'Daft chat of absolutely no consequence' proves a winning formula

Jason Manford and Frank Skinner are celebrating a rise in their radio audiences.

In new Rajar listening figures released today show both recorded a healthy boost in year-on-year numbers for their Absolute Radio show.

Skinner’s Saturday-morning slot added 14 per cent more listeners, bringing the total up to 829,000

And Manford has recorded a 20 per cent rise in his Sunday audience to 661,000.

He said: ‘I’m so chuffed that more and more listeners are finding our little Sunday morning radio show.’

The comic added that he aims to provide ‘a break from what’s going on outside… [with] daft chat of nonsense of absolutely no consequence’. 

‘People know they can tune in and be confident that there’ll be nowt serious being discussed, we are proudly a politics/Brexit/Boris/Covid free zone,’ he added.

‘I can’t thank the listeners enough for these record figures. It’s an honour and a privilege to chat to you every week.’

Meanwhile, Skinner has been making a new podcast series called Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast while in lockdown.

BBC Radio 4 Extra, with its heavy emphasis on vintage comedy, suffered a bad year, slumping 11 per cent to 1.98 million listeners. But it is still the UK’s third most popular digital-only station behind  6 Music and Kisstory.

Published: 14 May 2020