Classic FM is down to its smallest audience in 30 years
NewsRajar’s first-quarter figures for 2023 make uneasy reading for Britain’s commercial classical radio station.
Classic FM have lost 426,000 listeners this year, down 8.6% to 4.54 million. Their only strategy, it seems, is to keep on hiring former BBC TV journalists and presenters.
BBC Radio3 and Scala Radio showed a slight increase.
Charts and analysis here.
A lot of people seem to find the style of the adverts particularly irritating. Don’t listen very often but I’m inclined to agree.
I’m not surprised that Classic FM is losing listeners. Former news people such as John Humphreys and Andrew Marr have such dull voices compared to the mellifluous tones of John Brunning and ,of course,the late and much missed Bill Turnbull. I gave up on the weekday mid- morning show long ago, it became pointless! Zeb Soanes has a rare good style which is fine.
I miss Rob Cowan — and yes, hate the obnoxious adverts!
Rob was an absolute master and wonderful to listen to but he was at his best on radio 3 morning show
Completely agree about Rob Cowan. I was furious when they axed him, the most knowledgeable and deeply experienced presenter on there and an oasis of profound intelligence in an ocean of narcoleptic pap. Classical music is not SMOOTH!
I so agree. I was always an avid listener but tune out when they are on. I am not keen on Alan Titchmarsh either! I hope things improve.
Totally agree. And they have no credibility in the classic music world which as a classically trained musician is important to me. I’m not a fan of Johnathan Ross joining the team either. I am looking to move over to an alternative
Indeed, and the linking comments between programmes are limpid, dreary and suggest a drooling and bored post-coital attitude to the endlessly overstated RELAXING music !! And, I suggest, some characters & personalities be engaged for programmes from those who have enjoyed a genuine involvement in the record industry (there are very many of us !). Private Passions (BBC R3) have never engaged such a person so is it not time for Classic FM to start a new trend ? Find someone who will introduce Gobbi singing “Ecco, il monologo” from Adriana Lecouvreur or Irmgard Seefried’s unmatched “Ruhe sanft …” (Zaide, K344) tell the supporting stories and shake’m up.
Think they need you on air!
Absolutely right John. Does anyone really relish listening to a programme dedicated to achieving relaxation, or CALM? Perhaps in the waiting room at the Dignitas clinic.
Absolutely agree. They seem totally out of sink with the general mood of the show. Very shouty and gimmicky, as if thought up by a very young, get ahead marketing person .
Although aimed at a more generalist audience, their dumming down has gone off the scale recently. Constant ads which might well not appeal to the target audience are just the start. How about the pseudo-sophisticated voice over which pops up endlessly telling us how wonderful the music is? What about the loss of the weekday evening concert which has been replaced by “relaxing” classics all evening? The list goes on and top of the bill must be Alexander Armstrong in constant ‘Hey Duggee’ mode. He’s great on TV but his radio presentation plumbs new depths.
Alexander Armstrong lives in an historic hice which is kwate nace.
I have stopped listening to FM because of Alexander Armstrong. He is just to loud and irritating. Also the have started playing a lot of rubbish now.
I find the endless repetition of “chunks” of major works totally irritating and boring. For genuine music lovers YouTube provides a treasure house of performances both old and new. The result? Haven’t bothered with Classic FM for years and certainly won’t in the future.
Well, everyone’s listening has changed since the pandemic and listening to what they want to, when they want, and how they want, rather than accept was is being presented. Radio in general has been abandoned by so many, and not just in Britain where we are relatively well served.
Same old music.
Rarely any new composers and an old and dull format.
Many adverts and far too much talk.
Listen to Radio 3 then for the more elite! Classic FM was always a station, like ENO doing opera in English that can take the fear out of your average person in Britain and go to the opera, for a totally different audience new to classical music. The adverts pay for the station, not with a licence fee as per the BBC. Irish radio also has adverts as does Sky News and ITV television. But the whole thing of Classic FM is very different presented by people that the general public know and not by pseudo musicologists on Radio 3.
