• Wireless’ national brands now reach a record 4.9m listeners, with listening hours up to a record 31.7m hours
• Chris Evans grows the Virgin Radio Breakfast Show with Sky - attracting a record 1.1m weekly listeners across the Virgin Radio network, with a record 5.35m weekly listening hours
• The Virgin Radio network continues to see record growth, attracting 1.67m weekly listeners and 11.02m weekly listening hours
• talkSPORT’s network delivers record reach, with listeners increased to 3.3m
• talkRADIO delivers record reach (386k, up 31% YonY) and record listening hours (1.9m, up 40% YonY)

The latest round of RAJAR results - covering April to June 2019 - show record-breaking results for Wireless and its national radio brands.

Across Virgin Radio UK, the talkSPORT network and talkRADIO, Wireless now reaches a record 4.9m listeners, (up 38% YonY). And engagement has also reached record levels, with listening hours for Wireless national brands at 31.65m (up 36% YonY).

Virgin Radio UK has produced its second RAJAR results since Chris Evans joined the schedule in January, and again the show and the station deliver record reach and listening hours. 

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky secured 1.1 million weekly listeners across the Virgin Radio network (up 6% QonQ), accounting for 5.35 million weekly listening hours (up 18.9% QonQ). The Breakfast Show plays across Virgin Radio, Virgin Anthems and Virgin Chilled. 

The Virgin Radio network continues to see record growth, attracting 1.67m weekly listeners (up 16% QonQ) and 11.02m weekly listening hours (up 29% QonQ). Presenters including Eddy Temple-Morris, Kate Lawler, Tim Cocker and Sam Pinkham have all delivered record results in their slots.

The talkSPORT network posted record audience figures with 3.3m listeners across talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2, up 4% on last year, which was a men’s World Cup year. The last quarter has seen the teams delivering commentary and analysis across The Champions League Final, the Nations League, Cricket World Cup chat and the live broadcast of every England and Scotland game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup from France. 

As the new Premier League season approaches, the talkSPORT network is preparing to offer more live Premier League games than ever before, with three exclusive games every Saturday. As the GameDay destination for live Premier League action on the radio, the talkSPORT network will be there from the first kick to the final whistle on Saturdays.

And, as Brexit continues to dominate politics, ever more listeners are turning to talkRADIO to make sense of things. The station achieved a record RAJAR result, with listeners up 31% in the last twelve months to 386k, while in the last quarter listening hours grew 38% to a record 1.88m. 

The station has been at the centre of politics as Brexit has unfolded, and it’s partnership with The Times has created an ad break-free environment at breakfast, allowing more space for host Julia Hartley-Brewer to grill the politicians and decision makers. 

Scott Taunton, Wireless CEO, welcoming the latest set of RAJARs said: “This is a superlative set of results for Wireless, with records smashed across our national brands and for Wireless.

“Virgin Radio has delivered a second quarter of record reach and listening hours for both the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky and the station itself, which shows reach up 266% year-on-year. Chris and the team - including our partners at Sky - are continuing to set the pace in the breakfast slot.

“With the talkSPORT network and talkRADIO posting their highest ever RAJAR reach, our speech stations continue to deliver on our investment in sports rights and the best on-air talent. With a new tenant in No.10 and new Premier League packages which give us more live games than ever, we’re well set for the months ahead.”