BBC 6 Music's weekly audience tops 1m

Axe-threatened digital station BBC 6 Music has seen a nearly 50% increase in its audience to a record 1 million listeners, according to the latest radio industry figures.

Published today, official RAJAR data for the three months to March 28 reveals that the station grew its weekly reach to 1.02m from 695,000 the previous quarter.

The station's growth in popularity was largely down to a high-profile campaign to save it from closure next year under BBC director general Mark Thompson's strategy review.

Campaigners, who include listeners, musicians and the creative industries, will now hope that the increase in weekly listeners can influence the BBC's Trust public consultation on the closure plans. Earlier in the week, 6 Music also won two prizes at the prestigious Sony Radio Awards.

Elsewhere, Chris Evans increased weekly listeners for the Radio 2 breakfast show to a record high of 9.53m in his first three months after taking over from long-time incumbent Sir Terry Wogan, whose final audience was 8.88m.

Radio 2 increased its weekly reach to 14.57m in first quarter of 2010, up from 13.47m the previous quarter, and representing a 17.2% share of the total radio audience.

Despite fears that Evans would drive away the station's older listeners, Radio 2 also confirmed that the average age of its audience remains 51.

"I'm delighted to see Radio 2's listeners have taken to Chris in such a positive way. He is one of the best broadcasters of his generation and has earned his popularity," said BBC Audio & Music director Tim Davie.

"This quarter's figures are also great news for the industry as all radio listening has grown, and for BBC Radio, where our efforts to produce ambitious, high quality programming have resulted in healthy listening figures."

Radio 1 attracted 11.74m listeners per week over the quarter, up from 10.76m in Q4 2009 and constituting a 9.5% audience share. The station also pulled in its biggest quarterly share of the 15 to 24-year-old audience in the last eight years.

The Chris Moyles breakfast show reached a record 7.88m listeners per week, up from 7.24m the previous quarter and 7.7m at the same time last year.

At Radio 3, weekly listeners also grew to 2.03m, up from last year's 1.99m and last quarter's 1.87m.

BBC Radio 4's weekly reach stood at 10.03m, up from last year's 9.98m and last quarter's 9.84m. However, its audience share of 12.2% was slightly down on the previous quarter's 12.5%.

After being named 'Station Of The Year' at the Sony Awards, BBC Radio 5 Live posted a combined reach of 6.56m listeners, up from the previous quarter's 6.19m.

Radio 7's weekly reach stood at 1.05 million in Q1, up from 984,000 at the same time last year, while 1Xtra posted a record 663,000 weekly listeners, up on last quarter's 531,000 and last year's 616,000.

The Asian Network, which is also facing the axe under BBC plans, achieved a weekly reach of 357,000 listeners, down from 360,000 last quarter and 405,000 last year.

Overall, the BBC continued to dominate the radio listening figures with a 56.5% share of the total audience against commercial radio's 41.3%.