The music is fine but there are way too many adverts.
Adverts pay for the station. What else do you suggest to pay for it, Clive???
Classic FM has dumbed down so much it is paying the price. Give us a greater range of classical music not more film soundtracks. Something a bit more challenging
Listen to another station!
I have loved Classic FM and listened to it for so many years but they have taken too many wrong turnings of late!
John Suchet had a lovely gentle voice just right for mornings but to replace him with Alexander Armstrong….God NO…worst choice ever!
Aled, Alan, Anne Marie, John Brunning, Catherine Bott and of course dearest Bill Turnball, all have/had perfect voices for radio.
As I already said Alexander’s voice is not!
Added to that, whoever decided to take on Andrew Marr AND Jonathan Ross needs to be sacked!
Can’t stand either man and both voices are simply dreadful, so completely wrong for radio and totally wrong for Classic FM!
Can understand why listeners are leaving.
Yes, YouTube!
Apart from inflicting dull, monotone presenters upon its listeners, Classic FM is guilty of extreme laziness in its programming of music. I am one of an army of light classical music devotees; yet while companies such as Marco Polo/Naxos and Chandos have lavished hitherto unrecorded works by the likes of the Strauss Family, Waldteufel, Sousa and various giants of British light music, Classic FM stubbornly refuses to programme these forgotten gems. Instead, they pay lip service to this melodious, often joyful, genre by repetitively playing ‘The Blue Danube’, ‘Radetzky March’ and ‘The Stars and Stripes’.
I often hear the same pieces repeated several times in the course of a few days. Lazy, autopilot programming. Why hire superannuated newsreaders with little knowledge or interest beyond the usual “greatest hits”? The ads are jarring, too frequent and impossible to ignore. You can do so much better, Classic FM!
Can’t bear classic fm! Limited selection of music, extremely patronising dj’s and constantly reminding you that they’re Classic fm and how good they are!!
Hard not to see this as a positive sign, especially if the Radio 3 audience remains relatively healthy. To denude listening to music of any serious intellectual challenge, and to make a virtue of that, is deadening in the extreme.
Why does music always have to be RELAXING!
Because Rock Music does the opposite!
Increases elsewhere indicate to me problems with the organizational structure, not a decline in listenership.
Too much repitician and not enough variety. The same pieces are played too frequently often in the same week
Try Lyric FM of Radio Telefis Eireann.
Try Radio Swiss Classic.A good playlist and very little talk.
I havent heard of this programme. How do i find it please
Proud to be a long-term listener with no plans to change! Classic FM is wonderful, pure and simple.
Sad in a way I guess. Preferred methods of listening are a very personal choice but I no longer listen to Classic FM at all. I split the time I do have available to listen between Radio 3 and Scala Radio depending on how I am feeling. Am also thinking about subscribing to a streaming service to allow me to choose more.
NRK Klassisk from Norway is worth a try. Also P2 from Sweden.
I listen to those on line via wi for radio or the streamer in my hi for system. No subscription needed.
Scala Radio? Who are they?
I’m not surprised. I switched off ages ago due to repetitive ear strain
This decline has some specific reasons that are with Classic FM, as rightly pointed out by the commenters here. But it could also be the overall waning interest in classical music, for whatever reason. The fight of the BBC against classical music is just one of the indicators that the new generation of listeners has lost touch with the true enjoyment of classical music.
Thanks for this interesting news. CFM has become a stupid station, crammed with adverts. Time it just died
Who needs Classic fm or bbcRadio 3 for that matter? I have about 10 classical Internet radio stations on my favourites list on my Cambridge Audio streamer. At the moment I’m streaming WFMT Chicago through my hifi stereo system. In the kitchen there’s a Roberts stream94i and another by the patio doors to our tiny London garden. Many of the stations stream in hi res.
Fine, but then WNIB in Chicago got disbanded some years ago.
I think Alexander Armstrong is great on Classic FM. At least he sounds as though he is enjoying his job and his comments seem to come from experience of performance and a genuine interest in the musicians and composers.
