Vaughan wins back listeners in DJ battle

Johnny Vaughan is beginning to claw back listeners to his Capital Radio breakfast show following months of decline.

The DJ has been struggling to match the success of his predecessor, Chris Tarrant, since replacing him last spring.

He had shed about 300,000 listeners in the first six months of fronting the London breakfast show, despite being paid £1.5 million in a three-year deal.

But new radio ratings figures reveal he clawed back 100,000 fans in the last quarter of 2004.

Year on year, however, the flagship show is down by more than nine per cent - with an audience of 1.1 million compared with 1.2 million when Tarrant was in charge in December 2003.

Capital Radio bosses have been taking steps to stem the decline in Vaughan's show. Last month 28-year-old unknown Zoe Hanson was signed as his new on-air sidekick, replacing Becky Jago.

Capital's managing director Keith Pringle said today: "We're delighted that Johnny and his team have brought in a pack more listeners. We're halfway through our 18-month launch plan for the show and we're right on track."

A TV advertising campaign would be launched next week to "keep the ball rolling", he added.

Meanwhile, radio veteran Terry Wogan has reaffirmed his status as Britain's most popular breakfast DJ. His Radio 2 show has set a new record by breaking through the eight-million-mark for listeners nationwide.

Wake Up With Wogan has added 410,000 new listeners in the last three months to reach an audience of 8.05 million - his highest ever.

Radio 2 as a whole saw its audience rise to 13.3 million, up 240,000 in the last quarter, according to figures published by industry body Rajar. Other figures show that Radio 1's breakfast host Chris Moyles has achieved a huge 770,000 rise in listeners nationwide in the past year, to 6.3 million. In London, he enjoyed a 35 per cent increase, from 599,000 to 811,000.

Moyles's gain in the capital has been Heart breakfast DJ Jono Coleman's loss. The Australian is down to 748,000 listeners in London compared with 871,000 this time last year. The Rajar figures also reveal that Heart has slumped behind Magic for the first time, with figures showing for how many hours its listeners actually tune in.

The traditional rivalry in London has long been between Capital and Heart. But Heart has dropped into third place, with audiences tuning in to 11 million hours of programming in the last quarter of 2004.

Magic fans, meanwhile, tuned in to 13 million hours of airtime. And Capital is only marginally ahead at 13.1 million hours listened to.