Capital 95.8FM saw its weekly reach fall to 7.7m, down from 7.8m in the last period of 2002. Its share fell to 11.9% from 12.1% last time.
Easy-listening station Heart FM was the only main commercial station to increase its reach. The Chrysalis-owned station scored a weekly reach of 2.9m, up from 2.8m last time, as its share of listeners slipped to 7.9% from 8%.
SMG-owned Virgin also reported a dip in its audience. Its total weekly reach across its AM and FM stations fell to 2.7m from 2.8m last time, hit by a fall at its London station, which saw its weekly reach drop to 1m, down from 1.1m last time. Nationally, Virgin's audience share was flat at 1.6%, while its London station's share was up to 3.2% from 3.1% last time.
At Emap, Kiss 100FM was down in London, with a weekly reach of 1.5m against 1.6m last time. Its share fell to 4.1% from 4.9% last time. The station is being listened to by more than 900,000 people on digital radio, figures for which were reported for the first time today.
Emap's easy-listening station Magic 105.4 was down, with a weekly reach of 1.2m from 1.3m last time. Its share of listeners was 3.6%, down from 4.6% at the end of last year.
The mainstream commercial stations are being hard hit as specialist music stations Jazz FM and Classic FM continue to put on listeners.
Jazz FM recorded a weekly reach of 1.4m across the UK, compared with the last quarter of 2002 when its reach was 1.3m. Its share of listening was 0.7%, compared with 0.6% last time. It launched a £2m advertising campaign in April, aimed at widening its audience following its acquisition for £44.5m last year by Guardian Media Group.
Classic FM also posted a rise. Its weekly reach was up to a record 6.9m from 6.7m last period, although its share of listeners fell to 4.6% from 4.7% last time.
However, Capital's alternative music station Xfm did not benefit in the same way as Jazz and Kiss. Its weekly reach fell to 442,000 from 484,000 last time, but it retained its share of listeners at 1.7%.
The bad news was not confined to the commercial sector. The BBC's Radio 1 was also down again. Its weekly reach was 10.3m, down from 10.5m in the last period. Its share for the first quarter of 2003 was 7.9%, down from 8.4% last time.
BBC Radio 3 also lost listeners. Its weekly reach fell to 2.1m, down from 2.2m last time. Its share of listening dipped to 1.1% from 1.2% last time.
For the BBC, it was Radio 4 that proved to be the winner in the Rajars for the first quarter of 2003. Its audience has jumped to a weekly reach of over 10m, up from 9.8m in the last period, a share of 11.8%, up from 11.5% in the fourth quarter of last year.
This is the first time the station has crossed the 10m mark since new Rajar reporting methodology was introduced in 1999. It is thought to have benefited from listeners tuning in for its coverage of the build-up to the war in Iraq. The full impact of the war is likely to be felt next period as only four days of actual war coverage were included in the January to March period.
Rajar is still relying on the diary reporting system, despite calls from The Wireless Group chairman Kelvin MacKenzie to introduce an audio metered measurement system.
MacKenzie believes that niche stations such as TWG's TalkSPORT are losing out under the current method, which involves participants keeping a diary of their listening habits. The station saw its weekly reach dip to 2,249,000, down from 2,415,000 last time, although it retained its 1.7% share of listeners
A new metered system from Rajar is currently under development, but has to pass a number of tests before it can be used. An announcement on its progress is not likely until the summer.
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