He Googles it all while the music is playing, then he can tell you all about it when it ends. Google and Wikipedia are his best friends.
People eventually stop listening when the endless round of dumbed down adverts completely detract from the enjoyment of listening to the music. I love the line up of presenters but I am afraid that I switched radio off or go to my saved music lists.
Saved music lists? Then there are no surprises and the choice of others, which we can all learn from.
I like Classic FM & would love to hear more of the young British Tenor Jonathan Antoine on their station. I know those who appreciate this young man would love to hear more on @ClassicFM. Jonathan has an International following & recently has recorded at new album ‘By Request’ Vol 1 of the song writer Diane Warren. This was an invitation at THE REQUEST of Ms Warren where he sings her classics as only he can.
I agree with most of the above, especially the bit about patronising presenters with deadly voices. I think the station has had its day now that streaming has become so prevalent & we can listen to whatever we wish. There are also excellent classical stations available on line with minimal advertising.
What a damn, aggressive, and cocky lot of comments!!.
It’s not about, who wears the best suit, or who’s voice is the most catchy. It’s about the genre of music. If you like it, you listen to it, if you don’t, just bugger off and go to Signal 1, with it’s boring repeteasions of the same so called hits. Not to mention some funny, if not irritating voices-if that’s your argument. Stop winging people, and come down from the clowds with your pseudo intellectual comments. Commercial breaks? Yes I agree, they’re a pain in the butt, but they are everywhere, and that’s how this rotten world operates these days. People are just becoming a bunch of zombies, with more and more twisted minds, they don’t really know, what they want any more, are not happy with anything, and will pick on anything and anybody. So, don’t worry Classic FM, the world is a weird place now, and people are unpredictable anymore.
Regards, open minded, and tollerant
Jack
Excellent comments Jack- you’re quite right- the world now is indeed a ‘weird’ place with lots of ‘weird’ people in it. Classic FM is hardly part of the problem but, as u say, just another example of something to pick on from the comfort of our sofas.
One of the problems with radio is that you get what they give you.
It’s not a problem. It’s how one learns! As a music student, even on Classic FM, I have learnt so much from music I wouldn’t have even known about.
We were in our 50s when Classic GM became our station of choice. Now, 25 years later, the music is still great but the ever present adverts for funeral services, life insurances and other reminders of our immediate demise! We’ve switched off before we became suicidal.
Not surprised. The station needs to stop playing the same old classics.
Classics FM remains my channel of choice in the car. The extent of chat and style of adverts can be tiresome.
I’m surprised that they still have that many listeners given all of the on demand streaming services plus YouTube.
I think it’s a fair question to ask if Classic FM is still needed given all of the free recordings available.
On demand is the problem. All about oneself and one’s choice of music, not about listening to what others have to offer.
So much for Anna Lapwood’s “new audience”
Totally agree, particularly with Michael. Suppose the adverts are a necessary evil but John Humphreys and now Andrew Marr have completely ruined the weekend.
Listen to another station at the weekend then! It’s not compulsory to listen to Classic FM!
Yes, but it used to be marvellous before it was bought out by Global. Deleted the app. Goodbye CFM.
Compared to Radio 3, Classic FM is like reading only the first page of a book. Radio 3 may be challenging at times but many of it’s excellent programmes go beneath the surface of the music. I enjoy their weekday breakfast and the “Bach before 7” feature.
I have listened to ClassicFM since day 1; but they don’t have my loyalty indefinitely – they still have to earn it, and I believe they need fixes. Adverts that annoy will turn off listeners, particularly if you hear the same advert every half an hour.
I won’t listen to Ross. Ever. He was (rightly) a pariah after his treatment of Andrew Sach’s daughter. Once a pariah, always a pariah.
I’m, generally, not a fan of hearing brand new compositions as they haven’t earned Classic status, but I can be persuaded.
