The local commercial radio battle in London took a new twist today after Bauer Media's Magic 105.4 held on to the number one spot in terms of listeners but Global Radio's Heart 106.2 took a bigger share of the audience.
Capital 95.8's Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon strengthened their position as the number one local commercial breakfast show in the capital.
Magic 105.4 had an average weekly reach of 2.05 million listeners in the first three months of this year – the station's highest-ever reach – ahead of Heart 106.2 with 1.97 million and 95.8 Capital with 1.87 million, according to official Rajar figures published today.
It is the ninth quarter in a row that Magic has had more listeners than any other local commercial station in the capital.
But Magic can no longer claim the number one spot in terms of audience share, which takes into account how long each listener tunes into the station.
Heart took the top spot with a 5.9% share of the market, up from 5% in the previous quarter and marginally higher year on year. Magic had 5.7% of the audience, down from 6% the previous quarter, while Capital had 4.7%, down from 4.8% the previous quarter.
Bauer Media's Kiss 100, which recorded its highest-ever reach and share of the audience, was in fourth place with 1.71 million listeners and a 4.6% share.
Kiss was ahead of Global Radio's talk station LBC, in fifth place, with 705,000 listeners and a 4.4% share of the market.
Capital's Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon extended their lead as the number one local commercial breakfast show in London.
Vaughan and Snowdon had an average weekly reach of 1.07 million listeners between 6am and 10am, up from 981,000 in the previous quarter and 943,000 year on year.
Heart's Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott held on to second place, with an average of 833,000 listeners between 6am and 9am. But their audience was 30,000 down on the previous quarter and 60,000 down year on year.
Magic's Neil Fox also saw his audience fall, down to 784,000 from 813,000 in the previous quarter and 831,000 in the first quarter of 2008.
Vaughan and Snowdon now have 230,000 more listeners than Theakston and Scott in second place, up from a lead of just 50,000 listeners a year ago.
Magic's weekly reach was up from 1.99 million in the previous quarter and 1.92 million in the same period in 2008.
Heart and Capital also showed year-on-year gains. Heart was up from 1.79 million in the previous quarter and 1.85 million in 2008, while Capital was up from 1.62 million the previous quarter and 1.56 million in the first three months of 2008.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.
• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
