LBC has continued growing to reach a record 2.8m weekly listeners in the three months leading up to the coronavirus lockdown.
This is an increase of 530,000 people in the past year for the station, part of Global Radio, according to the latest RAJAR radio audience figures for the three months to 29 March.
Nick Ferrari’s (pictured) breakfast show on LBC now reaches 1.4m listeners every week.
Sister station LBC News, which launched in October with rolling updates 24 hours a day, has reported 657,000 weekly listeners in its first set of audience figures.
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Global founder and executive president Ashley Tabor-King OBE said: “Clearly these RAJAR numbers represent January, February and March, before the current corona crisis changed the world – things are somewhat different since.
“Nevertheless, today’s RAJAR numbers are a magnificent testament to every Globaller that’s worked so hard to continue our lead in the commercial radio market…
“The record figures for LBC demonstrate that the brand continues to lead Britain’s conversation, with 2.8m weekly listeners, something which has only grown since these numbers in the recent crisis.”
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LBC’s commercial competitor Wireless, owned by News UK, said Talkradio had grown its listeners by 25 per cent year-on-year to 424,000.
Its drivetime slot was up 22 per cent after Sun executive editor Dan Wootton took over the show from Eamonn Holmes.
Wireless chief executive Scott Taunton said: “Talkradio continues to be the natural destination for listeners wanting a punchy perspective on politics and current affairs.”
BBC Radio 4, 5 Live and the World Service were all down on the last quarter – when a rare December election took place – and year-on-year.
The Today programme reached 7.12m listeners Monday to Saturday, down from 7.37m in the last quarter and 7.32m last year.
But BBC local radio reached 7.8m, up from 7.5m in September to December last year.
Weekly listeners for December 2019 to March 2020 (RAJAR):
BBC
Radio 4 – 10.76m (10.98m last quarter)
Radio 5 Live – 5.22m (5.41m last quarter)
BBC World Service (UK) – 1.35m (1.38m last quarter)
BBC local radio –7.8m (7.5m last quarter)
Radio 2 – 14.36m (14.44m last quarter)
Global
LBC – 2.8m (2.7m last quarter)
Wireless
Talkradio –424,000 (433,000 last quarter)
Picture: LBC
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