The presenters are becoming a positive turnoff. Not Alexander Armstrong and Charlotte Hawkins but most of the rest. Jonathan Ross is particularly annoying, I cannot listen to the film music programme any more, he is so irritating
Armstrong turns me off. My wife still listens to CFM, so I can tell you that they’ve just played sorcerer’s apprentice twice in about half an hour. Unbelievable.
Hardly surprising but, unlike many other comments here, I don’t blame the ( albeit dull ) presenters. My complaint is with the schedulers. When the music is good it’s more often than not by unconvincing performers. And then it’s interspersed with unbelievable rubbish. I turned off for the last time when they announced the theme from Chicken Run. When the station first began it showed real promise. The music may have been popular classics but it was sufficient to whet the appetite of uninitiated listeners. Today it is unadulterated rubbish. A terrible shame when there surely is a great market for a classical station that plays great and listenable music. It would be wonderful to tune in and hear a Brahms symphony ( in full ) a Beethoven piano sonata ( in full ) a Bach prelude and fugue ( in full ) the Sibelius Violin concerto in it’s entirety. I live in hope.
Playing classic symphonies, for example, in full was not a part of its original remit.
Enjoy Classic fm until Alexander Armstrong comes on — good for television but not radio — cringing.
So I turn off,.
My biggest concern is the disservice CFM does to certain composers. Don’t they realise that Shostakovich wrote superb symphonies, concertos, string quartets etc? Not just the jazz suites. That Mahler wrote more than an adagietto? That Schubert wrote nearly a thousand pieces not just those few juvenile symphonies? And what about a few string quartets? Perhaps they don’t want to frighten the listeners.
If Classic FM banned, and removed, eternally the word: “RELAX” – never let it be heard again either in trails or adverts – they might recover more listeners.
Other’s tell me too, they can’t bear to be told to ‘relax’ as if that’s the only quality music possesses. Stimulate, invigorate, stir your soul, uplift, excite, mesmerise, challenger, any of these:
– but NOT relax or relaxes, or smooth. No. Never!!
Dr Noël Tredinnick
Why does ” classical” music have to be ” old”. There is some wonderful classical music being written now but CM never plays anything” modern” .
Having said that , I have been enchanted by the music of Florence Price and William
Grant , neither of which I had heard before. Perhaps more ” less heard” pieces ?
In Australia we have ABC Classic FM which has no advertising, but having quite accurately estimated the age of its audience, its announcers usually sound as if they’re visiting a retirement village. The males, with the exception of a very down to earth Scotsman (and a brass player I believe) generally sound as if they’re from the cast of “Salad Days”. Ratings are low. I used to be a constant listener, but not any more.
Definitely not worth having to sign in to then listen to so many unrelated adds. I’d rather go to YouTube. Making me sign in, is really annoying.
I find it hard to take celebrities, from a previous career, offerring classical knowledge very seriously. Maybe Petroc Trelawney and co on 3 rely on the same level of research, but I dont associate them as Gardeners, Political pundits, News anchors etc. Sorry.
I love CFM. Nobody has mentioned Tim Lihoreau in the morning slot from 6 – 9am. Wonderful show, topical ,
funny, great quips and appropriate music for that kind of time. Yes the adverts can be a bit irritating but they sadly are a necessary evil. Keep up the good work , nothing wrong with relaxing !
We are very saddened to hear this. We live in New Mexico and always listen to your station
Have to agree with others… Tedious commercials, very small playlist, former ‘names’ who can’t even pronounce well known composers, conductors, and places properly.
The range of music has reduced. Also, the ads can be irritating
I know they need adverts but when adds last for 8 mins every few mins what is the point , i think greed for the money generated from adds , so i would turn it off then back on when adds had finished , only so many times you can listen to the same add before feeling stressed
Quiz show host – awful Classic FM Presenter, sack Alistair Armstrong, my dog knows more about classical music. His waffle and pitiful wit is totally misplaced, his arrogance is only matched by his irritating voice. As for Jonathan Ross, replacing Andrew Collins with this baffoon was a monumental disaster – Andrew knew his subject very well and articulated it superbly – to replace with Ross is unfathomable. Classic FM have shot themselves in the foot hiring incompetence.
