Theakston, Scott top Vaughan in London

Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott have topped Johnny Vaughan in the battle for radio breakfast show supremacy in London, today's Rajar figures have revealed.

Capital had already lost out to Heart in terms of share during the third quarter of 2006. Heart has now in the fourth quarter taken the lead in reach, with the pairing of Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott reaching 948,000 listeners a week - up from 768,000 in Q3 and 918,000 in the fourth quarter of 2005. Over on Capital, Johnny Vaughan's breakfast show reached 813,000 listeners per week in the fourth quarter, up from 782,000 quarter-on-quarter but down from 987,000 in Q4 2005.

Overall, Heart maintained its number one spot in London with reach of 1.85m and a share of 7.1%. Magic remained in second-place with reach at 1.79m and share at 5.5%. Third-placed Capital had a weekly reach of 1.46m and a share of 4.7%. Kiss took fourth place with 1.45m weekly reach and 3.9% share while Virgin was fifth with 1.16m reach and 3.6% share.

Phil Riley, the chief executive of Heart owner Chrysalis, said that the result "confirms Heart’s position as the leading London commercial station."

"Capital Radio’s audience has stabilised and hours are up by one per cent following the changes we have made to the station," said GCap Media operations director Steve Orchard. "We will be stepping up marketing activity over the coming months and are confident that this will lead to audience growth throughout 2007."