Rajar Bites

Bob Shennan's behemoths roll on - Radio 2's reach is up 7% year on year and 6Music, back from threatened extinction, is up 30% year on year, though off the top quarter on quarter. These distinctive stations now share the services of Steve Lamacq, Mark Radcliffe, Stuart Maconie, Cerys Matthews, Huey Morgan and Jarvis Cocker, amongst others.

The cumulative total for the reach of BBC local radio in England is up year on year by 5.5%, but, according to Radio Today "Mark Forrest‘s new network evening show has delivered the lowest ever reach and share for that timeslot".

TalkSport is up by more than 11%, both year on year and quarter on quarter, to a record reach of 3.25m. Liam Fisher, who replaced Moz Dee as programme director, is beginning to make changes - but April/May/June only saw the departure of Ronnie Irani as Alan Brazil's breakfast sidekick. Keys & Gray were still in the middle of weekday output (slot now covered by Kelly & Quinn) as Colin Murray waits in an Olympic Stadium sin bin for saying "bum". It was probably the Lions tour that brought most of the rise. At 5Live, new Controller Jonathan Wall contemplates a fairly static audience, just over 6m - and some loss of hours. The arrival of BT in tv football this season - a tad more aggressive than ESPN - may have an impact on both soccer-mad radio stations.

LBC 97.3 (what will they call it when FM goes ?) broke the 1m reach barrier for the first time. The Asian Network has nudged marginally forward to a new record reach, at 587,000 - now it needs to improve its hours.

At Radio 1, 750,000 listeners returned over the quarter - but the right type ? The average age for the audience is 32; the Trust criticised the station in June last year, when it was reported as 30.