Radio 1 chief Ben Cooper has defended the station’s music strategy after its breakfast show lost almost one million listeners.
Recent figures showed Nick Grimshaw had dropped 950,000 listeners in the six months since he took over from Chris Moyles.
His latest figures are 5.78 million the lowest since Sara Cox hosted the show in 2003 but the BBC has said it is concentrating “on a younger demographic”.
Former Radio 1 breakfast show presenter Mike Smith criticised Radio 1’s strategy, telling the Radio Times: “They say they’re going for a younger audience that’s just wrong.”
He said chasing youth will annoy more people than it will attract.
“They should target attitude, not age,” he added. “Whatever age you are, chasing demographics is terrible news for listeners.”
Cooper replied: “The BBC has traditionally brought in younger audiences by playing them new music on Radio 1.
“If that stops and a generation doesn’t get the BBC habit, it’s almost an existential problem for the corporation.
“There are some fundamental questions the BBC needs to be asking itself.”
