Jordan North, Greg James and Radio 4’s Today enjoy ratings boosts

DJ Jordan North has added more than 400,000 listeners to the Capital radio breakfast show’s ratings in his first six months as host, new industry figures show.

The former I’m A Celebrity contestant left BBC Radio 1 in February and joined the commercial station in April.

His show attracted 2.96 million listeners in the third quarter of 2024, compared with 2.55 million for the final three months hosted by his predecessor Roman Kemp.

North’s breakfast show rival on Radio 1, Greg James, enjoyed a similar boost, adding about 400,000 listeners to reach 4.3 million between July and September, according to industry ratings body Rajar.

However, the figures are not directly comparable because James’s show was extended by half an hour during this period, with its temporary time slot of 07:00-11:00 intended to catch younger audiences waking up later in the summer holidays.

North hosts the Capital breakfast show alongside Chris Stark and Siân Welby from 06:00-10:00. The trio added 261,000 listeners in their first three months, and a further 151,000 listeners this quarter.

Their figures do not include Capital Scotland, which has its own breakfast programme and daytime schedule.

Burnley-born North previously worked with James on Radio 1, hosting the station’s drivetime show with Vick Hope. She now presents the programme with Made in Chelsea’s Jamie Laing.

Speech-based breakfast shows, including BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast and BBC Radio 4’s Today, also saw an increase in listeners in a busy quarter for news, which included the UK general election and an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

The Today programme was up by about 385,000 people on the previous quarter, bringing its total number of listeners to 5.85 million.

BBC Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show, hosted by Rachel Burden and Rick Edwards, added 180,000 listeners to reach a total of 1.58 million.

Meanwhile, BBC Radio 3’s breakfast show attracted 866,000 listeners, an increase of about 115,000 on the previous quarter.

But there was less good news for other breakfast shows.

BBC Radio 2’s Zoe Ball dipped by 146,000 listeners to 6.28 million in the quarter that saw her unexpectedly take an extended break from the show.

Kiss breakfast, hosted by Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely, also went down by about 218,000. Their audience is now 721,000.

Magic’s breakfast show lost about 170,000 listeners in the quarter that Ronan Keating left the station, giving the show an audience of 890,000.

Ball’s fellow Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay continued to have the most popular radio programme in the UK. His mid-morning show increased its audience in the latest quarter to 6.8 million.