Terry Wogan's show attracted a record 7.97 million listeners

"The station goes from strength to strength," BBC director of radio Jenny Abramsky said as official Rajar ratings from 22 March to 20 June were released.

However, the figures also showed that BBC Radio Five Live had lost 430,000 listeners in the same period.

Johnny Vaughan, who replaced Chris Tarrant as host of London's Capital FM breakfast slot, lost 254,000 listeners.

'Early days'

Tarrant, who presented the show for 17 years, broadcast his daily show from 7 to 10am whereas Vaughan's show goes out from 6 to 9am.

"Johnny has only been doing the show for nine weeks and it is very early days," a spokesperson for Capital FM said.

Johnny Vaughan inherited Chris Tarrant's Capital FM show in April

"But we are still the number one show in London, trouncing Chris Moyles on Radio 1 and beating Terry Wogan on Radio 2, and we have had fantastic feedback from listeners."

Nevertheless Terry Wogan continues to dominate breakfast radio nationally, with his daily BBC Radio 2 show attracting a record 7.97 million listeners.

BBC Radio now reaches 53.1% of the UK radio audience, with 32.4 million listeners, ahead of commercial radio's weekly audience of 31.36 million.

'Season end'

A spokesperson for BBC Radio Five Live said its drop from 6.52 million to 6.09 million listeners was "not unexpected".

"This tends to happen at this time of year because it is the end of the football season," she said.

"The latest figures only included the start of our Euro 2004 coverage, and we expect to see a rise in the next set of ratings."

Colin Murray and Edith Bowman, who replaced DJ duo Mark and Lard on BBC Radio 1 in March, added 64,000 listeners to their afternoon slot.

Simon Bates' breakfast show on Classic FM enjoyed a record audience of 3.35 million - 859,000 of those in London.

Programme controller Roger Lewis said: "We are delighted to have had such success in making classical music relevant to a younger audience."

Virgin added an extra 150,000 listeners to take its national audience to more than 2.6 million.