came amid encouraging all-round audience figures for the station, which saw its overall audience rise by 700,000 over the past quarter to 10.4 million, according the data released by the industry body Rajar.
A buoyant performance by Radio 1 chimes with a broader populist shift that has seen highbrow stations such as Radio 4, Radio 3, and Classic FM lose listeners over the last year, whilst phone-in stations offering punchier news bulletins such as Five Live and BBC London recorded an increase in audience share. Radio 4, one of the biggest national station losers, now has an audience of 9.19 million, after shedding 400,000 listeners over the last year. The station's declining listenership was compounded by another fall in the Today programme's audience, from 6.12 million last quarter to 5.87 million, perilously close to its all-time low of 5.6 million. Radio Five Live was the biggest winner of the BBC's national stations, with a 4.5% higher share than last year, taking its number of listeners to 6.03 million.
Digital radio continued its upward trend, both for the BBC and commercial groups, with audience increases across the board. Emap, which owns five of the top 10 most popular national digital stations, has performed particularly well. The company's digital channel The Hits was the only digital station to break through the 1 million threshold. The BBC's digital comedy and drama archive, BBC7, is the BBC's most successful digital venture, with 668,000 listeners.
There were also successes in less unexpected corners. Radio 2's Ken Bruce saw the number of listeners tuning in to his mid-morning show up a quarter of a million to a record 6.64 million.
The BBC's best-paid radio presenter, Radio 2's veteran broadcaster Terry Wogan, cemented his reputation as the king of the airwaves with his second highest ratings in his 35-year career, up 310,000 in the last quarter to 8.08 million.
Radio 2 bosses will also be satisfied with the revival of a man who once basked in success comparable to that of Chris Moyles. The former doyen of Radio 1's breakfast show, Chris Evans, who has quelled his flamboyant style since taking over the drivetime Radio 2 slot previously held by Johnnie Walker, registered a satisfactory performance.
In his first set of results since taking over the show, Evans posted ratings of 4.85 million, down 150,000 on Walker's last show but comparable to previous years.
Silly Catface
