Me thinks Kelvin McKenzie's unofficial radio ratings will be treated with considerable respect round Leicester Square this morning. McKenzie's 'clever watch-type device that monitors what your listening' survey reckoned that Johnny Vaughan had added 91,000 listeners to the Capital Radio breakfast show since he took over in Apr, putting him 148,000 ahead of arch rival Jono Coleman over on Heart 106.2. But RAJAR's 'they write down what they listen to in a book' official survey (out today) reckons Vaughan has, in fact, shed some 322,000 listeners since taking over breakfast - which isn't good.
RAJAR reckon the fastest growing breakfast show in London is on Radio 1. Since Chris Moyles replaced the abysmal Sara Cox on breakfast he has added a million listeners to the show nationally, and 33% more listeners in London. Radio 1 now has a RAJAR of 895,000 listeners in London, meaning he is getting closer to Vaughan's 1.047 million.
The only good news for Capital is that Heart, Virgin Radio, LBC and Kiss have also all lost listeners from their breakfast shows in recent months. So much so Capital boss David Mansfield didn't seem to depressed by his flagship station's latest RAJAR figures: "As anticipated some listeners have tried other stations at breakfast. However, the station as a whole has seen growth across the rest of the day. Johnny Vaughan is proving to be a significant radio talent and we confidently predict he will win new listeners and build audiences over the next two years".
Of course, when it comes to the nation's favourite breakfast show you still can't touch Mr Wogan. While listening figures for Radio 2 breakfast show may have been down slightly this last quarter, but it is still heard by a massive 7.64 million listeners.