New high in listeners prove that video didn't kill the radio star

The number of people listening to radio in Britain has reached a new high, with a giant jump in those tuning in on smartphones and the internet, and increased investment in drama and comedy programmes proving a major draw.

A total of 47.6 million adults tuned in to their favourite stations each week across the UK from April to June, an increase of 750,000 compared with the same period last year.

Across Scotland, the total number of radio listeners fell slightly, but BBC Radio Scotland's share rose sharply.

For the past six months, the station has been reaching more than a million listeners every week - a substantial increase on last year.

Total Scottish figures for radio listeners fell, as did figures for several networked BBC stations.

Some large commercial radio stations also lost listeners, possibly to small community radio stations overlooked in listenership surveys.

The latest figures from Radio Joint Audience Research (Rajar), showed Radio Scotland reached 1,035,000 listeners in the second quarter of 2011, a 7 per cent increase on same time last year.

Station chief Jeff Zycinski said it was due to "an evolving schedule designed to meet the needs of listeners who not only have an appetite for news, sport and Scottish culture, but also simply enjoy the company of presenters like Kaye Adams, John Beattie, Richard Gordon and Ricky Ross".

The number of radio listening hours in Britain increased year on year to 1,076 million hours per week, or 22.6 hours per listener.

The biggest jump came in the number of people listening to radio on digital platforms.

While DAB radios accounted for two-thirds of digital listening hours, the hours people tuned in via digital television and the internet jumped by 24 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

Radio listening via mobile phone increased 16 per cent year on year, with a third of people in the 15 to 24 age range tuning in this way.

Within Scotland some smaller commercial stations made big gains, including Kingdom FM, whose weekly listeners were up 16 per cent to 81,000, and Central FM, which was up 10 per cent to 54,000.

But figures for some bigger operators fell, with Real Radio Scotland losing nearly 9 per cent of its listeners and dropping to 646,000.

In total, 3.616 million people listened to radio in Scotland weekly, in the second quarter of 2011, compared with 3.655 million a year ago.Charles Fletcher, chairman of the Scottish Community Broadcasting Network, said Radio Scotland's increase reflected an increase in programming similar to Radio 4, with more comedy and drama.

He added: "Perhaps you are seeing a move of listeners to the growing community sector and that is not covered by Rajar.

"Because these stations are so small, they are not measured - the 31 community and small commercial stations don't feature, which is quite a significant number of potential listeners."

With the exception of BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main UK stations lost listeners.