Moyles goes as BBC targets under-30s

AFTER EIGHT busy years of inviting accusations of sexism, racism and homophobia, all before 10am, BBC Radio 1 presenter Chris Moyles (38) is leaving its breakfast show in September and will be replaced by celebrity page regular Nick Grimshaw (27).

Ratings for Moyles’s show have declined over the past year, although it is his relative old age that has forced the hand of BBC executives, who are keenly aware that the median age of the station’s listeners, at 30, is above the 15-29-year-old target demographic that the BBC’s governing body, the BBC Trust, ordered the station to refocus on in 2009.

Station controller Ben Cooper is confident that Grimshaw, who is part of the presenting team on Channel 4’s long-running youth strand T4, will “bring a new generation of listeners” with him to the slot.

By contrast, when RTÉ 2FM’s appeal to younger listeners waned a few years ago, the station responded by announcing in 2009 that it would reposition its target audience to the 25-44 age group.

RTÉ says this was a recognition that 2FM’s core audience was in its mid-30s and that younger listeners could be catered for via digital services such as RTÉ 2XM and RTÉ Pulse.

Head of 2FM John McMahon now wants to reduce the station’s average listener age slightly from its current mid-30s average - but without alienating loyal listeners.

The most recent Joint National Listenership Research figures show that 2FM, the closest equivalent in Ireland to BBC Radio 1, is still doing better on a national market share basis with under-35s than over-35s, although its audience skews towards the older end of the 15-34 age group.

It is not a straightforward picture, however. In a crowded Dublin market, the youth demographic eludes it: 2FM has a market share of just 5.3 per cent among 15-34-year-olds in the capital, while beyond Dublin, it is broadly more popular with older rather than younger listeners.

Having recently pulled the plug on Weekend Breakfast with Baz and Lucy, 2FM remains under pressure to make budget cuts and further schedule changes.