BBC Radio 6 Music’s Jeff Smith believes the station is yet to realise its full potential, despite recording its highest ever audience figures to date in Q1 2017.
6 Music drew a record 2.35 million listeners per week according to the latest RAJAR figures, up from 2.33m in the last quarter and 2.24m last year.
The Shaun Keaveny Breakfast Show had a weekly reach of 1.12m, making it the most listened to programme on the network, while Steve Lamacq’s weekday afternoon show pulled in 1.115m listeners.
Mary Anne Hobbs’ show reached 682,000, Cerys Matthews on 6 attracted 666,000 and The Huey Show with Fun Lovin’ Criminals frontman Huey Morgan also topped half a million.
“Where we are now with 6 Music is a brilliant story, but there is a sense that we’re still not managing to fully achieve our potential because we are primarily a digital service,” Smith, the station’s head of music, told Music Week.
“The exciting news, though, is that digital is growing and I think as more people find out about what is a very strong product, they will listen to it, listen longer and enjoy it.”
Radio 6 head Paul Rodgers declared himself “thrilled” with the latest figures and vowed the station would stay true to its ethos.
“You have to keep aiming to grow, but we won’t change our attitude to what we do,” he added. “This is a station programmed by music lovers, for music lovers.”
Full analysis of the RAJAR Q1 figures will feature in the next issue of Music Week.
