Jamie's show loses 250,000 listeners

Flop: Jamie Theakston
The Weekender

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He was billed as the new star of London radio - a refreshing alternative to the "laddish schtick" of rivals Johnny Vaughan and Chris Moyles.

But Jamie Theakston's debut as host of the Heart 106.2 breakfast show appears to have been a disaster.

The 33-year-old has lost more than a quarter of a million listeners since taking over the slot in April.

New radio ratings figures out today show his audience has slumped from 972,000 to 720,000. It comes as a massive blow to Heart who ploughed £2 million into TV advertising pitching Theakston head-to-head with Capital rival Vaughan.

The figures also call into question Heart bosses' decision to axe Theakston's predecessor-Jono Coleman. He was ditched as part of a bid to lure in younger audiences - despite the fact that he piled on an extra 220,000 listenersat the beginning of this year. The breakfast slump has also forced Heart into third place in the London commercial market, behind Capital in first place and Magic. Only three months ago, Heart had recorded its highest ever ratings and leapfrogged Capital to become the most listenedto commercial station.

A spokesman for Heart insisted: "There are no plans to rethink the show, time will prove it is a success."

The commercial stations have seen a slump in listeners. Vaughan has lost 161,000 fans at Capital and is at 1.07 million listeners.

Magic's breakfast host Graham Dene has lost 130,000 listeners, falling to 702,000. The biggest winner was Xfm's Christian O'Connell, up 60,000 to 318,000.

BBC radio has seen a leap in ratings with Sara Cox celebrating her return from maternity leave with 1.55 million listeners for her Saturday afternoon show, up 180,000 on last year.

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