Zoe’s walking on air after 9m still tune in to Radio 2 breakfast show

SHE may have feared a ‘haemorrhage’ of listeners after taking over the most popular show on British radio in January.

But new host Zoe Ball has managed to retain a weekly audience of 9.0 million for the Radio 2 Breakfast Show following the departure of Chris Evans.

The 48-year-old DJ, pictured, is down just 20,000 listeners compared to Evans’ last stint in December, according to RAJAR figures for the first quarter of 2019.

Compared to the same period last year, her show is down 70,000 listeners. The mother-of-two, who is reportedly paid £1.2million by the BBC since taking the job, said she was ‘supersized giddy’ that her show had performed so well. Earlier this week, she had said: ‘I do feel responsible for how it goes. I just hope that it’s not too horrendous – that we don’t haemorrhage listeners and we all have to start rethinking.’ Meanwhile, Evans brought in 1.0 million weekly listeners for his new Virgin Radio Breakfast Show – seven times the station’s figures for the same period last year. The father-of-five, 3, said: ‘I’m loving every minute of it.’