1m desert Radio 2 as Ken Bruce fans switch stations

BBC radio 2 has lost more than a million listeners as fans of its stalwart former host Ken Bruce appear to be following him to greatest Hits radio.

Weekly audience figures for the BBC’s most popular radio service between January and March were down by 1.23 million from 14.46 million to 13.23 million – nearly 9 per cent – on the same period last year.

Meanwhile, greatest Hits radio, which Bruce joined in April last year after 31 years at the BBC, has recorded a 50 per cent increase, with more than 2.5 million new listeners taking its total to 7.69 million.

The rajar listening figures show that greatest Hits radio, which also counts simon Mayo as a host, now has a larger audience than BBC radio 1, which recorded a 266,000 drop in its audience to 7.31million.

The radio 2 downturn comes amid claims that it has been abandoning its core older listeners in a bid for a younger audience – and continued speculation that greatest Hits radio is being boosted by disaffected former fans of the BBC station.

But BBC bosses could take some comfort that radio 2 was down only slightly on the previous quarter, dropping by 53,000, according to the new figures.

Bruce’s own figures at greatest Hits radio give him 3.8 million listeners – a 73 per cent increase on the same period last year.

it is understood that his replacement on radio 2, Vernon Kay, has continued to lose listeners and is now getting about 1.5 million fewer than the 8.2 million Bruce got at the BBC station.

Kay is said to be down by more than 30,000 on the previous quarter, with 6.75 million listeners.

radiocentre, the industry body for commercial radio, said the latest figures showed more people are listening to radio than ever, with an ‘unprecedented high’ of 49.9 million weekly listeners.

The BBC said: ‘radio 2 continues to be the uK’s most popular radio station . . . as well as being the home of the two biggest radio shows in the uK – the Zoe Ball Breakfast show and Vernon Kay’s mid-morning show.’