Radio 4 at record low as changes prove a turnoff down on the same

RADIO 4 IS SUFFERING the worst set of listening figures in its history as, for the first time since ratings began, its audience fell below eight million. Unquestionably the figures are an indictment of station controller James Boyle's new schedule and could not come at a worse time for the BBC, which has suffered a dreadful week.

In the last four days MPs attacked the corporation as "lazy and arrogant" for losing television rights to Test cricket, a Blue Peter presenter was sacked for taking cocaine, thousands of staff went on strike and the BBC lost coverage of the Oscars to Sky.

The Radio 4 figures, from Radio Joint Audience Research (Rajar), show that in the third quarter of 1998 the listeners total slumped to 7.68 million. The figure for July, August and September is more than half a million down on the previous quarter of 1998 and 636,000 down on the same period of 1997. As well as losing listeners, Radio 4's dwindling audience - still in mourning over the loss of favourite programmes such as Kaleidoscope are switching off sooner. The average time spent with the station per week has fallen to 10.1 hours, from 10.9 hours this time last year. It appears that many Radio 4 fans have switched to Radio 5 Live and Radio 2. Although 5 Live's audience is down 255,000 on the last quarter - which the station blames on England's early exit from the World Cup - the station's nationwide reach has risen to 4.97 million, up 82,000 on the same period of 1997. The champagne will be flowing at Radio 1. Not only has the station's nationwide audience increased by 380,000 to 9.8million, it is winning listeners back from Virgin FM in London. Chris Evans's breakfast show has lost 170,000 listeners in London over the quarter and 540,000 nationwide to a total of just over 2 million. In contrast, Radio 1's Breakfast Show, now presented by Zoe Ball, increased its audience slightly to 4.5million. The slump for Radio 4 may force Boyle to resign, as he has promised to leave if his changes are not a success. Yet Radio 4 chiefs are accustomed to losing large chunks of their audience. Between the first and second quarters of 1993 Radio 4 lost 710,000 listeners and 610,000 in the same period of 1996. During 1993 more than a million listeners switched off and 700,000 disappeared in 1996, prompting plans for the schedule relaunch, which has placed Radio 4 in the predicament it finds itself in today. Radio 4 claims the latest figures look worse because those for the same period last year were unusually high. A Radio 4 spokeswoman said: "Among the factors influencing this were the immense publicity generated by the announcement of the schedule changes, a gripping Test series between England and Australia and the death of Diana. "In contrast, the same quarter this year has seen the World Cup on television and a flat summer in the political arena, with a popular Government in office. "Radio 4 listening is based on habit. The overhaul Radio 4 underwent in April means that these will take time to establish." Capital FM continues to be London's number one station with a total audience of 2.71million. Radio 4 is second with 1.95mil-lion and Radio 2 third with 1.5million.

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