BBC Radio Kent sees largest fall in listening figures in England as …
Eight BBC local radio stations have lost over a quarter of listeners in the last two years, with BBC Radio Kent seeing the biggest decline, according to the latest audience figures. BBC local radio reached over 7.3 million people in the three months to September 2023.
That’s down by 20% from almost 9.2 million in the same period in 2021. Some stations have been harder hit than others.
BBC Radio Kent’s audience has seen a huge drop in the number of listeners over the last two years. A total of 130,000 people tuned into the station in the third quarter of 2023, according to the latest audience figures from Radio Joint Audience Research.
That’s a 41% drop from the same period in 2021, when 219,000 people listened to the station. The average amount of time people spend listening to the station has also dropped. Listeners spent an average of 0.3 hours listening to BBC Radio Kent in the three months to September this year. That’s down from the 0.7 hours in the same period of 2021.
The figures come amid controversial BBC plans to make cuts to local radio services. The plans to make stations share more content led to strikes at the corporation.
Joint schedules are due to be introduced across BBC Radio Kent, Surrey and Sussex from Monday, November 6. but a BBC spokesperson said: “Most of the voices in the new schedules will be familiar to listeners with some taking on new shows and, or areas.”
One of the biggest shake ups will see Adam Dowling host the 2pm- 6pm afternoon slot on all three stations, with Dominic King moving from weekday evenings on BBC Radio Kent to daytimes. BBC Radio Sussex breakfast presenter Allison Ferns will move to the weekend breakfast slot across Surrey, Sussex and Kent. Some local shows will remain during the week with an increase in shared content, while the weekend schedule will see all shows shared across the three counties.
Kent has the largest percentage drop off in listeners of any local BBC station followed by BBC Radio London which lost 375,000 listeners in the last two years. That works out at a drop of 38% and is the largest drop in listener numbers of any BBC local station in the country. That’s followed by BBC Radio Nottingham at 35%, BBC Radio Shropshire at 34% and BBC Essex at 33%
Four other local stations have seen drop-offs of 25% or over – BBC Radio Lincolnshire (32%), BBC Radio Gloucestershire (31%), BBC Radio Leicester (28%), and BBC Radio Bristol (25%). Not all of the BBC’s local stations have lost audiences though. Figures have remained the same at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC Hereford & Worcester over the last two years. BBC Three Counties Radio has seen an audience growth of 3%, while BBC Radio Tees, BBC Radio Oxford, and BBC Radio Wiltshire/Swindon have all grown by 10%. BBC Radio Derby’s audience has grown by 13%, and BBC Radio Somerset’s by 16%.
BBC local stations
2023 average weekly audience
% change since 2021
BBC Radio Kent
130,000 listeners
-41%
BBC Radio London
603,000 listeners
-38%
BBC Radio Nottingham
125,000 listeners
-35%
BBC Radio Shropshire
63,000 listeners
-34%
BBC Essex
132,000 listeners
-33%
BBC Radio Lincolnshire
67,000 listeners
-32%
BBC Radio Gloucestershire
61,000 listeners
-31%
BBC Radio Leicester
101,000 listeners
-28%
BBC Radio Bristol
84,000 listeners
-25%
BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey
188,000 listeners
-24%
BBC Radio Manchester
181,000 listeners
-24%
BBC Radio Guernsey
13,000 listeners
-24%
BBC Radio Sheffield
171,000 listeners
-21%
BBC Radio Merseyside
215,000 listeners
-21%
BBC Radio Leeds
186,000 listeners
-21%
BBC Radio Jersey
20,000 listeners
-20%
BBC Local Radio
7,341,000 listeners
-20%
BBC Radio Humberside
125,000 listeners
-19%
BBC Radio Northampton
78,000 listeners
-19%
BBC Radio Norfolk
125,000 listeners
-18%
Total BBC Radio Solent
204,000 listeners
-17%
BBC Radio Devon
155,000 listeners
-17%
BBC Radio Newcastle
206,000 listeners
-17%
BBC Radio WM
184,000 listeners
-16%
BBC Radio Stoke
117,000 listeners
-15%
BBC CWR
56,000 listeners
-15%
BBC Radio Suffolk
92,000 listeners
-15%
BBC Radio Cornwall
103,000 listeners
-14%
BBC Radio Berkshire
105,000 listeners
-14%
BBC Radio York
58,000 listeners
-12%
BBC Radio Cumbria
88,000 listeners
-5%
BBC Radio Lancashire
162,000 listeners
-1%
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
87,000 listeners
0%
BBC Hereford & Worcester
96,000 listeners
0%
BBC Three Counties Radio
132,000 listeners
3%
BBC Radio Tees
126,000 listeners
10%
BBC Radio Oxford
79,000 listeners
10%
BBC Radio Wiltshire/Swindon
77,000 listeners
10%
BBC Radio Derby
135,000 listeners
13%
BBC Radio Somerset
58,000 listeners
16%