Golden oldie listeners take Radio 2 figures to new record

By Hugh Davies
(Filed: 06/05/2005)

The post-war baby boom generation that drove the 1960s pop explosion delivered a 'grey power' boost to Radio 2 yesterday, helping four veteran DJs with a combined age of 231 draw record audiences.

Radio Joint Audience Research figures show that 66-year-old Terry Wogan, with his "senior moments", easily remains Britain's favourite radio personality, attracting 40,000 new listeners since January and bringing his total to 8.09 million.


Terry Wogan: UK's favorite DJ
Steve Wright, 50, has added 400,000 to push his listeners to 6.8 million. Ken Bruce, 54, is at his heels with 6.63 million for his mid-morning programme while Johnnie Walker, 60, has an audience of 5.21 million for his drive-time show.

Mark Story, head of radio at Emap, said that his "heritage" stations in Manchester, Hull and Liverpool, which appeared to be in decline four years ago, were picking up new listeners.

He added: "There is also a very clear end to the generation gap.

"There was a time when young people instinctively hated the music of their parents. This is now no longer the case."

The trend for older music is most obvious in the charts, where Tony Christie remains at No 1 for a seventh week with the charity record Amarillo. In March it sold more copies in a week than in the whole of its 1971 run in the "hit parade".

The single is the longest-running chart-topper since Cher's Believe in 1998. It has sold 932,982 copies, three times as many as its nearest rival this year, McFly's All About You.

A spokesman for HMV, Gennaro Castaldo, said that while Christie was helped by Comic Relief, his amazing success indicated that there was a huge nostalgic appetite for older stars if record companies were prepared to invest in them.

Saga magazine, aimed at the over-50s, has Rod Stewart on its cover and British tours are imminent by Neil Diamond, 64, Pat Boone, 70, Kris Kristofferson, 68, Andy Williams, 77, The Everly Brothers (Don, 68, and Phil, 66), Don McLean, 59, and Donovan Leitch, who turns 59 next week. Donovan, an icon of the 1960s "flower power" revolution, who long ago retreated to "the exquisite peace" of an old rectory in County Cork, said: "I haven't toured in donkey's years. I was getting bored and exhausted.

"But I'm still alive. I still have my hair. I'm not overweight. I'm actually quite well in the health department - and it's all rather daunting."

Sanctuary Records is issuing a two-disc anthology of Donovan's music, featuring Universal Soldier, Colours and Turquoise, as well as Catch the Wind, his first chart success 40 years ago. Donovan said: "There is now intense interest in my back catalogue. If I ever come to London, I get defensive when the cabbie recognises me and mutters about the 'bloody rubbish' in today's pop music, and talks about my melodies.

"I say nothing. In my time, we didn't know songs could last. All we ever thought of was next Tuesday. You never imagined a future. The Beatles had fun with When I'm 64, but, really, nobody thought it would last that long."

Dennis Locorriere, former lead singer with Dr Hook, who is due to perform in London tonight, said: "I'll be 56 in July. Back home in America, all I'm offered is the oldies package tours. You slog through your history and go to the bar.

"But in England, there's a different buzz, and I can feel a shift in the audiences that is very tangible. I can go on stage alone with a guitar and talk between songs, and whether or not it's this success of Tony Christie, the reaction is pretty incredible."

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Radio Joint Audience Research


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