BBC bosses get thumbs up for Wogan successor
Voters in Marketingweek.co.uk’s latest poll have backed the decision of BBC Radio 2 bosses to name Chris Evans the host of the station’s flagship breakfast show.
Evans will step up from his current slot at drive-time in January to replace Sir Terry Wogan, who has presented the breakfast show on the station for 27 years in two stints.
The majority (60.2%) of those who responded to Marketing Week’s online poll say Radio 2 is right to promote Evans.
The decision to replace Wogan with the former Radio 1 presenter could be a bitter sweet one for commercial radio chiefs. While Evans is likely to bring with him a raft of younger listeners, Wogan’s loyal fans, known as TOGS – Terry’s Old Geezers and Gals – could well be put off by Evans’ brasher style.
Commercial radio industry body RadioCentre recently accused the BBC station of targeting younger listeners at the expense of the ad-funded sector. The body claimed that Radio 2’s shift in programming policies has increased the station’s reach among 15- to 34-year-olds, traditionally the domain of commercial radio and Radio 1, by 62% since 1999.
However, commercial radio could also be buoyed by the absence of Sir Terry at the most important time of the radio day. His “Wake up to Wogan” show is the most popular in the UK and, according to latest Rajar listening figures, had a weekly reach of 7.9 million listeners in the second quarter.
Evans has seen his BBC Radio career resurrected after he was fired from the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1997. He returned to the corporation in 2005 and took over the drive-time show a year later.
Do you think Radio 2 has made the right choice in naming Chris Evans as the replacement for Sir Terry Wogan for its breakfast show?
