Magic reaches London commercial breakfast show top spot

Emap radio station Magic has overtaken Capital and Heart to take the number one spot in the commercial breakfast show battle in London. DJ Neil Fox has now increased Magic’s breakfast show audience by 50% since he took over the slot two years ago.

Fox had 885,000 listeners in the third quarter of this year, according to Rajar figures released today – 5,000 more than Capital rival Johnny Vaughan and 75,000 more than Heart’s Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott – between the hours of 6am and 9am. However, GCap-owned Capital claims Vaughan remains ahead of Fox when his show’s new slot – 6.30am-10am – is taken into account.

Magic remains the number one station overall in the capital with 2.03 million listeners – the first time it has broken through the 2 million-listener barrier. Global Radio’s Heart is still in second place among the commercial stations in terms of reach with 1.95 million listeners.

Capital put on listeners – up to 1.71 million from 1.52 million in the previous quarter – and reclaimed third place in London in terms of market share from Emap’s dance station Kiss with a 4.7% share of the audience. Magic and Heart both have an audience share of 6.2% in London.