Vaughan turns off Capital's listeners

He was billed as the new king of London breakfast radio - the £1.5 million star signing to replace Chris Tarrant.

But Johnny Vaughan, 37, appears to have lost his golden touch.

Radio listening figures released today reveal falling audiences for the Capital 95.8 FM breakfast host.

Vaughan, who was signed to the job in a three-year deal this year, has lost 143,000 listeners since June.

It signals a huge blow for Capital Radio chiefs, who have ploughed all their energies into marketing Vaughan as London's favourite morning DJ, with a series of expensive adverts on primetime television.

Vaughan, who took over from Tarrant in April, had already lost the station 187,000 listeners in his first three months as Capital's breakfast host.

His weekly audience now stands at just over one million - 1,047,000 to be exact - which is a significant drop on the 1.37 million that Tarrant left behind.

The disappointing figures mark out Vaughan, who sprung to fame as a result of his high-octane performance on TV's The Big Breakfast, as a weak spot in Capital's schedule.

Overall, the station has managed to recoup previous losses by drawing in an extra 65,000 listeners in the last quarter.

Meanwhile, Radio 1 has broken back through the 10 million mark - a psychological boost for the station which saw its total weekly listenership slump to 9,720,000 last quarter.

Breakfast DJ Chris Moyles was the biggest success - pulling in 6.14 million listeners nationwide aged 15 and over, up 910,000 on this time last year.

Overall, for listeners aged four and over, he attracted 7.41 million - up 1.17 million on this time last year, when Sara Cox was still presiding over the coveted slot.