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The Rajar figures for the second quarter of 2004 show that, overall, the station’s audience share is now only a whisker ahead of that of rival Heart 106.2FM – at 6.6%, compared to Heart’s 6.5%.

The audience for Capital’s breakfast show, fronted by Vaughan since three weeks into the reporting period, dipped to 1.191 million compared with Tarrant’s 1.577 million listeners a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Heart’s breakfast show – home to Jono Coleman and Harriet Scott – added 113,000 listeners compared to this time last year. It now pulls in 971,000 listeners, up from 833,000 in the first quarter of 2004.

But Capital denied that the results were significant, stressing the short time Vaughan has been in the hot seat and the fact that Capital still had the most popular breakfast show on London commercial radio.

David Mansfield, Capital Radio Group’s chief executive, said: “When we announced that Johnny Vaughan would be presenting, people said it was a great choice and he’s gone from strength to strength since he’s been on air.

“Realistically, he wasn’t going to put on audience in the first quarter and a fair measurement will be something like a year from when he first joined... The show’s going to get better and better.”

Mansfield also dismissed criticism that Vaughan’s style is too “loud and laddish” – with speculation from some quarters that Jazz FM, which boosted its female audience by 39%, could have won some of Capital’s female listeners.

Mansfield added: “With Capi- tal, we have a situation where we changed the presenter for the first time in 17 years... There might be those for whom Vaughan's style is not suited, but there will be others who like it.”

Keith Pringle, head of Capital 95.8, referred to the results as “a remarkable achievement”, showing that Vaughan is a “natural radio entertainer”. He said: “There’ll always be an element of churn when you change things and it takes about 18 months to launch a new breakfast show.”

Both Mansfield and Pringle pointed out the increasingly cutthroat climate of London radio.

Mansfield said: “It’s a fantastically aggressive London marketplace and will continue to be very aggressive, with digital radio starting to come on line.”

Phil Riley, chief executive of Chrysalis Radio, which owns Heart and LBC, also stressed the competitive nature of London’s breakfast radio.

“The fight will go on in the next three months and it’s too difficult to call who – out of Capital 95.8 and Heart – will be in the lead position at this time. We’re in a head-to-head battle with Capital; our breakfast show went up, theirs went down... It’s a great position to be in.”

Riley added that Capital’s rocky period is no great surprise: “The station’s going through a huge change and it’s inevitable that there’ll be some turbulence.”

Another of Capital’s rivals, Emap Radio – owner ofKiss 100 and Magic – was less sanguine.

Mark Storey, chief executive of Emap Radio, said: “If this is the result after £4m spent on marketing the show... I doubt the show will be around in 18 months.”

Kiss and Magic both came out well, with Kiss posting its highestrecorded market share for the station overall since December 2002 – at 4.7% – and Magic its biggest audience.

Between them, the two stations have added 150,000 new listeners in London.

Storey said: “This is the first time Kiss has been number one in London for the under-25 age group, and we’re very happy about that. We’re confident we can increase market share for both channels.”

Another success story came from Virgin Radio. The station boosted its audience share 20% in London – and pulled in 146,000 new listeners across the country.

Commenting on the Capital figures, Howard Bareham, head of radio for MindShare, said: “It’s a fair comment that performance should be judged over 12 months.

“However, when stations spend so much money on marketing you would expect to see an improvement.”

Electronic revolution

While Rajar continues to use a diary measurement system on this side of the Atlantic, electronic measurement is being introduced in some markets. BBM has announced the introduction of the Portable People Meter system – for commercial use in Montreal, and regional markets in the province of Quebec. However, the Association of Canadian Advertisers has issued a “data warning” to its members – cautioning them on the use of the new system, as it has not been fully tested.

Kiss gets fired up to put the boot in at Capital

Kiss 100 breakfast DJ Bam Bam rubbed salt in Capital’s wounds, claiming that rival Johnny Vaughan’s audience was "going up in smoke". He sent round his fire engine to help with the “emergency”.

The Capital Radio breakfast slot has lost 187,000 listeners since Vaughan replaced Chris Tarrant.

Bam Bam’s sidekick, Streetboy, and the show’s producer, drove the truck from the Kiss studios on Oxford Street to Capital’s HQ in Leicester Square, and covered an office window with Kiss stickers.

Capital retaliated by closing the blinds and throwing cups of water on to the "fire fighters".