BBC Radio: Radio 1 Shedding Older Listeners

Host Nick Grimshaw

DJ Nick Grimshaw has been praised by his station boss after shedding more than half a million listeners over the age of 25 from his Radio 1 breakfast show in the space of three months.

Coventry Telegraph reports the station's controller Ben Cooper said that losing the older listeners while gaining younger fans to bring down the overall age was fulfilling the "challenge" the presenter had been set.

Grimshaw's programme has a weekly audience of 5.85 million according to new figures from industry body Rajar, down 440,000 in total on the previous quarter.

The morning programme which Grimshaw - who is himself 29 - took over in 2012 has piled on 130,000 15 to 24-year-olds in the past three months while losing older listeners.

Ben Cooper has been trying to reduce the average age of listeners to Radio 1 after the BBC Trust wanted the station to do more to appeal to a younger targer audience.

Since replacing predecessor Chris Moyles the show has lost 1.11 million listeners aged 25 or more, while adding 230,000 under 24s.

Ben Cooper said of the latest figures: "I was asked to build a younger audience for Radio 1 and regenerate the brand, and these figures show we're doing exactly that.