BBC Radio Leicester audience figures have been revealed amid steep declines

BBC Radio Leicester’s listenership grew in the first part of 2024, beating the national trend. January, February and March of this year saw 6.8% more listeners tune in to the station than January to March 2023.

The station, which has around 100,000 regular listeners, was one of 14 BBC radio stations to experience an increase in listeners during that period. Others that have seen growth include BBC Radio 3, the Asian Network and local stations in Derby and Nottingham.

But in other parts of the country there have been some steep declines. A further 40 stations, including Radio 1 and Radio 2, recorded declining numbers.

READ MORE: BBC Radio Leicester has lost more than one in 10 listeners in the past year

For BBC Radio Leicester, based in Jubilee Square in Leicester city centre, it has been a reversal of fortunes. The last three months of 2023 – October, November and December – saw a year-over-year decline.

Statistics since then have shown the station has lost more than one in 10 listeners in the past year, down 11% from the same period in 2022.

The overall decline for all BBC stations for the January-March period was 2.8%, while the decline for local stations was 7.2%. Around 6.9 million people are estimated to have listened to a BBC broadcast between January and March, which is around 530,000 less than the same period last year.

The figures were published by Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd (RAJAR). They show that the biggest drop in audience was at BBC Radio Bristol, which had 66,000 fewer people tune in in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 – a drop of 58.4 per cent.

BBC Radio Berkshire had the next biggest percentage drop. The station lost 37,000 listeners compared to last year – a 32.5% drop. BBC Radio Norfolk, meanwhile, lost 54,000 listeners – a 32.3% drop, while other big losers were BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Gloucestershire and BBC Radio Merseyside, which lost more than a quarter of listeners.

At the other end of the scale, those seeing growth included BBC Radio Oxford, which had 17,000 more people tune in in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2023. That’s a 27% increase .