Totally agree. It’s Alexander Armstrong just for the record.
My mother regularly listens in to Classic FM nightly but reports that frequent adverts shrill advertisements interfere with the calm & serene tones of the music late at night & early hours of the morning.
Privately funded Classic FM 4.54 million; publicly funded BBC Radio 3 1.93 million. What can an intelligent listener conclude?
Classic FM is fine- sometimes you just want a good tune as opposed to 12 tone rows & the joys of modernism- which is still a big part of Radio 3’s schedule. I think most of the presenters are OK- & I quite like AA’s quirky delivery for one. Margarita Taylor has been moved to the afternoon slot from the late night one. She has a honey toned voice but appears to have an orgasm after almost each track.
Classic fm is part of Global Media, a right-wing radio network which also owns LBC, the UK’s version of Fox News. High time the whole Global empire was brought down. Ecrasez l’infame.
What planet are you on? LBC is most certainly very Left leaning, bar Nick Ferrari. They purged right leaning presenters years ago. There is no evidence that Global Media has a right wing bias, I’d say it is firmly Metropolitan Elite.
I remain a loyal all-day listener. CfM is family, not just a radio station. There are still some really great presenters including Tim Lihoreau, Aled Jones, Catherine Bott and Anne Marie Minhall. They had the news/music mix about right (though have sadly just dropped the early morning half hour news). Yes, a little less repetition and losing a couple of presenters would be good but some of us still love the station.
I cannot listen to Alexander Armstrong, i find him irritating, sorry.
I like Classic fm otherwise. Also, too many adverts, so annoying.
Hi All,
Each time I switch on seems presenters of long standing have vanished – replaced by ex BBC has beens. Also a dead format with Alexa – no adds etc play what you want. And … those adds, Jesus what a turn off. Mix in the gardening tips and you have a recipe for disaster!!!
If I have to listen to the 1st movement of the Moonlight Sonata, or Haydn’s Clock Symphony again, I’ll leve the planet. There are SO MANY wonderful pieces they never play. It’s the same old thing over and over again….Who’s choosing these pieces?
Are there any educated musicians with a broad musical background? No wonder people are switching off!
Simple, same playlist over & over and repeated interruptions from the most biased left wing news team in the uk
There are too many adverts. Also, I like the older male presenters. Loved Nick Bailey who I listen to on boom lite.
I love the music when I work, but I just sometimes switch the radio off if I cannot stand the over-and-over on repeating of the same depressing adverts that comes up of Cancer, Funeral, Teeth, Wills and Wealth-(inheritance)-mgmt. I makes be feel old and dying and I am only 45!! (Classic FM = Classical music = old people = dying…. wake up!)
My opinion for what it is worth: Global should offload Classic fm to someone who knows what they are doing. Get it back to the way it was: informed, personable presenters; advertisements suited to the listenership; a mix of light, popular classical music to draw in new audience with lesser-known or new compositions. No film music! CFM is a complete mismatch with Global’s other stations, and it is suffering as a result.
Not surprised you’re loosing listeners, Alexanda Armstrong is never off. I find his constant jollyness very annoying so I switch to Scala
I really enjoy listening to the warmth and depth of classic fm. However, I have stopped listening to the breakfast show since Tim Lihoreau was moved sideways. Am I the only one who misses him on a weekday morning? He made me laugh and ponder on my laborious drive into work and just made me happy with my day’s start. Dan Walker is, I’m sure, a pleasant chap if slightly irritating and false but I have not wanted to listen to his version of the show and now only switch on classic on a Saturday and Sunday morning. My loss!
The 2 reasons I just switch of the radio sometimes are:
1) End-of-life morbid and depressing adverts one after another trying to get to your money through equity release, wills, cancer, “…when my dad was still alive….”
2) Alexanda Armstrong doing adverts with “…me and my family…” (like AriBNB) kills my passion for Classic FM. I cannot easily separate adverts from presenters.