Some of our favourite people are cabbies, so don’t go getting all defensive before you’ve read the rest of this.
Londonist has learned today that Heart 106.2 has taken the lead over Magic 105.4 in the London radio ratings. We are gobsmacked. And it takes quite a lot to gobsmack a Londonist.
It’s not that we are surprised that Foxy is losing breakfasters, whilst Jamie and someone called Harriet are gaining them – in fact the two stations are neck and neck at 6.1% (Magic) and 6.2% (Heart) of the listening public. What got our attention was the fact that so many more people are listening to this audible wallpaper than Kiss, or even Capital.
So exactly who is listening to them? The only time that Londonist has ever listened to Magic FM was whilst en route (in a taxi) to Gatwick, and we nearly fell out with a colleague who made us listen to Heart for an hour on a car journey to nowhere. So we’re perhaps not the best qualified to judge on this matter. Nor would we presume to pronounce on the musical zeitgeist, whatever that may be, or put ourselves forward as arbiters of taste. We’re just perplexed, that’s all.
We concede that both stations have an anaesthetising effect, soothing in certain situations, so we have concluded that it simply must be cabbies and those who drive for a living who are tuning in. Maybe the odd dental surgery. And lift operators.
Piccie courtesy of Nicolai Bavnbeck’s flickr photo stream.
