Moyles and Wogan notch up record listening figures

Breakfast show rivals Chris Moyles and Terry Wogan have notched up record listening figures.

Wogan, 69, has 8.1 million listeners, up 370,000 from the previous quarter, but is in danger of losing his crown as the nation's favourite breakfast DJ to Moyles on Radio 1.

Moyles, 34, has a record 7.72 million listeners, up 410,000 from the previous quarter, according to figures released by industry body Rajar today.

The figures for 31 December to 23 March this year show the self-styled saviour of Radio 1 is now just 380,000 listeners behind Wogan.

Radio 2, the nation's most popular station, has 13.63 million listeners, a record for Radio 2 since a new methodology was introduced by the industry in 1999.

Programming highlights for the period covered by the figures included a live REM concert from the Royal Albert Hall and the last Humphrey Lyttelton broadcast of The Best of Jazz.

Other figures show that Radio 1 has surpassed the 11 million mark for the first time since 2001.

It has 11.06 million listeners, up from 10.69 in the previous quarter and 10.54 in the previous year.

But Radio 3 bucked the upward trend recorded by fellow flagship BBC stations Radio 1, 2 and 4.

Ratings fell for the classical music, arts and culture station from 1.95 million in the last quarter to 1.79 million.

The station has managed to avoid returning to its record low, of 1.78 million listeners recorded early last year.

Radio 3's controller Roger Wright said it was "disappointing to see that classical music listening figures are down generally" but added that "listening figures are not the only measure by which to judge Radio 3".

Classic FM said its audience was up 31,000 listeners from the last quarter to 5.62 million.

BBC 6 Music, which came under fire earlier this year from critics who claimed the station has moved away from its original remit in search of a bigger audience, posted record figures, as did fellow BBC digital stations 1Xtra and the Asian Network.

BBC radio combined has notched up a new listening record, partly due to digital listening.

Combined, the corporation's radio offerings now reach 34.22 million people every week and a 56.8 per cent share of all listening hours.

In the London commercial breakfast market, Heart 106.2FM said that Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott's Breakfast show remains number one with 893,000 listeners.

The figures come despite Denise Van Outen joining her former Big Breakfast co-host Johnny Vaughan on London rival Capital Radio in a blaze of publicity in early February.

According to Rajar's latest figures, 45.3 million adults listen to UK radio stations every week, up 445,000 from the previous quarter.

Almost one third (31 per cent) of adults listen to radio through a digital platform every week.

Digital listening hours have increased 9 per cent to 184 million hours every week.

Digital radio set ownership has increased 40 per cent year-on-year to 27 per cent of adults and 11.6 per cent of adults have listened to the radio on a mobile phone.