Magics Neil Fox claims top breakfast show spot

Magics Neil Fox has leapfrogged Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott on Heart 106.2 to scoop the number one spot at breakfast, according to the latest Rajar listening figures. Foxs strong quarter reinforces the stations position as Londons number one commercial station.

Magic’s Neil Fox has leapfrogged Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott on Heart 106.2 to scoop the number one spot at breakfast, according to the latest Rajar listening figures. Fox’s strong quarter reinforces the station’s position as London’s number one commercial station.

Fox’s show has an average weekly audience of 868,000 listeners between 6am and 9am for the quarter to the end of June. It is a 4.5% increase on the previous quarter and a 5.4% uplift year on year. The increase gives his show a 5.7% share of the London audience compared to Heart’s 5.6% and Capital 95.8’s 5.2%, for its breakfast show with Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen.

Heart’s breakfast show saw its listeners fall to 844,000, a 3.5% year-on-year dip and 5.5% on the previous quarter. Meanwhile, listening dropped to 772,000 for the Capital breakfast slot, a 6.9% dip quarter on quarter and a 7.6% drop year on year. However, listening does rise to 944,000 when its extra hour to 10am is taken into account.

Virgin Radio’s Christian O’Connell show also saw a drop from 625,000 to 596,000 in London for its 6am to 10am slot, while Xfm, the GCap Media-owned alternative station, saw a slight increase on the quarter to 222,000 for Alex Zane’s show, although it is down from 308,000 for the same quarter last year.

Magic retained the top spot as London’s top station, breaking the 2 million listeners for only the second time. It rose by 2.1% year on year and 4.5% on the quarter. The station has a 7.4% share of the London market compared to Heart’s 5.7%. Heart reported 1.77 million listeners for the quarter, which is 2% down over the year and 4% on the quarter.

Capital has taken the third spot back from Bauer Media-owned Kiss, which overtook the former market leader last quarter. Capital showed a 2.8% increase on the last quarter to 1.6m. It is also up 5.8% year-on-year and gives the station a 4.6% share. Kiss saw a 10.7% drop on the quarter to 1.4m. It takes a 4.5% share of the London audience.

Commercial radio grew its share by 1.3% over the quarter, boosting its share of overall listening to 42.4%, while BBC saw a 17% dip over the period by added 3.6% year on year. It has a share of 55.5%, which is down 1.3% on the quarter and 1.2% on the year.