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Magic FM's share of listening time in London, in the Rajar figures for October to December 2004, climbed dramatically to 6.1% from 4.8% in the last quarter, although its reach hardly changed, from 1.58m listeners to 1.59m.

This left it only 0.1 percentage point behind Capital FM on 6.2%, down from 7.2% in the last quarter. Capital FM's reach declined from 2.17m to 2.04m over the quarter.

Emap's head of programming Mark Story said: "This is a historic day for Magic. When Emap launched Magic in 1998 we were confident it had the potential to be a number one format."

It is an unsettling end to a good year for Capital FM, which regained its leadership of the London market from rival Heart at the end of 2003.

Now it is being challenged by Magic, with Heart slipping to third most-listened to station on 5.3%, down from 5.4% in the previous quarter. It lost almost 200,000 listeners, with a fourth-quarter reach of 1.62m, down from 1.81m in the previous period.

Chrysalis said that it had been a "further difficult Rajar survey", which led it to believe that the full-year revenues for its radio division would be down year on year by 3%.

One of Capital Radio's other London stations, Choice FM, suffered a reverse in share of listening from 3.2% in the last quarter to 1.5%, although it grew its reach from 0.38m to 0.48m listeners. Xfm provided a postive, moving from a 1.6% share in the last quarter to 1.8% this quarter.

Capital Radio's chief executive David Mansfield said: "These results show that our portfolio strategy is working well, particularly in London."

Emap's Kiss 100FM fell from 1.53m listeners in the previous quarter to 1.49m this quarter, and dropped 0.6 percentage points in its share of listening to 3.9%.

In the battle of the commercial breakfast shows in London, Johnny Vaughan's Capital FM show reached 1.13m listeners, up from 1.05m in the last quarter. Jono and Harriet on Heart FM stayed second, but dropped from 797,000 to 748,000. Kiss 100 FM's Bam Bam Breakfast overtook Magic FM to take third place, adding 90,000 listeners to hit 711,000.

Chris Moyles' breakfast show on Radio 1 had 856,000 listeners in the London area, down from 895,000 in the previous quarter.

Nationally, the BBC maintained its strong share of listening, slipping only slightly to 54% from 54.4% in the last quarter.

Radio 1's reach slipped back under 10m to 9.93m, and its share of listening was down from 8.6% to 8.2%. Radio 2 continued its upward momentum, adding 245,000 listeners to hit 13.31m and increasing its share of listening from 16.1% in the last quarter to 16.4%.

Radio Five Live lost more than 400,000 listeners, down to 5.98m, and saw its share decline from 4.9% to 4.4%.

The Wireless Group's TalkSPORT also wilted slightly, from 2.18m listeners to 1.99m, and lost 0.1 percentage points in its share to 1.6% from last quarter.

GWR's Classic FM improved its share from 4.2% in the last quarter to 4.4%, growing its reach from 6.15m to 6.2m.

GWR group chief executive Ralph Bernard said: "Classic FM continues to build its status as an upmarket advertising medium with its best ever ABC1 profile."

Magic's strong London performance carried over to its national listening, with its share of listening up from 1.9% in the last quarter to 2.1%, although its reach dropped from 2.82m to 2.76m.

Xfm was another national climber, growing its share of listening from 0.4% to 0.5%, and marginally increasingly its reach through digital radio.

Heart suffered a national as well as London-based reverse, falling from its third-quarter reach of 2.91m to arrive at 2.78m, and losing share of listening, from 2% to 1.8%.

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