Has Today had its day? 1m listeners abandon R4

BBC Radio 4 has lost almost one million listeners – with its flagship Today show suffering a huge slump, figures revealed yesterday.

The station pulled in 10.6million a week in the second quarter compared with 11.6million in the same period last year – an 8.3 per cent drop.

Radio 1 also failed to regain its audience after commercial rival Heart overtook its weekly reach earlier this year – a development widely seen as a landmark in the BBC’s declining influence. Heart set a new record in the latest figures from audience monitor Rajar, with a weekly ‘ reach’ of 9.8million, eclipsing Radio 1’s 9.2million.

Radio 4’s Today has lost more than 800,000 listeners in the past year after a painful reshuffle amid concerns over the BBC’s gender pay gap – the show was found to have one of the widest pay gaps between male and female hosts.

It drew an average of 6.8million listeners a week in the second quarter of this year, down from 7.7million period-on-period.

Its editor, Sarah Sands, has caused quite a stir since she took on the role last year. She has been criticised by Roger Mosey, a former Today editor, who claimed she has made the programme too soft. He claimed there were concerns Miss Sands would prefer it to be more a ‘magazine than the news section’. The 57-year-old has also come under fire for suggesting her female hosts are ‘better on fashion’, while John Humphrys ‘holds power to account’.

Among other BBC network stations, Five Live fell 11 per cent (to 4.7million), Radio 3 saw a 7.5 per cent drop (to 1.9million weekly reach) and the World Service fell 5 per cent (to 1.5million).

BBC Radio 6 Music saw its weekly reach increase 9.4 per cent, while Radio 2 saw a minor 0.3 per cent boost to its listenership.

In all, BBC network radio stations drew 523,000 fewer listeners in the three months compared with the same period last year.

The BBC said: ‘ Each week 34.5million people listen to BBC radio and after a record for Radio 4 last year – when listeners tuned in during significant news events – it’s not surprising figures will fluctuate in comparison.

‘The way listeners tune in continues to change over time, with younger people in particular increasingly coming to BBC Radio digitally and the Radio 1 audience spreads far beyond traditional radio.’