norman lebrecht
February 04, 2026
The Rajar figures are out for the last quarter of 2025 and it’s good news for Radio 3, less so for Classic FM.
After a mysterious dip in the summer quarter, down from around 1.95 million to 1.81, Radio 3 has risen again to 1.91 million, a quarterly increase of 106,000 listeners.
Breakfast  presenter Tom McKinney has done particularly well, with the slot’s highest reach in more than a year.
Classic FM has continued its inexorable slide, down from 4.26 million to 4.2m.
There is no measuring how much podcasts are eating into stable music stations.